Andrew St.Pierre White
There was an entire dry lake bed (Lake Mormon) on which to camp. And there were thousands of roof-tents and trailers attached to every 4x4 type you can imagine. But one thing was missing - not a single Toyota Land Cruiser 70-series of any type. I always get a homely feeling when I see one, so I spent the week a little home-sick. While there were most 4x4 makers on Earth represented in one way or another, amazingly, I saw three Steyr Puch Pinzgauers. The motorcycles section was vast, with a huge array of kit and accessories on display or for sale. The only manufacturer that made any effort at all was Land Rover. A local franchise was involved with a selection of new Range Rovers, Range Rover Sports, LR4s and Evoques giving rides over what looked like a typical, easy-going marketing track. And some North American Land Rovers groups were involved with teaching subjects such as winching, recovery, trailing and overland.
Many visitors to this blog are here to research how to stop their alarm system from sounding randomly and reporting (erroneously) that the hood (bonnet) is open. This is a common glitch with several Land Rover models, including LR3, LR4, Range Rover Sport, and even Range Rovers. The culprit is a low cost micro switch that's located in the passenger-side hood latch assembly. The switch goes bad and reports that the hood is open when it isn't. I've posted several entries about this problem (this one has photos), and have described 2 ways of fixing it: (1) replacing the switch, and (2) shorting the circuit. I don't know if the problem still persists or if it affects the 2015 model year. I decided to buy a replacement sensor for my car, just so I'd be prepared. My previous posts were about my old 2008 LR3. I checked my new car and discovered that the 2015 LR4 is slightly different.
It鈥檚 not necessarily a bad thing. Back in the 2013 I spend a day off-roading a new Range Rover with the Terrain Response system and was rather impressed by it. Using a combination of brakes, traction control, locking differentials (optional front and center), and accelerator pedal response, the Defender will try to drive itself over whatever rough stuff you tell it to go over. There is an automatic mode, too. Most importantly, the driver can override everything and take full control. Water fording feature is a new thing on the Defender. When selected, it raises the suspension, sets climate control to recirculate, and taps the brakes to dry off the pads and rotors once out of the water. Maximum water fording depth in the Defender is 35.4-inch, a significant five inches more than the Wrangler Rubicon. There are two engines available in the U.S.-spec Defender. 296 @ 5,500rpm and 295 lb.-ft.
What do Apple CEO Steve Jobs, comedian Chris Rock, prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, the story developers at Pixar films, and the Army Chief of Strategic Plans all have in common? Bestselling author Peter Sims found that all of them have achieved breakthrough results by methodically taking small, experimental steps in order to discover and develop new ideas. His work has appeared in the Harvard Business Review , Fortune , and TechCrunch ? Reuters and Harvard Business Review blogs.? Little Bets: How Big Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries. Q: What is a "little bet"? A: A little bet is a low-risk action taken to discover, develop, and test an idea. So, for instance, Chris Rock develops new comedy routines by making little bets with small audiences, while Amazon鈥檚 CEO Jeff Bezos makes small bets to identify opportunities in new markets. Little bets are at the center of an approach to get to the right idea described in the book that any of us can learn without getting stymied by perfectionism, risk-aversion, or excessive planning.
