Sadly, the poxy transit engine and fords parts costcutting has caused this.....I had one, and nearly burnt it in frustration........TD5 is a far superior machine in every way
HI Stu, Ha ha ha ha. I agree the Td5 or better still the 300tdi are better. However, it might be the case the LR have sorted all the issues & finally got a good Puma Defender? I often wish I hadn't sold my 55plate Td5.
Its a shame really about the defenders build quality. At one point i nearly bought a new 90 CSW. But the build quality looked poor even brand new. And as if this was some justification, the salesman said " well it is a defender". Like that counts for crap quality. It was £23,000. Thankfully I walked away. Ive stuck with my old venerable V8 90 which rarely has put a foot wrong. Interestingly i bought a small skoda. a VRS diesel 1.9 130bhp and 231lb/ torque.And far better build quality than LR.
Build quality is not a term I would use to sell a new Defender, one sales chap told me "if it doesn't leak, it isn't a Land Rover", sad that I think. Your right about the high price vs quality, they simply are not worth it compared to some Jap stuff. I nearly bought a Mazda fully loaded 4x4 pick-up thing once over & regretted very very much buying a Td5 Disco instead, that was an evil spirited death trap. A good combination you have there hopefully too. The V8 90 will sound very nice I think?
For 9000 miles this is piss poor. The new defenders are worse for reliability than they were twenty years ago. Quite frankly they are crap. A new diff on 9000 miles is a joke. The V8 90s had the best diff combination. It was a five pinion diff. And my V890 has 200,000 miles on. And hasnt needed any attention in the last 50,000 miles. carburettors are simple but keep going. All these sensors are just more to go wrong. Take me to your dealer.
Hi Harker436, It is, it was & its someone elses problem now! The dealer I bought it from to be fair is very good. The dealer that did the repairs however made some very basic mistakes like "not connecting the turbo pipes properly" resulting in Series 3 diesel performance! One day I will have another Defender but not a Puma one unless they have them sorted. I don't see how they can build great motors like Range Rovers, Discovery's & Freelanders and then assemble crap like this?
So sorry to read this. Just got myself a 09 Defender 90 that has done about 17000k's. Had to change some parts in the back diff (Leaking a few drops of oil) But it has been working fine for a month + now :-D
Hello DingleZilla, I'm a big fan of Land Rover. It's sad to hear that the new Defender, yours in particular, is such unreliable. Defender has always been my dream car. I truly hope that Land Rover will do the right thing on the forthcoming all-new Defender. I'd like to ask for your suggestion, do you think 300 Tdi is the best model? I plan to buy one in the future but I want a very reliable one. Also, is Discovery 3 reliable? I heard that it's very unreliable in the U.S. Thank you in advance.
Hi pikoony, For some reason your channel is "not available"? I wouldn't recommend the Puma engined Defender based on my experience, maybe mine was built on a Friday or Monday following a hangover! 300Tdi gets my thumbs up, I saw a mint 29,000 pick-up at £10k! A very steep that but I would still like to have bought it at the right money, because they are better than the all electric management Td5's & Puma 2.4's. My brother has a 2005 Disco 3, no reliability issues at all to report!
@DingleZilla Thanks for the information. 300 Tdi will be my first choice then! Glad to hear that Disco 3 is quite reliable. I indeed heard that many people in the U.K. praise it a lot (and I adore it too) but I just haven't heard much from real owners. As you know, there are those "smart" people who know about everything and judge a car which they haven't owned.. Oh by the way, I checked my channel settings and somehow it was set to "invisible". You should be able to see my channel from now on.
Australian military thinks Land Rover are rubbish so thats why they're replacing them with better G wagons made by the GERMANS, what happened to good old english engineering....maybe the new POME generation are slack bastards and need a swift kick in the arse. A new Defender 90 here in Australia costs about $40000 which is way too much for a piece of crap.
