Defender 90 or 110 questions

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vwlt

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After having a pain not being able to get up to my house for the past 2 weeks, I have decided that I am going to need a real 4x4 for the winter rahter than my car based AWD.

I would like to look at defenders, but have absolutely no experience of them. One bit of info that I find difficult to get is the height of a defender and will it fit under 1.9 m height restrictions like the discovery ?

Apologies for the daft question, but I'd like to see if I could lve with one on a daily basis, as my milage is not huge and have minimal motorway driving.

Also, what year is the best compromise of economy/reliability.

Thanks for the help

vwlt
 
vwlt said:
One bit of info that I find difficult to get is the height of a defender and will it fit under 1.9 m height restrictions like the discovery ?
Also, what year is the best compromise of economy/reliability.

vwlt
Click to expand...


Depends whether it's a 90 or a 110. (110 higher not sure how much by tho ),
Also depends whether it's been lifted or not?
The size of the tyres and the age.

Factory standard
Series I Height, 73.5 in (1867 mm)
Series II, IIa, III SWB Height, 77.5 in (1969 mm)
Series II, IIa, III LWB Height, 81.0 in (2057 mm)
1990s 90 Height, 80.2 in (2037 mm)
2000s 90 Height, 80 in (2032 mm)
110 Height, 90.0 in (2286 mm)

My Local car park says 2.2 but I still has to dodge the lights :D :D :D
 
This is exactly what I did last December. I ended up with a 2002 Defender 90, which arrived just in time for the January snow.

I've not had any problems with height restrictions. Generally, I find I am just ok to go in multi-storey carparks and the like.

My advice? Do it!
 
I've had both a 90 and 110 and while I love the 90s there's no way I would change my 110 for one again.

Basically if you are going to need to carry more than 2 people regularly and with other stuff in the back then go for the 110. I'm fairly sure that there's no difference in height between my 110 and the 90 we had (depends on the tyres though but I kept the BFGs when we sold the 90).

To put it in perspective I used to be able to squeeze 5 people into the 90 plus shooting kit - but it was a squeeze. With the 110 I can carry the same amount of equipment but take 9 people this time. Or 5 in comfort and a huge amount of equipment (sometimes stupidly so).

E
 
ed.poore said:
I've had both a 90 and 110 and while I love the 90s there's no way I would change my 110 for one again.

Basically if you are going to need to carry more than 2 people regularly and with other stuff in the back then go for the 110. I'm fairly sure that there's no difference in height between my 110 and the 90 we had (depends on the tyres though but I kept the BFGs when we sold the 90).

To put it in perspective I used to be able to squeeze 5 people into the 90 plus shooting kit - but it was a squeeze. With the 110 I can carry the same amount of equipment but take 9 people this time. Or 5 in comfort and a huge amount of equipment (sometimes stupidly so).

E
Click to expand...

Yup agree with that - the amount of stuff you can get in a 110 is ridiculous. Been up to Scotland a couple of times in my 110, myself and four mates, camping gear for all of us for a week including 3 tents, all my photography gear, cooking equipment etc etc - and two 3 man canoes on the roof. Admittedly the Tdi did struggle a little on some of the hills in the lake district but it got us there :D 29 MPG overall as well, not too bad at all!
 
Langers said:
Admittedly the Tdi did struggle a little on some of the hills
Click to expand...
Haven't had that issue with my 300, did drive home from London with a sofa-bed (pretty damn heavy with all the metal work in it), 2 tables, 2 chests, 5 chairs, all my climbing stuff (3x60m ropes + basically lumps of metal), all my shooting stuff and most of my sisters books from Uni.

As I'm a cheapskate and enjoy the Heads of the Valleys more than the M4 I went back that way to avoid the toll and was still overtaking most family saloons / hatchbacks on the hills...

Me thinks there's something wrong with it - neither the 90 or the 88 went this well... :rolleyes:

[Edit]Going slightly over the top tomorrow - our club's range in London is flooding so we're moving all the kit over Christmas so got the 110 and a trailer... (no idea how big this trailer is yet...).[/Edit]
 
jai_landrover said:
HD rear springs as they can carry a decent payload
Click to expand...

Depends if it's a CSW or not. The CSWs have a self-levelling unit to compensate, i.e. normal road-springs (although slightly stiffer than the 90 as there's more body back there from what I remember) and then the self-levelling unit assists the springs when the load gets huge.

Still not sure whether mine works or not...
 
ed.poore said:
Haven't had that issue with my 300, did drive home from London with a sofa-bed (pretty damn heavy with all the metal work in it), 2 tables, 2 chests, 5 chairs, all my climbing stuff (3x60m ropes + basically lumps of metal), all my shooting stuff and most of my sisters books from Uni.

As I'm a cheapskate and enjoy the Heads of the Valleys more than the M4 I went back that way to avoid the toll and was still overtaking most family saloons / hatchbacks on the hills...

Me thinks there's something wrong with it - neither the 90 or the 88 went this well... :rolleyes:

[Edit]Going slightly over the top tomorrow - our club's range in London is flooding so we're moving all the kit over Christmas so got the 110 and a trailer... (no idea how big this trailer is yet...).[/Edit]
Click to expand...


Ha ha nice. Last time we went to Scotland it would just about hold 55-60 mph up the steepest hills, but I hadn't tuned up my fuelling yet, so it'll be interesting to see if it makes a difference next year.

The two canoes and roof rack on top seem to make a big difference when it comes to drag as well, as it goes much better without them. I'm wondering whether it would make more sense to strap them onto my trailer next time and remove the roof rack?
 
Langers said:
Ha ha nice. Last time we went to Scotland it would just about hold 55-60 mph up the steepest hills, but I hadn't tuned up my fuelling yet, so it'll be interesting to see if it makes a difference next year.
Click to expand...

Admittedly I did have to remove the 2nd row seats because the sofa was 1/2" too long to fit in because of the "foot" for the middle seat. If that could have collapsed up then the seats could have stayed. Ended up unbolting them and rearranging them between the chests and the roof.

Langers said:
The two canoes and roof rack on top seem to make a big difference when it comes to drag as well, as it goes much better without them. I'm wondering whether it would make more sense to strap them onto my trailer next time and remove the roof rack?
Click to expand...

Probably - unless the trailers bigger than the Landy :rolleyes:
 
I may have made my local multi-story abit bigger the other day :eek: The plaster fell off the roof :D That is (was) 2.2M apparently! (I have my doubts as Ratty can get in a 2.2 with a light bar on? Mine has ribbed roof and was empty but he has much bigger tyres than me?)
 
Last edited:
well i gotta say just do it. I am also new to this and got my 1st defender 2 months ago. managed to get it tested and was just fitting my new tyres in the snow 2 weeks ago today. its a shabby old 1987 110 and i converted it to a 200tdi. all my neighbours laughed at me when i brought it home on a rescue truck when i purchased it. but they all love it now. came in great for fetching the street an indian take away when no one else could get out. I love her to bits and cant wait til the summer to start tidying the old beast up.
 
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