Landrover defender owners input...

[StueyT]

Had my current 300tdi 90 for 11 years...and bought n sold plenty of Landies in the last 40 years. In fact I'm currently rebuilding a farm find 90 with a 2.5petrol thay my son has already claimed as he lives in the LEZ.
They are as reliable as the servicing it gets and the quality of the bodges or as some folk call upgrades that have been added. I.e. if you buy one with zillions of lamps, gauges, winches, lift kits, snorkels etc and they've been added badly then you will have issues.
If you can follow you-tube repair vids, wield a basic toolkit and learn to weld you will not loose money on a Series Landy or a 90/110/130.
Out of choice I'd go 300tdi 110 as the 90 is just to limited in the tub... and the 130 has the turning circle of a super tanker.

 

[User00036]

Tried to live without mine, after a week I realised my mistake. The defender is a workhorse, my 90 td5 is an essential, used most days for a 4x4 wheelbarrow round the farm. ~If your doing a lot of roadwork, why have a defender? Try getting a livestock trailer full of cattle off wet meadows, a dead deer out of a ditch, bolting on a barbed wire reel thingy, bolt on a foxing seat, winching willows out of ponds, people carrier, dirty dog transporter the list is endless. Makes me wonder at all these gleaming trendy Defenders I see in Waitrose car parks, with ladders spotlights light guards roof racks & chequer plate, a must have when you just moved to Norfolk, & don't forget to pick up some Mango & chilli Falafels darling. Defenders were designed for people with Mud on their boots, & Blood on their hands. Until they stuck a puma engine in it, & sealed off the air flaps. On a TD5 never use supermarket diesel, stick with Esso or BP. Keep a spare fuel pump in stock, if it stats whining replace it. An easy job if you cut a square out of the floor directly above the tank, & pop rivet a piece of ally sheet in place.

In 25 years, I never broken down once.

 

[Klenchblaize]

What are you door hinges made of?

Ta

K

 

[willowbank]

TD5 v 300tdi

I briefly had a TD5 intending to replace my old 300 and found the TD5 turning circle not to be as good as the 300.
Certain routes between trees were not possible without shunting, luckily I still had the 300 and the TD5 went.
Also I didn’t much like all the electronics, far too complicated for diy servicing

WB.

 

[willowbank]

What are you door hinges made of?
View attachment 218500
Ta

K

Gen LR Galvanised, keyed, Red Oxide then painted.

WB

 

[ejg]

Dodgy, you are probably right however my experience with five cars in the family is the newer cars we have especially German built cars beat the bad reliability of the Landy and on top of that one can hardly find anyone that will find faults. No problem getting my Landy fixed locally.
edi

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Perhaps we should be glad that the pikeys are taking the stress of LR ownership away from the decent folk?

 

[Musketeer]

Matt Green, Brown and Black Halfords Camo rattlecans together with local natural foliage used as stencils, discarding foliage as it became too wet.

Prep is key (pun intended) wash, very lightly rub over with wet n dry, panel wipe then put down adjoining base sections in each of the colours, allow to dry 24hrs. Next day let your imagination go a spray away, building up layers of overlapping foliage etc, I used an old Onion bag as a stencil for Tree trunk, it’s works
The Secret is to spray a dark onto a lighter colour and vice versa.
Oh and I also sparingly used White here and there to really make it pop.

Willowbank

It's a nice job. I like very much.

 

[Husky]

That's my 2003 Double Cab back from its mot, pass, no advisories.
Used for work, off road all the time, tows an Argo on roads and mountain tracks.
It's only failing is that it hasn't broken down !

 

[Shabz]

Nice one on ebay at the minute for £16000 which has already had a galv chassis in it. Budget another £5000 for a recon engine and a couple of grand for a gearbox and it’ll last longer than you will!

Mind, I just bought a brand new hilux extra cab which is just as utilitarian but also comfortable for £27k. I know which will be more reliable.

Land Rover 90 300Tdi | eBay

Recently professionally fitted galvanised chassis, galvanised suspension cones. New clutch. Good set of tyres all round including spare. LED lights. New galvanised front bumper. 300 TDI 90 hardtop.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Husky]

Ad says full galvanised chassis, why does it need another engine and gearbox, it's only done 88k miles ?

 

[Shabz]

Ad says full galvanised chassis, why does it need another engine and gearbox, it's only done 88k miles ?

Just because it’s nearly 25 years old. It’s bound to need some work. The engine and gearbox are likely to be the bits that need it. I don’t suppose it’ll be immediate but at some point it will.

 

[Husky]

Just because it’s nearly 25 years old. It’s bound to need some work. The engine and gearbox are likely to be the bits that need it. I don’t suppose it’ll be immediate but at some point it will.

Fair enough, just like any other 25 year old vehicle.

 

[Hornet]

Look around and buy one that has been rebuilt on a new(preferably) galvanized chassis, and my advice is go for a 200/300 TDI, no engine management nonsense to worry about, nice and simple electronics and you won't go far wrong, mine is 31years old, but completely rebuilt, so basically, new.

 

[Shabz]

I’d love one but wouldn’t want to stretch myself to own one. It would definitely need to be a second or third car for me. More of a hobby than a car.
The ridiculous price of second hand pick ups at the moment make the case for a Land Rover a lot stronger. When they start producing new cars again and the price of secondhand ones drops back to normal levels, the defender will still hold its value. There’s going to be an awful lot of people with £3000 L200s that owe £7000 on them.

 

[nicowilson]

Definitely an enthusiast car. If you have a workshop, reasonable skills with the tools and a set of rose-coloured glasses, dive in to the world of Land Rover 90s. I’m on my tenth but but, much as I love them, the 110s are far more useful for work (and cheaper).
If you can, get one with a galvanised chassis - everything else easy to work on.

Agreed, and if it doesn't have a galvanised chassis then take a torch and a small hammer and crawl around underneath it when you go and buy it. Check every inch of the classic and make sure it's solid by tapping with a hammer.

 

[Tazz]

Agreed, and if it doesn't have a galvanised chassis then take a torch and a small hammer and crawl around underneath it when you go and buy it. Check every inch of the classic and make sure it's solid by tapping with a hammer.

And wear safety glasses under there as lots of **** will likely fall off once you start tapping!!

 

[nicowilson]

And wear safety glasses under there as lots of **** will likely fall off once you start tapping!!

Yes. Definitely!

 

[Automan]

I have a 110 2.5 tdi never let me down also my dog loves it so that's good enough for me

 

[Pedro]

They are like Marmite. Basically they're a lifestyle choice. Although, of course they do a lot of things and many of them very well, there are definite drawbacks, such as comfort and reliability. The reliability issue is that they are, statistically more likely to break down than other vehicles in general. But that doesn't mean all of them of course and there's that statistic that shows how many are still on the road that I can't remember offhand. You also have to consider that if you have, say a 1990s Defender, it may well take regular fettling to keep going, but most other cars of the era are now in the great scrapyard in the sky.

Simply put, if you like them and want one, fill your boots and be prepared to take the good with the bad. If you don't, well, don't. For me, it would be a TD5 version. Generally the TD5 engine is good, but as I found out with two Disco versions, it's all the peripherals that let it down.