hi help me make up my mind

have had my first land rover for 10 months and would realy like to take part, i need to concider how much the fuel will be in Europe, is it cheeper? what maintanance should i do before we go? what spares should i take? and should i get a gps syestem if so which one, as here so many horror stories about them sending you into tank ranges etc? i know this is a lot of questions but can any one help. as soon as i get a co-driver and charity etc i will sign up.

how very very exciting.

Hello Mad Mik,

Congratulations on your 1st landy, me to.

I'm sure there are many people, much more capable of answering your questions, then me. But as they are very similar to mine own, here's my 2 bit worth.

Fuel; I purposely over-estimated this in my series 111; the Landrally is 2,300 mls + mileage to get to France and back, say 400 mls = 2700miles. Taken a low consumpion of 20mls (4mls to the litre) to the gallon, and an average high price of 0.90p per litre (UK is one of the most expensive places in Europe, practically everywhere else we're going will be cheaper, some places a lot cheaper). So, 2700/4 = 675 litres x 0.90p = £607.50. This is a top-end figure, it should be a fair amount cheaper, depending on your vehicle.

Service; Having little/no experience with fixing Landys, I've just taken it to a Landy garage (keith Gott), and go over it with a full service, and will do again before we leave.

Spares; I needed help with this myself. Have alook at this forum, and difflock forum, and have a look at "CarpeDiem", some very good replies gratefully came back. Hopefully you'll have someone more knowledgeable to answer this one.

GPS; Needed help of this one as well. I've got TomTom, looking at updating to Tom Tom 6, or this "Memory Map" system. The map mentioned in the "Rules" is also very good.

Hope this helps, know doubt others will add to it, best of luck with getting a co-driver.

Best regards,
Team "Landrovers and wine"

Hello Mr Milk - or is that Ms/Miss/Mrs Milk - and why Mad Milk? So many questions!!! Perhaps you are just a kind person, milk of human kindness and all that, perhaps you have have Mad Cow Disease, perhaps I'm just talking complete and utter drivel ... it's not unknown!

Regarding GPS, although I personally know very little about them, I do know that prices vary considerably depending on what you actually want out of your newly-acquired box of tricks. How about contacting Jon Kelly at www.ventureoverland.com ? Not only has Jon entered two vehicles in Land Rally, he also sells GPS systems. Think they may well be the 'top end' of the scale, but at least by chatting to Jon you will ensure you get the very best for your money regardless of what you buy and who from. If nothing else he can point you in the right direction ... good pun eh? SORRY.

Anything else just ask. I'd readily admit I don't know a lot personally but importantly I usually know someone who does!

Hi Mad Milk,
I'm Chalky from Team Cameladventures.
Fuel is slightly cheaper in Europe around 90cents per litre when we came back through France earlier this year. Booze is certainly cheaper and the food is excellent.
As for your question about a GPS they are good but to get one with european road coverage your talking about having one of the higher cost units, probably over £250 or you could just get a European road map for around £15.
I notice that you live in Pembrokeshire as do we.
Have you done any lanes across the Beacons/Black Mountains?

Chalky

Advice costs nothing, so if anyone wants to chat through their thoughts, or indeed mine (!!!) feel free to drop me a line of give me a call.

...All sponsorship to Team VentureOverland's £10k Tommy's target gratefully received...

One further advantage of a GPS, on the way back from the Brecon Beacons I asked mine for the shortest route home and ended up driving some really intresting country lanes crossing several fords.
Glad I didn't have a car at the time. It certainly wasn't the quickest way back home but was a lot of fun.

Chalky

mad mik wrote:

...should i get a gps syestem if so which one, as here so many horror stories about them sending you into tank ranges etc?

I hear people saying this sort of thing a lot and it frustrates me ... BUT (and I dont mean to be rude) at the end of the day, you are the driver and you alone point the vehicle towards the tank rank range... Ive heard similar stories about people driving the wrong way down a one way street because the Sat Nav told them to!

The point is this: Sat Nav is a tool to be used as an aid, not an auto pilot. I always suggest that people carry a road atlas with them as well. When used intelligently Sat Nav systems are one of the best things since sliced bread but dont drive off the cliff just because it tells you to!!!

Rant Over!!

TomTom and memory-map combination is simply brilliant for PDA's - If your thinking of getting one, don't hesitate.

Don't take that the wrong way. I think my Tom Tom is excellent and I wouldn't be without it. It got me across France and Spain, found me campsites/hotels, ATM's and garage's. But you do have to be careful with it and check the route's. I think that's even more relevant if you live in the country because of the nature of the roads.
Off course you'll end up on tiny country back lanes if you ask for the shortest route. Totally different from the fastest route, which is usually longer and quicker.
It did try to take me the wrong way up a one way street while in Spain but as Jon said you don't blindly follow it, you need be aware of road signs and directions and if you miss a turn or can't make the turn it want's you to, as soon as you go past it the Tom Tom re calculate's the route. BRILLIANT.

Chalky

tomtom 910 is the dogs b@ll@cks, used mine in the good old US of A and can't wait to use it round europe. And with the 910 you get a 20 gig hard drive to put over 10000 songs on to keep you sane on the long motorway drives, think there down to 350 pounds now.

Venture, you don't know of one with auto pilot do you, might be useful?

[quote="Tom Mc"]Hello Mr Milk - or is that Ms/Miss/Mrs Milk - and why Mad Milk? So many questions!!! Perhaps you are just a kind person, milk of human kindness and all that, perhaps you have have Mad Cow Disease, perhaps I'm just talking complete and utter drivel ... it's not unknown!

It's Mr MIK not milk, thought i would straighten that out just in case anyone ran short of the white stuff and try some milking

Okay, I'm a dope! For some strange reason I read it as 'Milk' and that was that. Mad MIK it is.

Even dafter, long before GPS was ever invented myself and my mate managed to drive across Salisbury Plain in my Range Rover and him in our half-share SIIA Lightweight - nothing amazing with that you may well say.

Well it was only at the pub which normally was frequented by a lot of Sunday off-roaders that the awful truth dawned. We said to the landlord, "It's quite today, why is that?"

"Probably something to do with the red flags flying" he muttered quite matter of fact ... which meant we had just driven across a LIVE FIRE RANGE. Opps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mad mik wrote:

Venture, you don't know of one with auto pilot do you, might be useful?

I think the latest Boeing 777's and EuroFighter's have them installed as standard. Not sure of the price or availability yet though!!

Chalkie, Cameladventures... you are lucky you found Spain !!! Good job you had Karen with you...................

hello mik,

first landy here to simular lenth of time owned aswell, we are taking spare wheel bearings and oil seals ...... have had problems there recently would be a bummer for them to break and not have a spare,

on uk feul prices for our landy for the trip we have worked the cost out to be around £450

hope ive helped a bit
kieran - Monstar

That's more like it. Think CarpeDiem's £607.50 (is that exact or wot???) is well over the top, but then again I can see where he's coming from.

Expect the worst and that way you won't be disappointed ... but pleasently surprised!