Faults:

When bought, the battery was nearly dead and needed to be replaced after 2 months of winter-cold.

The alternator was the real problem, not charging the battery enough and had to be overhauled after 10 months. A complete overhaul cost 150 Euros, although a new replacement can be found cheaper, but I do like the original ruggedness, and at least you know that it will fit in without a glitch, costing me only 1/4 hour to replace.

The speedometer was not working well when I bought it, and I found a new one for 80 pounds which I replaced in a few hours.

The power steering box (PAS) was leaking when I bought it, and sealing-additive was good enough to get me going for 1 year. But then it really starting spilling oil and I bought a new PAS box for 180 pounds to replace it, which took me about a full weekend day.

General Comments:

This is a great car to drive in any weather, you'll feel safe wherever you go and gives great fun. The powerful V8 has a terrific sound, the driving position is great and very comfortable, even when driving long holiday routes for thousands of kilometers.

It has enough power to go with the flow of modern autobahns, comfortable cruising at 130-140 km/h speeds and overseeing the road ahead in very heavy traffic.

Lots of room in the back for a complete family to go on holiday, even when the boot is filled with a 80 litre LPG tank, you can still look through the rear window.

The fun is that this car is my youth-dream come true, and as parts are cheap and technology is quite simple, you can do it yourself and bring the car in a better shape than before.

The overall running costs are very decent at about 250 euros per month last year (over about 15000 kms), which is half what I would pay for my lease-car if I would drive that for private use (due to Dutch tax-regime).

Faults:

It never lets me down, but every time it is serviced, a lot of small repairs need to be done, which is not surprising considering the age of the car.

Oil consumption is quite considerable, both in burning and through leakage. The oil leakage only happens during driving through a gasket which has had its time. Replacing of this gasket however requires the removal of the engine, so this will have to wait until an engine revision.

General Comments:

Comfortable car with a relatively silent engine. However this is offset by the noise produced by the transmission.

Acceleration is not very impressive, but it does easily maintain a 90 mph cruising speed.

Incredibly powerful in pulling and carrying heavy loads. Excellent off-road performance.

Unfortunately a monster on fuel consumption, I am already happy if I make 10 miles to the gallon...