Newcomer - decision time

Hello bays and maids! I'm new here, devonshire boy born and bred, always loved defenders, never had enough money to buy one, until now have finally scrabbled together a few quid and ready to delve into landy ownership. Heart says defender, head (and wife) says modern(ish) disco. Only need it for the weekends for me, wifey and 4yr old. What would you do peeps?! Cheers!

hi and welcome

i can answer questions ref discovery 3s , have done a buyers guide , any further plse feel free to ask

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/buyers-guide.312800/

there’s also further info in the defender and discovery sections

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/forum/defender-90-110-130.7/

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/forum/land-rover-discovery.8/

of course money will indeed determine what u can get , in accordance to its age, history, condition etc

indeed all comes down to will it just be used for family days out , what are ur requirements , what kind of money are u looking at plse

Hi G!

Thanks for your reply. I have looked at your D3 guide before, an excellent piece of work! I made the mistake of testing an 8-speed SDV6 D4 last week but can’t really afford it (Doh!). Was a lovely drive though.

Budget is about £13k for a defender or £18k for a disco as the wife will sell her car for a disco but not for a defender! Requirements are mainly travel in the south west, daily drive at the weekend, hopefully soon getting into camping trips with the little’un, fancy a bit of green laning, nothing too hardcore though I expect in all honesty. Don’t mind a bit of light tinkering although I’m no mechanic!

Cheers!

Denoir said:

Hello bays and maids! I'm new here, devonshire boy born and bred, always loved defenders, never had enough money to buy one, until now have finally scrabbled together a few quid and ready to delve into landy ownership. Heart says defender, head (and wife) says modern(ish) disco. Only need it for the weekends for me, wifey and 4yr old. What would you do peeps?! Cheers!

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What I’d maybe do, might not be suitable for you.

Defenders are cool. But you pay a massive premium for them. Even more so as they are fashion icons at the moment.

I’d weigh up what you are wanting. Take the body off a Disco 1 or RRC and they are almost identical to a Defender. Ie same suspensions, axles, gearboxes etc and have the same abilities.

If you are happy to accept a Defender will always be a bit crude, unrefined and not a lot of space. Then go for it. Have you driven one or been in one?

If you want comfort, space and refinement. Then they are just the wrong vehicle. You see it time and time again on this forum and others. People buy a Defender because they think it’s cool and cool to be seen in. Often claiming that they’ve always wanted one. And it’s the best thing since sliced bread. For a week until the novelty wears off. Then they realise and post back asking about different seats, more power, making it ride better. Many sell at this point. But lots then spend humongous amounts of money blinging up their Defender in an effort to make it do what they are expecting. And of course it doesn’t. And very few of these owners seem to stick around long.

I’m not saying you are one of these. Just wanting you to have the right expectations

Dynamically a Discovery is superior to a Defender in every respect. The only thing the Defender is better at is maybe the utility side of things with easily taking the carpets out to wash the inside out. And off road the body is less vulnerable to damage.

NVH is poor on a Defender due to how they are constructed. The body is mounted metal to metal on the chassis. On a Disco/RR this is not the case. The body is isolated from the chassis. This means that even if you spend £10k on refinement mods. A Disco/RR will always be better and have more comfortable space.

If you haven’t been in a Defender. Try one first and really think about if it is what you want.

I have 3 Land Rovers. Two Series motors, one of which my girlfriend hates going in. The other she refuses to even get in. I also have a Range Rover and she actually asks to go in that.

Denoir said:

Hi G!

Thanks for your reply. I have looked at your D3 guide before, an excellent piece of work! I made the mistake of testing an 8-speed SDV6 D4 last week but can’t really afford it (Doh!). Was a lovely drive though.

Budget is about £13k for a defender or £18k for a disco as the wife will sell her car for a disco but not for a defender! Requirements are mainly travel in the south west, daily drive at the weekend, hopefully soon getting into camping trips with the little’un, fancy a bit of green laning, nothing too hardcore though I expect in all honesty. Don’t mind a bit of light tinkering although I’m no mechanic!

