Thoroughly unimpressed by Sportrak!

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I've now owned a Sportrak for just over a week and I have to say that I'm thoroughly unimpressed by the whole thing!

For many years I've run series 3 Landrovers. Not the modern tin shopping-trolley rubbish, but proper Landrovers. But when the engine went on my current daily-driver on the way to work a couple of weeks ago I was forced to buy something in a hurry to keep me mobile.

The something I bought was a Sportrak. I thought it might be faster than the Landy, thought it might be more fuel efficient (as it's 20 years younger!) and thought a newer vehicle was less likely to go wrong.

First, it is a bit faster. That's the one thing I have to admit. But it uses no less fuel. It's also much more expensive to insure and comes into the same Road Tax band as the Landy, despite the engine being 3/4 of a litre smaller!

But the worst thing is that horrible plastic dash! One of the flasher repeaters on the dash has stopped working and I've just spent an hour in the pouring rain/snow trying to get access to the bulb!

Can anyone tell me how the hell you're supposed to get access to the rear of the dashboard? On a Landrover it would be a two minute job to replace a similar dashboard bulb by undoing two screws and then just removing the front of the dash.

After an hour I was still getting nowhere, so I've given up and come to see if any of you guys can shed any light on the subject?

Finally, as soon as the landrover is back on the road I have decided the Sportrak will be for sale. It's a 1995 M-reg with a hard top. £2,500 to anyone who's interested.

Andy.

Great advertisement for 'sell

Great advertisement for 'selling' the sportrak ??? good luck.

I would recommend a Fourtrak td any day of the week...

Looking for rear seats and belts for my 97 Fieldman F78. Also looking for round dash clock. Leicester area preferred. PM me.

QUOTE:- I would recommend a F

QUOTE:- I would recommend a Fourtrak td any day of the week...

gotta agree with this comment,

i have had quite a few landy's over the years,
and found them excessively heavy on fuel, even diesels
& overly expensive on parts, so much so i have had parts stripped from mine while it was sat on the drive,
fairey overdrive unit to name but 1....

obviously this also says alot regards ease of entry by itinerants,
my fourtrak is an 'E' reg,2.8 TD
cost me £230 to buy with no mot,
failed on
1 spring,
1 anti-roll bar bush
4 wheel nuts missing - owner removed lockers
and a headlight bulb out,

all parts to get mot brought for £40 = bargain 4x4
other purchases include a replacement rear-door
perfect condition for £10

i have completely retrimmed the whole of the interior,
fitted a huge stereo system
and shed loads of other stuff,
and i still havent spent £500 yet,
why the world aint driving these things i dunno,

my previous 4x4's include a suzuki sj410 & sj413
which were (i thought ) play things,
but i soon sold them both as i got fed up
with phone calls from landy owners who had got stuck in
nothing more than normal conditions,
1 bottomed out climbing a slight bank,
caught up on the chassis,

i never got stuck/stranded in either suzuki
and the diahatsu will do a similar job,

what do i know about off-road use???

been doing falconry for over 30yrs
i sure do get muddy

shame you aint given the diahatsu a fair crack,
but this is the thing with klandy owners - the tend to be far to stuck in the landies are best rut

Reply

Having had more Land Rovers than most people have had hot dinners inc Forward Controls with big Perkins Diesel's 101 Air Portables both petrol & diesel that I converted myself, Lightweights one that I converted to V8 "Big Mistake" 2/4 Petrol,s & diesels that would not pull the skin of a rice pudding! By your comment proper Land Rover's not pieces of tin PROPER WHAT? Iv also owned Range-Rovers (The Best one I had was a Daihatsu Powered one that I also converted from a V8)A couple of Disco's "they are a pile of shite" & 3 Defenders "They all had their faults" some of them big & expensive ones I should have known better. All were terrible on fuel & were all diesels so the Sportstrak,s not fit to lick the Land rover series 3,s boots Eh & all because a bulbs blown on the little Daihatsu how sad. Wait till you start replacing & welding in new Bulkheads/& outriggers /rear cross members/replacing rusted out petrol tanks/gearboxes on the Landrover or is yours that Special one produced that never breaks down "Oh apart from the engine" changing a bulb on the Sportstrak will seem like child's play You may have noticed I'm a bit of a fan of Daihatsu,s I should have bought one years ago & saved myself a fortune on Land rover bits we have a L/R Dealer near us & He's always busy & I wonder why some people never learn? Paul aka Stan

to be helpful and answere the

to be helpful and answere the origional question, i hope the sporttrak dash is the same as my fourtrak,(from memory, its snowing outside so i aint going to check) first the panel under the steering column comes off with four screws, two go up into the dash panel, then there are i think four bolts which hold the dash panel the top two are in wells in the top of the dash covered with rectangular plastic covers somewhere arround an inch square, these can be prised out with a small screwdriver. take the bolts out and it all falls apart, i would recommend getting a workshop manual, they are available on cd on this site somewhere,

you dont like the sportrak

Well Ive had a sportrak for a year and have had no problems other than changing springs .you complain about the dash , but at least the sportrak HAS a dash . By the the way I think you may struggle to sell your M reg for £2500 because you can pick up an M reg for less than £2000 with service history and all lights working on the dash.
I'm sorry you dont like the sportrak but there are plenty of us out there that love them dispite any problems which crop up as with any other car including LANDROVERS and by the way my Sportrak doesnt leak oil like MOST LANDROVERS do .
Stick with it Because it gets better (its only a lightbulb!)

Oh just in case you think I dont like Landrovers , you'd be wrong cos I always wanted a lightweight series3 but cant afford the expensive insurance so I manage with my Daihatsu cos the insurance is cheaper and it does more to the gallon (If you take it easy) I just hope that when my Sportrak is as old as your Landy it still works ,but I'm a realist and know that in 20 years we will probably be shaving with parts of my Daihatsu and your Landy or parts of it may still be of use to someone!!

Keep Smiling and keep the sunny side up !!!!

Keep the sunny side up and the muddy side down!!!

umimpressed landy !

Sorry to here your unhappy with your sporty mate, but for a year or two i wanted a landy as two of my mates went offroading in them but the money i had would only get me claped out landys so when a sporty came along at a low price i grabed it without even knowing anything about! It's been the best car (4x4) i've had and last time at weardale offroad centre i was the only one of our group not to get stuck in mud, i even had to pull my mates defender out !They might be smaller but are more refined than any old landy i've had the missfortune to be in.