New Defender

I had a test drive of the new defender recently and am thinking of changing to it. It has only recently arrived in Australia.
How is it performing, any problems showing up?
I currently have a 99 TD5 and while it has gone well for 208000 km, there have been the usual range of problems such as oil in the wiring harness, headlight switch, oil pump bolt, poor aircon, rear door weakness.
Has Landrover's quality control improved in the last couple of years?
Regards
Graham Long

i believe so.

sometimes it's not so much of the problems that bug me, it's the dealership that really ****es me off.

i had the oil in the wiring harness, but i caught it early. the dealership even told me it's not a problem!! so i just paid SG$120 and fixed it, headlight switch melted as usual, fixed it for $230 by purchasing the part at the dealership, they wanted to charge me another 90 for labour to fit it!!

oil pump bolt problem has been corrected at 01 MY i believe. poor aircon, don't even bother with the factory unit, i've a custom made one and it's nice and cold till the glass can fog up on the outside. rear door is a single piece 02 MY and beyond.

I think he means the NEW defender... with the 2.4 transit engine.

Yes thanks, I am interested in comments on the new mopdel defender that has the 2.4 l motor.

Graham Long

My mate, who'se a farmer, has got a new one and I had a drive in it at the weekend. The engine, gearbox and heating / ventilation are a quantum leap forward from the TD5 that he had previously. It's smooth, quiet, powerful and much more refined.
He's had it 3 months and covered 4000 miles with no problems. He uses it on and off road every day and tows heavy trailers. He loves it.
The problem that I had was fitting into it! It's a Truck Cab and the new dashboard / facia intrudes into the cabin more. There's also more thickness to the interior trim so the seat doesn't slide back quite so far. I'm 6ft 4" and 16 stone and would have found it very uncomfortable on a long journey.
I believe that a van or CSW would be better, because they have no centre bulkead. I also hear that many buyers of these are fitting MUD seat rails, to allow the seat to move further back, although you can't do that with a truck cab.

Treworgey 90 said:

I'm 6ft 4" and 16 stone and have found it very uncomfortable .

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thinks! file away fur future

in my humble opinion the new Landy is going to be one of the best yet...the new ford engine is a tried and tested one and is well known for its reliability. Only thing i dont like is they are getting too fancy on the interior. I prefer the older models cos they are basic, simple and suit the function the vehicle was intended to perform.

Sounds like a bloody Transit van though!!!

yeah it does Ed. And too damned quiet too...still like the good ole racket from a TD5...pure opera

i like the new interior . but can you still have the middle front row seat ?

No you can't, don't think that has been available for quite a while now.

o rite you could in a td5

It's largely a legal thing. On new vehicles all forward facing seats must now have lap & diagonal belts, not impossible, but a major re-engineering job, when most buyers would rather have a cubby box anyway.
Don't know about export markets though.

Bushtoy said:

in my humble opinion the new Landy is going to be one of the best yet...the new ford engine is a tried and tested one and is well known for its reliability. Only thing i dont like is they are getting too fancy on the interior. I prefer the older models cos they are basic, simple and suit the function the vehicle was intended to perform.

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Not well known for its reliability you mean surely?
Work in ford main dealer and the problems we get wi 2.4 tranny include
1. injector failure
2. pump failure
3. Timing chain jumps (guess the consiquences of that!)

So not the most reliable unit ever, its a pity landy cant source BMW diesel engines anymore

hate 2 say this, but why dont they cut the crap and source a Jap motor. A good friend owns a game farm, and has only ever used toyota, his oldest having done well over 500,000 km and still purrs.

NO SLITTYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Otherwise we will get fatman out again