Land Rover lovers hit back

In the interests of fairness, we'll be publishing some of the Land Rover fans' comments in Farmers Weekly tomorrow. Here's a sneak preview of one of the pieces, penned by self-confessed Land Rover devotee Andrew Shirley:

"I pull up at the traffic lights in the centre of Nairobi, the taxi driver alongside looks at me, starts to wind down his window, My heart beats faster - car jacking is rife in this town.

But he just cocks his head, listens to the gentle gurgle of the V8 Land Rover lump under my bonnet, looks at me, raises his thumb and says three words. "Sweet man, sweet."

I smile to myself, the lights go green, I gun the engine, the V8 howls and I'm gone. Nothing can stop me now - Adventures here I come. Keep your Land Cruiser, keep your Pajero, keep your Patrol and, frankly, stuff your twin cab where the sun doesn't shine, Land Rovers are where it's at.

Of course, not every Landy owner is lucky enough to run a V8-powered beast, but every one of Solihull's finest has got something to commend it. Some say over three-quarters of the Land Rovers ever built are still running. I believe them.

Head to the highlands of Kenya and you'll find Series Ones, Twos and Threes all still rattling on. They are the rough-road taxi of choice in this part of Africa. Japanese 4x4's slowly rot by the wayside, but the Landies endure.

And there's a reason. On these pages, in last week's mean-spirited denouncement of the world's greatest off-roader, Charlie Flint quibbles about trifles like doors not fitting properly, but Charlie old chap, you're just missing the point. These babies are easy to beat back into shape and they go on and on. Soggy feet - are you a man or a mouse?

They may have a few little idiosyncrasies, but then so does anything truly desirable. You wouldn't leave your beautiful wife just because she forgot to cook your dinner one day. Anything that works 100% of the time is just plain boring and Land Rovers are never boring.

The fact that people can remember exactly what went wrong when with their Landy sums it all up. With most anonymous, run-of-the-mill off-roaders you probably wouldn't even remember what make it was, let alone what the problem was. Owning a Land Rover is like a love affair with a feisty woman. I just don't think some people are up to the job.

Back in the UK, I walk into my local newsagent and ask for a copy of Land Cruiser Owner International, he just laughs. "Nah mate, you're thinking of that Land Rover magazine." My point exactly."

If you've want to share your views on Land Rovers, you can do so at the FWi forums.