Cheers!

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Ok didn’t see your budget for my first reply.

As said, Defenders are cool. I’ve been in and around Land Rovers all my life. Learning to drive in one at age 11 and my first car being a 300Tdi 90.

As a family we’ve had in the region of 50 different examples and various models.

The D3/4 is a world apart from a traditional 4x4. Lots of mod cons and refinements. Superb vehicles, but complex and somewhat detached with it. Being that they are trying to be more car like. I do like these vehicles. But they are a completely different proposition.

In terms of Defenders. £13k you’ll be looking at Td5’s and maybe 2.4 Puma’s at a guess. Both have merits. But it comes back to what you are really wanting from the Vehcile and what you are prepared to put up with. In reality a £2500 Discovery (yes a D1 or D2) are actually way better vehicles than Defenders. So you are completely paying the £10,000+ premium for the look and image. Although to be fair, residuals are also quite good. But still, it’s quite a thing to swallow.

I would also highly recommend looking at the JK Jeep Wrangler. They come in 3 door swb, same size as a D90 and a 5 door lwb Unlimited, which is the same size as a D110.

The big difference with the Jeep vs Defender is. The Defender was launched in the early 1980’s based on an evolution of a designed launched in 1958. And LR did a fairly poor job of really updating it. Eg the axles on all Defenders hail from a pre WW2 Rover car!!!!

The Jeep on the other hand was a clean sheet design launched in 2006 and has only just been updated this year (the new JL isn’t even available in the U.K. yet).

The difference is. The Wrangler offers all of the coolness and attributes of the Defender. Huge heritage and military legacy. Boxy body design. Ladder chassis. Live axles and supreme off road capability.

But does it using modern much better components. Better more powerful engine, better gearbox, better stronger axles. Better body design, better space, comfort, NVH and refinement. Faster, better mpg and it even has better off road abilities too. As well as having additional fun features. Features that would be awesome for camping or green laning. Such as a removable roof, fold down windscreen and even lift off removable doors.

The Wrangler won’t be quite as speedy or luxurious as a D4. But pretty much matches 2.7 TDV6 D3 for pace. But it will offer similar levels of civility to the Discovery’s but with all the perks of the Defender.

My 2nd advice would be to drive a Defender AND drive a Wrangler and compare.

Denoir said:

Hi G!

Thanks for your reply. I have looked at your D3 guide before, an excellent piece of work! I made the mistake of testing an 8-speed SDV6 D4 last week but can’t really afford it (Doh!). Was a lovely drive though.

Budget is about £13k for a defender or £18k for a disco as the wife will sell her car for a disco but not for a defender! Requirements are mainly travel in the south west, daily drive at the weekend, hopefully soon getting into camping trips with the little’un, fancy a bit of green laning, nothing too hardcore though I expect in all honesty. Don’t mind a bit of light tinkering although I’m no mechanic!

Cheers!

Click to expand...

hi

plus 1 what @300bhp/ton

good to hear it was of some use and at least gave u some insight , if i may add ref D3/D4 , belts are due every 105,000 miles or 7 x years and allow up to £8-900 for that

code reader is a must with these vehicles due to there complexity

lastly it can get very expensive if u need the use of a garage , ie for brakes, suspension bushes, air compressor etc, not trying to put u off but just being honest with u

also there’s insurance , defenders are indeed very easy to pinch

as mentioned have a test drive of other landys and see what u think, (can’t say the J**p word ) don’t forget take the boss with u, lol

Thanks for your replies guys!

Must admit I’ve never really given any consideration to a Jeep but will see about a test drive.

I’ve driven various TD5 and puma defenders at various points for years but never owned. I’m happy with the roughness of them and love knowing the capability is there to tackle anything. Wish I’d been in a position to buy one 10 years ago!

Think I need to test drive some more vehicles and see as they’re quite different!