Land Rover Defender Impressions

We take a look at the ubiquitous Land Rover Defender.. A 1996 V8 5-door is driven and looked at by the team at 4xforum.com

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Land
• rover
• defender

[gp1585]

To be honest, i see more Land Rovers over here in the UK than i do Landcruisers. Even though there are plenty of horror stories about Landys, they seem to sell and be still very popular.

[4xforum]

@gp1585 That's because they are British, and quite a bit cheaper than Land Cruisers, and some (many) may say, Land Cruisers have no character.

[gypo44]

if they are so unreliable why are 75 percent of every landrover ever made still on the road ?? toyota cant match that and about the transmission if you know how to drive them and select the right gear at the right time and have proper clutch control they you shouldnt break anything i know the gear boxes are only good for around 120k

[bushboysteve]

Im not sure about the 75% story but the unreliability of landrover is a bit exagerated and this myth is perpetuated by toyota owners. They also perpetuate the myth that toyotas are indestructable and will never let you down. again they break when used hard and when they break so does your bank. defenders , if maintained properly, (ie proper preventitive maintenance) will last as long and longer than toyotas

[m4xrb]

@Kahur2007

a LOT of TLC mate, only way.... and stay away from the sea

[Kahur2007]

@TheBushcraftBoyz How do you properly maintained LR Defender ?

[JoshHurdissHall]

@AricallH Its because of all the silly electrics land rover have to use know, find a good tdi and it will last forever

[AricallH]

In spite of everything I am looking for a new Defender. (also if you consider that is not so easy to buy a toyota hdj70 and a hdj 100 1999 250kKM has more or less the same price of a Defender 2008 35kKM)

...I am saving the money for my first clutch replacement

[AricallH]

About the last version of the Defender is quite sure that you must replace the clutch every 40/50kKM due to the flywheel and the strong angle used to adapt the trasmission to the Ford engine. I have not got a Defender but I am a Freelander owner. It has problem with IRD and viscous coupling (3k Euro to change them), I have been lucky and I changed it after 150kKM but they are badly designed and Land Rover does not do anything to help its customer.

[AricallH]

Well, that the Land Rover brand is the worst in all the reliability index lists is quite estabilished. (Toyota is third after Honda and Suzuky, maybe it is a kind of Japanese magic or they are more able to build car) About 53% of the Land Rover have serious problems after the expiration of the warrenty. Range Rover (more or less 100.000 Euro) is the one of the worst car in all the realiability index list.

[serepx]

@newjerseydev

Shore to Ship and Back again - by Land Rover!

watch?v=mKEG-uMsHio

[4xforum]

@NotARandomName I had a G-Wagen in a soft, wet riverbed being followed by a Defender 90. The Defender got stuck so often it was embarrassing, while the G, with inferior mud tyres, went on and on... This means nothing! The Defender driver was very experienced but truly, didn't have clue! The 90 should have kept up with me in the G, no problem, but he couldn't. I have learnt: incidents like this can't be used to judge a vehicle's performance cause there are too many factors affecting performance.