Back in the early 1990s I remember getting interested in Discos and RRCs, but never really thought I'd ever own anything like that. Then one dark night on I-5 between Sacramento and Weed, California, my mom and I were making an 18 hour drive to get back to Portland when I looked up and saw an odd set of lights in the distance. As we got closer, I could see that it was a Camel Trophy Defender just cruising along with all the gear hanging off it, and adventure written all over it. I remember turning to my mom and saying, "That's the kind of car I want some day."
Got to admit, I'm tempted to sell the Defender and start over. Here's why:
I'm tired of all the time and money wasted on it for no gains.
I'm tired of trying to get it to stop leaking water and oil and fluid.
I'm tired of being the guy who drives something so completely impractical that it makes me look stupid.
I'm tired of it not being able to keep up with traffic.
I'm tired of 19 mpg when everyone else is in the low 20s.
But mostly, I've put 13k miles on it since the engine swap, and all of those things above really boil down to the fact that I don't ever get to use it. The only time I have to use it is in the summer, but that's when I have to work on it to make sure I can use it, and that's also when I have to work on the house and the other cars, and all the stuff I've been putting off over the nine months of the school year. I'm sacrificing so much just to have the Defender, but I only get to go out in it once per year.
Since owning the Defender I've gone from 3-4 camping trips per year, multi day; one to two overland trips per year that last 3-4 days, and at least 3-4 off road day trips; down to just one day trip, and maybe one night camping in the local state park. Why? I keep coming back to the fact that the Defender is the thing that is keeping me from being able to live with a Defender.
So it's a thought that has been dogging me for a while. Including purchase, I've put about $32k into the car, which I know I can't come close to getting back. But maybe I could get enough to buy something I could use? Right now my son drives a pretty nice '98 Disco. The RRC is mothballed (which I hate having it just sitting there doing nothing) with a gamble of a 4.2 waiting to be put in. The Series runs fine, but is too dangerous and slow to take on freeways with a top speed of only 55 on flat. The Defender is my run about daily driver. But every time I drive it, I feel like I'm abusing it, and just making more work for myself in the future. My wife has a 2008 GL320 that we should probably sell some time before it eats another $10k in repairs per year.
Options:
Got to admit, I'm tempted to sell the Defender and start over. Here's why:
I'm tired of all the time and money wasted on it for no gains.
I'm tired of trying to get it to stop leaking water and oil and fluid.
I'm tired of being the guy who drives something so completely impractical that it makes me look stupid.
I'm tired of it not being able to keep up with traffic.
I'm tired of 19 mpg when everyone else is in the low 20s.
But mostly, I've put 13k miles on it since the engine swap, and all of those things above really boil down to the fact that I don't ever get to use it. The only time I have to use it is in the summer, but that's when I have to work on it to make sure I can use it, and that's also when I have to work on the house and the other cars, and all the stuff I've been putting off over the nine months of the school year. I'm sacrificing so much just to have the Defender, but I only get to go out in it once per year.
Since owning the Defender I've gone from 3-4 camping trips per year, multi day; one to two overland trips per year that last 3-4 days, and at least 3-4 off road day trips; down to just one day trip, and maybe one night camping in the local state park. Why? I keep coming back to the fact that the Defender is the thing that is keeping me from being able to live with a Defender.
So it's a thought that has been dogging me for a while. Including purchase, I've put about $32k into the car, which I know I can't come close to getting back. But maybe I could get enough to buy something I could use? Right now my son drives a pretty nice '98 Disco. The RRC is mothballed (which I hate having it just sitting there doing nothing) with a gamble of a 4.2 waiting to be put in. The Series runs fine, but is too dangerous and slow to take on freeways with a top speed of only 55 on flat. The Defender is my run about daily driver. But every time I drive it, I feel like I'm abusing it, and just making more work for myself in the future. My wife has a 2008 GL320 that we should probably sell some time before it eats another $10k in repairs per year.
Options:
- Sell the Defender, swap the engine to a working 4.2 on the RRC so that it becomes my daily, and keep the Series. (Probably can't actually do this because the RRC will then take up all my time just like the Defender is doing.)
- Sell the Defender and the RRC and get a Toyota that can be my daily, and I can outfit it with money to spare. (I'd get something like a 2004 Tacoma, and might have to change the oil some day.)
- Sell the Defender, sell the RRC, and get something cheap for daily. Just drive the Series on sunny days and give up on camping and such because I'm not doing any of it anyway.