I just wondered when was the last time you walked down your local street and saw someone with even the bonnet up on a car let alone working on one

Me, most weekends 👍 Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

When I see the queues at the car wash places I don’t think many people even wash their cars themselves nowadays.

I do EVERYTHING myself only time any of my vehicles go near a garage is for the MOT. 2013 FL2 XS.
Defender 90 300 TDi.
Defender 90 300 TDi CSW.
1964 MGB Roadster.
1944 Willys MB "Jeep" with bullet holes. (gone)
17 hand Irish Drought Thoroughbred (mostly lame)
Nagging Old Boiler.

Rommel, you are so lucky that you can still do the work.
I am now 82 and really have to use my local garage for most things.
Still look after the car as best i can. Jim A
Fl2 HSE 2010 auto
Disco 2Td5 auto 2002 gone
Disci 1 300Tdi auto 1996 gone

A few of my neighbours do bits on their own cars from time to time and I'll often wander over for a quick chat, but not for too long as it's normally when I'm out tinkering with one of ours...

I think the only ones I see working on cars in drive’s are the mobile vans. There was a tyre van working this week down the road

You should have come down our street today replacing Flexi hoses, sod of a job but got it done in the end

janderson41 wrote:

Rommel, you are so lucky that you can still do the work.
I am now 82 and really have to use my local garage for most things.
Still look after the car as best i can.

Failing eye sight is my annoyance.
Varifocals are very poor for working under cars as the near vision bit is limited to the bottom of the lens. I have at times balanced them upside down on my nose when peering up into the wheel arches.
For serious car DIY work I use some cheap fixed lens. Jules

Just a driver wrote:

I just wondered when was the last time you walked down your local street and saw someone with even the bonnet up on a car let alone working on one

Some people don’t even make it to the driveway and just park on the road. To be fair a lot of garages are too small now for today’s cars. Walking around our estate a fair few have converted garage into rooms now so no garage at all.

Early on in FL2 ownership I did try putting my FL2 into my home garage. I then had to drive it back out as I could not open any doors.

My home is designed around cars from the 1960s, and my driveway was designed by me in the 80s to take 2 Triumph Dolomites, one in the garage and one to the side on the drive.

My FL2 just about fits allowing the gates to close, and anything longer has to skew across in front of house.

I no longer am able to do much, if any, maintenance other than the normal driver's checks.

I was relying on having a Land Rover Extended Warranty to keep me on the road, but I may be having second thoughts, as at the moment having had to make a claim for my failed Rear Differential, I am finding the system not all that satisfactory. Although it looks as if they will pay for the repair, the experience is not proving to be that 'seamless' and very disconnected and clunky.

When I finally get my car back I will write about about my experience, which includes having to contact the Land Rover CEO, to see if his office can help with getting answers from their various subcontractors. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 76k+ miles) (MY2015)

We await your report  Jules

jules wrote:

Failing eye sight is my annoyance.
Varifocals are very poor for working under cars as the near vision bit is limited to the bottom of the lens. I have at times balanced them upside down on my nose when peering up into the wheel arches.
For serious car DIY work I use some cheap fixed lens.