Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Land Rover Stair Climb

I just saw on TV the land rover commercial showing a climb up rock steps in China. Since I don't have any stairs available to test, can anyone tell me how difficult it is to climb steps with a 4WD? it doesn't appear to me that it should be very difficult.

it's a PIA, basically you have to have enough toque to the ground to climb over a wheel chock. Then either even traction or a locking diff. so tires don't spin. Gravity is a bitch to overcome. this is a situation where a larger tire is huge advantage.

I saw a recent list of Worst Vehicles and LandRover made the list behind Jeep.

Yeah, I tried a Land Rover, won't make that mistake again. Bought a new 1995 Discovery, kept it 5 yrs, about 95K miles. Everything that could leak did. Intake manifold gasket (twice), oil pan gasket, front and rear differential seals, front drive swivel pin housings, Yada Yada yada. Hoses rotted out, dashboard warped, the Lucas electrics still had bakelite insulated connectors. A real shame because the basic design and capabilities were really good, was a great truck when it wasn't in the shop, best vehicle ever on snowy roads, BUT material choices and assembly really sucked.

Yup - Torque, traction and throttle control - you want a slow throttle tip in to go up fairly smoothly. Not the application for a quick throttle response. Look at the guys and rigs doing rock crawling, same thing, stairs are just even/consistent.

Tricky part is getting on and off the stairs. Front and rear overhangs have to be short enough not to drag getting on the stairs, and your ground clearance and breakover angles need to get you off the stairs onto flat ground at the top without hanging up.

I buy the April Auto test issue of Consumer Reports and they had very little good to say about any of the six Land Rover models listed. Overall score ranged from 39 to 55 out f 100 with every one tagged as much worse than average in predicted reliability. The Toyota Highlander and Land Cruiser both scored 87 and 75 as a comparison. Of the 20 Toyota's tested, 15 of them were "Recommended" and only the Tacoma didn't rate much better than average for reliability. A Land Rover sure wouldn't be on my must have list.

Maybe the most important thing in a stair climb would be having a wheelbase that had either the front or the rear climbing a stair, but not both. If both front and rear need to climb at the same time, surprisingly small obstacles can stop you.

Oh, come on guys. I see it in the movies all the time. You don't even need a 4x4.

....long time ago there was a guy that rode his motorcycle up an interior stairwell in my college dorm...

Why don't the Brits make computers?


They can't figure out how to make them leak fluid.