Club 80-90 Forums

Pete, I think I bumped into your syncro, and it's owner, back in 1993 (?) when I came across it in the Matford Industrial Estate, in Exeter. I remember it had a row of air-con vents along the modified dash, and was running 15" wheels. The guy, as you say, had a business doing overland trips in Africa. We had a conversation about electric winches, which he was a fan of, as he had done many wide river crossings using just the winch, and thought they were the only way to go. I had my D plate U.K spec syncro, and the wheels looked a bit small in comparison. Must be your van, mustn't it?

In my opinion you build reliability into a vehicle through exhaustive maintenance, you can make a syncro reliable, and also a land rover. Having had both, I prefer the syncro, with it's superior build quality, corrosion resistance, and logic (flat four excepted!!)

I had a Range Rover Classic, lovely thing, but the family would feel sick in it after a time with all the swaying about, the syncro is so much more comfortable. A syncro camper is the ultimate vehicle, it is the Swiss army knife of the motoring world in that it can have a stab at anything, and do them all reasonable well. Because it is a versatile vehicle, it is not as good an offroader as a Land Rover, but then it was never meant or designed to be. The diff locks and VC were design genius, allowing the vehicle certain off road ability. The land rover is designed as an off roader, and is compromised at everything else, I hate defender cabs, they are so small and cramped. For space you would have to compare a syncro to a 130, which is an unwieldy heavy expensive silly thing. I recon a good syncro is 95% the off roader to a 130 inch landy, and still has more room, more comfort, better turning circle. Had Land Rover put as much effort into the Defender as VW put into the Syncro, then they would be market leaders still, but Land Rover took it's eye off the game, which is a shame.

syncrosimon wrote: I recon a good syncro is 95% the off roader to a 130 inch landy

Having had a few Landys I reckon the Syncro is far better off road than the 130 but a 110 is the dogs nads Ground clearance seems better on the Syncro but as mentioned the approach angle is the real achiles heel

[quote] Must be your van, mustn't it?

What a memory Simon! It sure is the same van and it impressed me the same when I first saw it when he arrived back from Oz. I said to Keith "if you ever want to sell that van let me know" unfortunatly I had to wait 9 years, but it had been safely garaged undercover along with his vintage Porshe, Merc etc. and virtually never used but VW serviced every year. The poor guy was diagnosed terminaly ill and wanted to put his affairs in order otherwise I dont think he would have ever sold.

Quote:
"If you want to go into the desert, take a landrover. If you want to come back, take a Toyota."

Couldn't agree more. We've run all manner of 4x4's including Landy's (Range Rover, SIII, Disco), Mahindra, Jeep and two Toyota Landruisers (FJ45 & BJ75 - Troop carrier). Did expeditions in Africa & Oz in the TLC's - both tough as the proverbial. We encountered lots of broken landy stories and actually towed one around Botswana for a while until we could get the engine rebuilt.

Point is if you want to go an expedition, you actually try to avoid extreme off roading wherever possible. If you want extreme off roading as per day trials / events, then choose your stead and be prepared to break it and repair it frequently. Different models each have their weaknesses. In the UK, Landy's generally reign supreme because of price, spares availability and possibly 'best of British' pride. Having said that, one off-road centre I know find it cheaper to pick up cheap 4x4's for a few hundred quid, run them for a while and scrap them

Personally I wouldn't want to abuse a syncro as much as I've seen Landy's abused. For me the advantage of a syncro is more flexible loading, comfort, occassional extra traction when needed and the fun of being in the VW 'club'.

To answer the original question, I'd use a hi-lux for the uses mentioned.

Hi - I'm genuinely curious as to whether the Mitubishi Delica's (e.g. L400) are any good as a Syncro substitute. I understand they have the same running gear as a Shogun. I had a quick scout around the net for a mate but could not see any camperised Delica's for sale.

Cheers

Steffan

hi steffan,we had one of them mitsi's,reliable,comfy but tiny inside and being auto not very good on fuel,and there not the same as shoguns underneath believe me,cj.

if you are looking for a l400 i`ve still got mine. you can have it cheap as i`m sticking with the syncro

and there not the same as shoguns underneath believe me,cj.

me time served Mitsi mechanic mate would argue they as near as dammit to some bizarre specced Jap only Pajero though

The 4m40 2.8 engine is used in quite a few Shogun / Pajero's, the super select 4wd system / auto box and some Shoguns have an identical rear axle

When I go to local dealer he quite often cross refers the Delica part with uk Shogun

On road, like CJ said, very comfy, easy to drive but not great on juice (20 mpg for me, but know people easily getting late 20's with a few tweaks). The 'high' top ones are about the size of a low roof SWB T4 inside

Off road, dunno, the air con rad is dangling under one side, the oil filter is right up against the sump guard and there's no sliders for the prop etc. Body roll and exit angle could be a worry too

I like mine, don't get me wrong, but wish hadn't bought it. Keep looking at it and thinking . . .dunno . .what it's for?

just for an up date, he kept his landrover, but he is throwing dead animals in the back of it all the time so its probably for the best

Cornishpete it's a funny old world.
I shipped our 1990 Syncro from the UK to Oz when we moved home from Bristol in 2002.
I know of a couple of other privately imported UK spec'd Syncro's here but had not previously heard of any Aussie ones in the UK.

Andy.