It was a brilliant winter afternoon. The SCM 1991 928 S4, dark blue with blue leather, was slicing through the turns on Washington State Highway 14. It’s a two-lane road that follows the northern side of the Columbia Gorge. The road is vastly more interesting than the four-lane Interstate 84 on the southern side.
I hadn’t had the 928 out since late January. Who wants to drive a Porsche supercar when there is six inches of snow on the ground?
I’ve now put about 1,000 miles on it since it joined the SCM fleet. It’s a complicated and unusual car, and it’s taking me a while to bond with it.
The sound the four-valve V8 makes is tremendous – there’s almost a little Boss 302 or Camaro Z/28 coming out of the tailpipes. A noisier aftermarket exhaust might be fun.
The smell of the leather is intoxicating. And the airiness of the cockpit, with so much glass in the rear, gives the car a spacious feel inside.
I’m still having an analog rebellion with the antiquated dashboard; perhaps someday I’ll figure out if I can actually turn the HVAC system fan completely off. I still wonder what the large dial with the comet tail on the right side of the console does.
And why do I have the only windshield-mounted cell-phone holder that always comes unstuck and drops the cellphone into the driver’s side footwell when cornering in a spirited fashion?
Nonetheless, my 200-mile roundtrip from Portland to Stevenson, WA, was a delight. The 928 just lopes along at whatever speed you want, from legal to ticket-inducing, quietly and calmly. It stays flat in the turns, and the transmission kicks down when you need it to.
SCM is again a sponsor of the Oregon Region PCA NW Passage tour in June, and I look forward to spending three days and several hundreds of miles in my U-Boat. It still seems strange to drive a sports car from Stuttgart with the engine in the front. This car has a lot to teach me, and I am a willing student.
The next day I pulled another V8 out of the SCM fleet for an entirely different kind of adventure. I hadn’t driven the SCM 2000 Land Rover Disco 2 since mid-December. It had been ministered to by guru Doug Shipman, and everything works as it should. If I could only figure out how to reset the digital clock, that is. And I wonder if it is supposed to be illuminated when the headlights are on.
These are the kinds of pressing issues I am dealing with.
The Pacific Coast Rover Club was putting on a tour in Tillamook Forest. It was organized by Jesse Coombs, a former Camel Trophy competitor and coincidentally holder of the world record for longest free-fall in a kayak over a waterfall. I won’t be contesting him for that in the near (or far) future.
There were no Trans-Am V8 sounds when I fired up (or maybe we should just say started) the Disco. It has 213,519 carefully maintained miles and runs like a top. Compared to our previous weapons-grade turbo-diesel D90, the Disco is an off-road Cadillac.
We were to find that comfort has its drawbacks.
Our launch point was the Lyda OHV staging area, just one turnoff past Prison Camp Road. (Yes, I wondered about that as well.)
My pilot was SCM Tour Director and Fleet Wrangler Neil d’Autremont. He had never driven off-road before. This became his trial by fire.
Twenty rigs were assembled. The aforementioned six inches of snow blanketed the ground, and we had intermittent sunshine, rain, snow and hail during the day. In other words, perfect Rover weather.
My rig does not have a mechanical center-locking differential (something I am looking at having changed), but all the electronic wizardry is functioning as it should.
As the trail got steeper, we had increasing difficulty maintaining traction. Our tires were “all-season” which translates into “useless in the snow.”
The last downhill section was the steepest, rockiest trail I have ever been on. I told Neil that the differentials on Rovers are offset to the right, so to just keep putting the passenger side tire onto the biggest rocks and hang on.
I tried not to look worried, but a couple of times when our diff smashed into large rocks and we slid towards the edge of the road and a 1,000 foot drop, I wondered if driving the 928 in the Columbia Gorge wouldn’t have been just as much fun. A different kind of fun, of course. But without much concern of impending death.
Neil got us through the drive just fine.
My conundrum now is just what level do I prep the Disco to? I will probably only use it five or six times a year for Rover events. It will not be a daily driver. While converting it to a mechanical center diff-lock might give me a slight improvement in traction, the real issue is the tires, not the transfer case.
Yet if I put more aggressive tires on it, it will be noisier on the freeways, and it’s a 60-mile transit to most of our staging areas. I might also have to raise the Disco to get a more aggressive tire to fit, which might make it more difficult for me to get in and out of.
On the other hand, with the right tires today Neil would have waltzed up the trails like a mountain goat, rather than the rig feeling like a seal that was wallowing in the surf.