Hi vaestanfors, I agree that some Land Rover's have faults & maybe there is some truth in what you say. However, Merc G Wagons are vastly more expensive in every respect & are not without fault! Having owned 43 LR's I am well placed to complain or praise them & cannot agree that they are a "piece of crap". The price of a G Wagon, quoted in AUD$127,138.17 so perhaps your army needs Range Rovers? Since the Aussies don't make anything you cannot complain, maybe your all "slack bastards" & not us!
Ford had to put their polished turd transit engine in a great car like that, they use cheap components which gives Land Rover a bad name, TATA should let Land Rover develop their own engine now. When I worked in a garage in weekends when I was at school a couple of years ago we used to have so many Fords in as they are so unreliable, had an old Defender with a TD5 once, just needed a trasfer box and it had done 200,000 miles, great cars though.
no no no no nooooo!!!! its nothing to do with tata! ford engine and ford diff's. they had the same problem with the transit diff's blowing up at less then 20'000 miles.
Well in my limited experience of life, when re-inventing, revising, improving, redesigning or otherwise modifying something that has done a job without issue for good old while if the improvements are unreliable one goes back to the original spec. Or make the improvements even heavier duty. There should be no need for this kind of crap. Have they learnt nothing in all these years? TATA or FORD, they are all to blame since they are/have been the owners.
may be parts made in india or eastern europe might make landrover better than landcruisers would that not be better than giving everything to toyota. the landrovers will always be made here. giving up and saying if things are made over seas would be the end of it is how B.L cars died. toyota out sourses parts to other countries. i would buy a defender tomorrow if it was reliable dose not matter where the parts came from. quality .i love landrovers but not when i broken down on the m6 again,
Hi 4wdiesel, An interesting statement you have made there in defence of Land Rover. Some of which is right & fair comment. I will never "drop" Land Rover for a Jap 4x4, but I have come very very close to it! But until LR build Defenders as good as Range Rover & Discovery, then I won't touch another new one. Td5 or older will be my choice. There are no excuses for such crap quality on a £20K motor Land Rover was built on being, dependable & repairable anywhere. Not any more it seems!
And as for out sourcing parts, yes of course motor firms do I know this. But cheap imports from low cost labour markets where relatively unskilled people make things for the high end Western markets is not the way forward because the attention to detail isn't there. "Made, not engineered" is the moto I apply to these suppliers. If LR want my money then they have to use high quality parts because they demand high prices & the "Best 4x4 x Far" crown! I would rather have an old Series 2 than new.
i understand it hard when you have some much faith in something and it lets you down from the start. landrover needs to step-up its quality control to a higher standard than toyota. i have read that tata company is 100% behind landrover unlike the past owners. management is the problem in england the old school tie boys need to go. the same with jaguar bad managers who don't even drive jags or landrovers. landrover and jaguar parts have been junk for a long time don't blame the new owners
hello, very sorry to hear about your defender problems, first of all no landrover parts are made in india and if they where they might be of better. i have had landrovers from a series 3, range rover and a defender. my uncle works for landrover and i started my working life working for british layland as a mechanic. landrover problems go way back and hopefully tata might sort them out and one again put landrover at the top. now i drive a toyota landcruiser and yes they have their own problem.
I know how you feel, mine.58, had 4 rear diffs, water leaking everwhear, hand brake drum faulty. engine light coming on, gear box noise, back door lock fell of, rear body bolts loose..lol, i rejected it and they gave me a 09 defender, ..8000 miles so far and only one transfer box and power stering pump replaced,....so its a little better than the last one
not like it'll even come close to helping you, but I just have to say that I think in the 90's Land Rover made a better vehicle. I have a 94' 90 V8 (fiberglass top) with 100,000 and I've NEVER had a problem with it, to my surprise. Although when ever I go to fill up every, on avg, 200 miles, I always think to myself, "it would be nice to have a diesel right about now!" . As for towing I, I'm in the same boat as you, I can't easily go over 3.5 tons.
