kavefish
Active Member
- Posts
- 156
- Location
- Gloucestershire
Now, before I say any more, I should say that I love my Landy and that's not about to change.
So, we got a dusting of the white stuff early this morning - and I mean maybe 2-3cm. For grins, I tried my Mazda first and predictably it laughed at the suggestion of pointing up the hill to get out of our valley.
Right, next it was time to convincingly trounce up that hill in the 110, demonstrating - finally - to the wife why we needed proper 4x4. I was in 2nd gear hi-range (the highest gearing I could get without stalling) and I was taking it easy to the point of almost stalling (but I wasn't on the clutch). Making steady forward progress and it all went to crap. Wheel spin, off throttle, apply brake, sliding backward on a narrow lane with an expensive stone wall on one side and hedge on the other. I angled for the hedge as a brake. Thankfully the dirt provided some grip and I stopped. Much to my amazement, the 110 did no better than the torquey 2WD Mazda. Actually, sliding felt worse for lack of ABS.
I admitted defeat, got in the wife's Outback, which promptly asked "I thought you said there was some snow?" as we cruised up the hill without so much as a stutter. :doh:
It's worth saying that my v8 110 is a 1987 model - and I think it still has the original 7.50R16 tires
(only 40k miles on the clock so they look old, but fine). They passed MOT last year without comment and I've only done 1k miles since. 20 minutes ago I ordered a set of new 235/85r16 BFG AT tires.
Now with the tires sorted (and my dignity already in shreds from previous battery-hunting misadventures) that leaves the driver. There are so many LZ stories about fun in the snow so please, tell me, what I was doing wrong? I humbly submit to your advice (and likely abuse) for how not to make a mockery of the Landy name.
So, we got a dusting of the white stuff early this morning - and I mean maybe 2-3cm. For grins, I tried my Mazda first and predictably it laughed at the suggestion of pointing up the hill to get out of our valley.
Right, next it was time to convincingly trounce up that hill in the 110, demonstrating - finally - to the wife why we needed proper 4x4. I was in 2nd gear hi-range (the highest gearing I could get without stalling) and I was taking it easy to the point of almost stalling (but I wasn't on the clutch). Making steady forward progress and it all went to crap. Wheel spin, off throttle, apply brake, sliding backward on a narrow lane with an expensive stone wall on one side and hedge on the other. I angled for the hedge as a brake. Thankfully the dirt provided some grip and I stopped. Much to my amazement, the 110 did no better than the torquey 2WD Mazda. Actually, sliding felt worse for lack of ABS.
I admitted defeat, got in the wife's Outback, which promptly asked "I thought you said there was some snow?" as we cruised up the hill without so much as a stutter. :doh:
It's worth saying that my v8 110 is a 1987 model - and I think it still has the original 7.50R16 tires
(only 40k miles on the clock so they look old, but fine). They passed MOT last year without comment and I've only done 1k miles since. 20 minutes ago I ordered a set of new 235/85r16 BFG AT tires. Now with the tires sorted (and my dignity already in shreds from previous battery-hunting misadventures) that leaves the driver. There are so many LZ stories about fun in the snow so please, tell me, what I was doing wrong? I humbly submit to your advice (and likely abuse) for how not to make a mockery of the Landy name.
![[JP]](/data/avatars/m/29/29578.jpg?1437394565){kind=avatar}