What would you do? Leave the Disco stock and just accept its limitations the five or six times a year that I use it? Get more aggressive tires and perhaps install a folding step in to help me get in – and just live with the noise?
Or maybe just wait for a Euro turbo-diesel D90 with a 300 TDI engine and fit an automatic?
These questions don’t exactly rank with dealing with climate change or effecting world peace. But we are in car-fanatic world, and these are gearhead-world questions.
I look forward to your thoughts.
Immaculate blue leather interior in the SCM 928 The U-Boat deserved some surface time in the sun 
Rovers in the snow 
Oregon coast range 
Rovers in the snow 
Rovers in the snow 
Rovers in the snow 
Rovers in the snow
Your commentary about the thousand foot drop, and wondering about instead driving the 928 made me laugh out loud! A different kind of fun…. I have no real input on whether to change the Disco, but had to grin as I have have had to listen to many a commentary about noisy tires on lengthy drives. If you make a change you regret, you can always sell it and buy something else????????. Thanks for the wonderful prose – carry on.
Great read, as always!
When I lived in Indiana, I had snow tires on both my 993 c4S (when it was my daily driver in 1997 – 2000) and my Range Rover Sport in 2009 – 2012. In both cases, they were Bridgestone Blizzaks. They worked well in snow and were not noisy on the interstate. Maybe try that?
Thanks for the blog
Do what I used to do. Buy another set of rims, fit the most aggressive snow tires you can find. Your Rover can easily swallow them for transport to your off road location. Swop rims using a small hydraulic jack / and have fun. When you’re finished, swop rims for a nice quiet drive home.
Easy ???? and functional.
For the 30+ years I drove Susan to Mt Hood to teach kids to ski, I put studded tires on. In the beginning, it was a two wheel drive Toyota pickup with two kids in the back with sand bags over the wheels. Then we graduated to a Four Runner with a locking diff. They never let me down. And I welcome every spring by changing back to street tires. In fact, I am headed to do that this morning.
Keith, On your 928 the knobs on the center lower panel control the rear AC unit. The left knob controls the fan speed and the one on the right (that looks like a comet) controls the temperature output. They only operate when the AC pushbutton is pushed in.
Hi Keith, fun notes as always. In my experience, it’s all about the tires. The only place you need big lugs is in deep mud. The only place for studs is on wet ice. I live in north Idaho, and we get all that every day – I have an X5 BMW and with Michelin X-Ice fitted (for the whole sloppy winter/spring mess) it is virtually unstoppable in any reasonable condition. Yes, the modern electronic wizardry plays a big part! And our R53 MINI Cooper S with Blizzaks is also completely sure-footed, until the snow gets 6″ or so deep. It really is about the tires!
I know its not in your DNA to do so Keith, but I would leave well enough alone. You were able to complete the entire run, even with “the last downhill section was the steepest, rockiest trail I have ever been on”, with the rover as is. So if its about the challenge making the fun here, why make it easier? If you have to do something to it just to console yourself and maybe make it more enjoyable I would just get a more aggressive tire that fits without getting a lift. No sense in making hard for you to get into while it can work better as is, and the added road noise is easy dealt with using the volume knob on the stereo.
Glad you are getting some miles on the U-boat, I’ve always told my self i ever was able to get one it would be blue on blue just like yours. As usual I’m jealous of both of your topics of the week!
I had a 2002 D2 and also loved it.. extremely capable off road, even stock with little modification. Mine was my daily driver, more or less, so I was reluctant to sacrifice a lot of comfort for off road ability. I did find some Nitto Grappler tires which were excellent off road, with very civilized on-road performance. I would start there, without the lift kit, etc. Maybe some rock sliders, and for sure, I think the locking central diff will greatly enhance your off road cred… or, move up to the LR3.. vastly better vehicle, with amazing off road prowess.. doesn’t have the ‘cool’ aspect of the D2, but it is an amazing vehicle, on and off road.. did 6K trip last summer which included some Colorado wheeling, and it was flawless. Here in Louisiana and Mississippi, the mud is legendary, and the LR never fails to impress all the Jeep guys, in nearly stock trim. Sliders, Nitto Ridge Runners, and that’s it.
Three words: Disco is dead.
A V8 LR4 checks all the boxes. Get one with under 50,000 miles and I would argue it’s a emerging classic in a few years as the LR brand is further diminished.