Got a 300 TDi 90, alongside my dads Puma 110, 09 plate! I must say the Defenders of recent months have been well built and touch wood our Defender has been pretty darn good! But the 90 is the one I prefer, it's just got so much more character!
Thanks for your update DZ, it's sad to hear this about Landrover, I can understand why you.r sick after spending good money. My x reg td5 needed a new back diff at 106000miles then a turbo after 8 years of hard heavy work on and off road. This has made me think again about a young TD5 rather than a 6 speeder. Thanks very much, BA.
Well I would either build my own 90 200 or 300 Tdi with a salisbury rear diff or get 110 with a Salisbury rear diff. Saying that secondhand diff's are not hard to comeby or expensive! The choice is yours young man.....
The MOD are going to be using Puma engined Defenders according to a few LR forums... Unfortunately DZ's experiences don't seem to be a one off either, I know of two others that have been sent back to LR and replaced. Really is a shame that they can't seem to build them properly anymore. I've put more than 5000 miles on mine in less than two months, and it hasn't put a foot wrong, touch wood, but I don't think I'd recommend one just yet, and I never thought Id say that about a Defender!
I found myself in a situation today where my brother in-law who is a farmer, told me the trouble he had with his 2004 Isuzu Trooper. He is going to replace it and thought about a new lwb Defender. That was until a mate told him not to bother because they knew of two Defender's that had repeatedly done clutches and they'd changed for other 4x4s! I said whilst I would never have thought the day would come I could not recommend a Defender I would recommend a Discovery.
Personally I would either a mint 200 or 300 Tdi. Far less to go wrong because they are mechanical based engines & do not require sophisticated electrickery to make them work! Or if you still prefer the newer models, then go for the Td5. You will have to watch your oil level carefully as you will be playing Cylinder Head Lottery! Test drive a Tdci & try to start the engine with the headlights on, the stalk gets in the way, bad desing work by LR.. Good luck, DZ.
Its hard enough to find a mint Tdi defender especially one that has'nt beening bashed about.... But down the road there is a very clean V8 RR Classic for sale. I shouldn't get much trouble from it only the air suspension...?
Just be careful of all the electronic warning systems. A mate of mine bought one at three years old, a lwb version. It was forever showing warning lights & the fog lights could not always be switched off. I wouldn't bother with it myself. If you do buy it, replace the air bag suspension coil springs! It will save you a fortune. DZ.
Shame really, Land Rover seem to have gone downhill! Apparently they're even taking the Defender out of production in 2012 as it has no bloody airbags or flipping crumple zones, and might replace it with something on a modified RR Sport chassis!! What will go wrong then!!
My Td5 has been as good as gold, nothing gone wrong with it so far, and its an 05. Tuned up to 200bhp and 310 lbf.ft torque, so she'll pull faster than a hot hatch, and still nothing happened touch wood!
I wish I had kept my Td5 90 Pick-up now. It really was a good motor. I know the head cracked but that shouldn't mean the motor is a bad one. The heads are just weak , badly made again by a Land Rover supplier! If they get rid of the Defender for a Disco Rangey Sport crss it might be better made if fewer humans are involved! I wont be buying one until they have been about for a good few years...
Sadly, the poxy transit engine and fords parts costcutting has caused this.....I had one, and nearly burnt it in frustration........TD5 is a far superior machine in every way
stustafford 2 months ago
HI Stu, Ha ha ha ha. I agree the Td5 or better still the 300tdi are better. However, it might be the case the LR have sorted all the issues & finally got a good Puma Defender? I often wish I hadn't sold my 55plate Td5.
DingleZilla 2 months ago
Its a shame really about the defenders build quality. At one point i nearly bought a new 90 CSW. But the build quality looked poor even brand new. And as if this was some justification, the salesman said " well it is a defender". Like that counts for crap quality. It was £23,000. Thankfully I walked away. Ive stuck with my old venerable V8 90 which rarely has put a foot wrong. Interestingly i bought a small skoda. a VRS diesel 1.9 130bhp and 231lb/ torque.And far better build quality than LR.
Harker436 5 months ago
Build quality is not a term I would use to sell a new Defender, one sales chap told me "if it doesn't leak, it isn't a Land Rover", sad that I think. Your right about the high price vs quality, they simply are not worth it compared to some Jap stuff. I nearly bought a Mazda fully loaded 4x4 pick-up thing once over & regretted very very much buying a Td5 Disco instead, that was an evil spirited death trap. A good combination you have there hopefully too. The V8 90 will sound very nice I think?
DingleZilla 5 months ago
For 9000 miles this is piss poor. The new defenders are worse for reliability than they were twenty years ago. Quite frankly they are crap. A new diff on 9000 miles is a joke. The V8 90s had the best diff combination. It was a five pinion diff. And my V890 has 200,000 miles on. And hasnt needed any attention in the last 50,000 miles. carburettors are simple but keep going. All these sensors are just more to go wrong. Take me to your dealer.
Harker436 5 months ago
Hi Harker436, It is, it was & its someone elses problem now! The dealer I bought it from to be fair is very good. The dealer that did the repairs however made some very basic mistakes like "not connecting the turbo pipes properly" resulting in Series 3 diesel performance! One day I will have another Defender but not a Puma one unless they have them sorted. I don't see how they can build great motors like Range Rovers, Discovery's & Freelanders and then assemble crap like this?
DingleZilla 5 months ago
So sorry to read this. Just got myself a 09 Defender 90 that has done about 17000k's. Had to change some parts in the back diff (Leaking a few drops of oil) But it has been working fine for a month + now :-D
PhantomTD 6 months ago
Hello DingleZilla, I'm a big fan of Land Rover. It's sad to hear that the new Defender, yours in particular, is such unreliable. Defender has always been my dream car. I truly hope that Land Rover will do the right thing on the forthcoming all-new Defender. I'd like to ask for your suggestion, do you think 300 Tdi is the best model? I plan to buy one in the future but I want a very reliable one. Also, is Discovery 3 reliable? I heard that it's very unreliable in the U.S. Thank you in advance.
pikoony 1 year ago
Hi pikoony, For some reason your channel is "not available"? I wouldn't recommend the Puma engined Defender based on my experience, maybe mine was built on a Friday or Monday following a hangover! 300Tdi gets my thumbs up, I saw a mint 29,000 pick-up at £10k! A very steep that but I would still like to have bought it at the right money, because they are better than the all electric management Td5's & Puma 2.4's. My brother has a 2005 Disco 3, no reliability issues at all to report!
DingleZilla 1 year ago
@DingleZilla Thanks for the information. 300 Tdi will be my first choice then! Glad to hear that Disco 3 is quite reliable. I indeed heard that many people in the U.K. praise it a lot (and I adore it too) but I just haven't heard much from real owners. As you know, there are those "smart" people who know about everything and judge a car which they haven't owned.. Oh by the way, I checked my channel settings and somehow it was set to "invisible". You should be able to see my channel from now on.
pikoony 1 year ago
Australian military thinks Land Rover are rubbish so thats why they're replacing them with better G wagons made by the GERMANS, what happened to good old english engineering....maybe the new POME generation are slack bastards and need a swift kick in the arse. A new Defender 90 here in Australia costs about $40000 which is way too much for a piece of crap.
vaestanfors 1 year ago
Hi vaestanfors, I agree that some Land Rover's have faults & maybe there is some truth in what you say. However, Merc G Wagons are vastly more expensive in every respect & are not without fault! Having owned 43 LR's I am well placed to complain or praise them & cannot agree that they are a "piece of crap". The price of a G Wagon, quoted in AUD$127,138.17 so perhaps your army needs Range Rovers? Since the Aussies don't make anything you cannot complain, maybe your all "slack bastards" & not us!
DingleZilla 1 year ago 2
Ford had to put their polished turd transit engine in a great car like that, they use cheap components which gives Land Rover a bad name, TATA should let Land Rover develop their own engine now. When I worked in a garage in weekends when I was at school a couple of years ago we used to have so many Fords in as they are so unreliable, had an old Defender with a TD5 once, just needed a trasfer box and it had done 200,000 miles, great cars though.
hamster639 1 year ago
no no no no nooooo!!!! its nothing to do with tata! ford engine and ford diff's. they had the same problem with the transit diff's blowing up at less then 20'000 miles.
andywebb50 1 year ago
Hi andywebb50,
Well in my limited experience of life, when re-inventing, revising, improving, redesigning or otherwise modifying something that has done a job without issue for good old while if the improvements are unreliable one goes back to the original spec. Or make the improvements even heavier duty. There should be no need for this kind of crap. Have they learnt nothing in all these years? TATA or FORD, they are all to blame since they are/have been the owners.
DingleZilla 1 year ago
may be parts made in india or eastern europe might make landrover better than landcruisers would that not be better than giving everything to toyota. the landrovers will always be made here. giving up and saying if things are made over seas would be the end of it is how B.L cars died. toyota out sourses parts to other countries. i would buy a defender tomorrow if it was reliable dose not matter where the parts came from. quality .i love landrovers but not when i broken down on the m6 again,
4wdiesel 1 year ago
Hi 4wdiesel, An interesting statement you have made there in defence of Land Rover. Some of which is right & fair comment. I will never "drop" Land Rover for a Jap 4x4, but I have come very very close to it! But until LR build Defenders as good as Range Rover & Discovery, then I won't touch another new one. Td5 or older will be my choice. There are no excuses for such crap quality on a £20K motor Land Rover was built on being, dependable & repairable anywhere. Not any more it seems!
DingleZilla 1 year ago
Oh my, sorry to hear about all your issues with your new Defender.
I am in the proccess of buying a new 2011 Defender, i sure hope they have fixed all the issues!
Sparcen 1 year ago
And as for out sourcing parts, yes of course motor firms do I know this. But cheap imports from low cost labour markets where relatively unskilled people make things for the high end Western markets is not the way forward because the attention to detail isn't there. "Made, not engineered" is the moto I apply to these suppliers. If LR want my money then they have to use high quality parts because they demand high prices & the "Best 4x4 x Far" crown! I would rather have an old Series 2 than new.
DingleZilla 1 year ago
i understand it hard when you have some much faith in something and it lets you down from the start. landrover needs to step-up its quality control to a higher standard than toyota. i have read that tata company is 100% behind landrover unlike the past owners. management is the problem in england the old school tie boys need to go. the same with jaguar bad managers who don't even drive jags or landrovers. landrover and jaguar parts have been junk for a long time don't blame the new owners
4wdiesel 1 year ago
hello, very sorry to hear about your defender problems, first of all no landrover parts are made in india and if they where they might be of better. i have had landrovers from a series 3, range rover and a defender. my uncle works for landrover and i started my working life working for british layland as a mechanic. landrover problems go way back and hopefully tata might sort them out and one again put landrover at the top. now i drive a toyota landcruiser and yes they have their own problem.
4wdiesel 1 year ago
I know how you feel, mine.58, had 4 rear diffs, water leaking everwhear, hand brake drum faulty. engine light coming on, gear box noise, back door lock fell of, rear body bolts loose..lol, i rejected it and they gave me a 09 defender, ..8000 miles so far and only one transfer box and power stering pump replaced,....so its a little better than the last one
sirhc141 1 year ago
not like it'll even come close to helping you, but I just have to say that I think in the 90's Land Rover made a better vehicle. I have a 94' 90 V8 (fiberglass top) with 100,000 and I've NEVER had a problem with it, to my surprise. Although when ever I go to fill up every, on avg, 200 miles, I always think to myself, "it would be nice to have a diesel right about now!" . As for towing I, I'm in the same boat as you, I can't easily go over 3.5 tons.
moz2011 1 year ago
Got a 300 TDi 90, alongside my dads Puma 110, 09 plate! I must say the Defenders of recent months have been well built and touch wood our Defender has been pretty darn good! But the 90 is the one I prefer, it's just got so much more character!
Hobbs92 2 years ago
Thanks for your update DZ, it's sad to hear this about Landrover, I can understand why you.r sick after spending good money. My x reg td5 needed a new back diff at 106000miles then a turbo after 8 years of hard heavy work on and off road. This has made me think again about a young TD5 rather than a 6 speeder. Thanks very much, BA.
billalbion 2 years ago
Aha your here,
Well I would either build my own 90 200 or 300 Tdi with a salisbury rear diff or get 110 with a Salisbury rear diff. Saying that secondhand diff's are not hard to comeby or expensive! The choice is yours young man.....
DingleZilla 2 years ago
The MOD are going to be using Puma engined Defenders according to a few LR forums... Unfortunately DZ's experiences don't seem to be a one off either, I know of two others that have been sent back to LR and replaced. Really is a shame that they can't seem to build them properly anymore. I've put more than 5000 miles on mine in less than two months, and it hasn't put a foot wrong, touch wood, but I don't think I'd recommend one just yet, and I never thought Id say that about a Defender!
mrsoupdragon 2 years ago
Hello again young man,
I found myself in a situation today where my brother in-law who is a farmer, told me the trouble he had with his 2004 Isuzu Trooper. He is going to replace it and thought about a new lwb Defender. That was until a mate told him not to bother because they knew of two Defender's that had repeatedly done clutches and they'd changed for other 4x4s! I said whilst I would never have thought the day would come I could not recommend a Defender I would recommend a Discovery.
DingleZilla 2 years ago
Can anyone help me by advising me wot is the better defender..... I have the choice of 07 Td5 or an 08 Tdci. Which is the better motor?
KRSBTLR 2 years ago
Hi KRSBTLR,
Personally I would either a mint 200 or 300 Tdi. Far less to go wrong because they are mechanical based engines & do not require sophisticated electrickery to make them work! Or if you still prefer the newer models, then go for the Td5. You will have to watch your oil level carefully as you will be playing Cylinder Head Lottery! Test drive a Tdci & try to start the engine with the headlights on, the stalk gets in the way, bad desing work by LR.. Good luck, DZ.
DingleZilla 2 years ago
Thanks DZ,
Its hard enough to find a mint Tdi defender especially one that has'nt beening bashed about.... But down the road there is a very clean V8 RR Classic for sale. I shouldn't get much trouble from it only the air suspension...?
KRSBTLR 2 years ago
Just be careful of all the electronic warning systems. A mate of mine bought one at three years old, a lwb version. It was forever showing warning lights & the fog lights could not always be switched off. I wouldn't bother with it myself. If you do buy it, replace the air bag suspension coil springs! It will save you a fortune. DZ.
DingleZilla 2 years ago
Shame really, Land Rover seem to have gone downhill! Apparently they're even taking the Defender out of production in 2012 as it has no bloody airbags or flipping crumple zones, and might replace it with something on a modified RR Sport chassis!! What will go wrong then!!
My Td5 has been as good as gold, nothing gone wrong with it so far, and its an 05. Tuned up to 200bhp and 310 lbf.ft torque, so she'll pull faster than a hot hatch, and still nothing happened touch wood!
ColumbineMHLR 2 years ago
I wish I had kept my Td5 90 Pick-up now. It really was a good motor. I know the head cracked but that shouldn't mean the motor is a bad one. The heads are just weak , badly made again by a Land Rover supplier! If they get rid of the Defender for a Disco Rangey Sport crss it might be better made if fewer humans are involved! I wont be buying one until they have been about for a good few years...
DingleZilla 2 years ago
Do you know anyone that wants to buy some alloy wheels and tyres for £550? Regards, DZ.
DingleZilla 2 years ago
Nope, sorry, best bet would be to pop them in one of the LR magazines such as Land Rover Owner etc, usually get plenty of buyers looking there.
ColumbineMHLR 2 years ago