Yep...that is what I am afraid of. I have had an LR3 in the past and the wife had a Velar for a short period of time. i will admit having to visit the dealer for some issues with the leather upholstery in the dash of the LR3 (which btw they replaced without questioning), but mechanically no real issues. Granted I had it only for one year and traded in a 4Runner TRD Pro.My neighbor just got a Defender. Beautiful. Then one day, i don’t see it for 1.5 weeks…and he was driving a dealer LR for that time. I wonder what happened….
So i test drove a Defender today….
- Thread starter stonepa
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Same here. I wish their QC guys were trained by their design guysIt's a Land Rover thing, (as a Land Cruiser owner) you wouldn't understand...
If Land Rover could finally figure out what the heck quality control is, I would buy a Defender without having to give it much thought. The infotainment system is apparently a bit difficult to use, but it's not like the infotainment system in our LC's is great. But other than that and the potential quality control nightmares, Land Rover makes a fantastic product.
...the car is f. beautiful...
greynolds
SILVER Star
Yeah, my take on the new Defender is that if you think of it as what the LR5 should have been, it looks great. If you think of it as the new Defender to replace the old one, then it lost some of the charm. I don't like the look of the new Discovery at all. Mercedes got the appearance pretty much right with the all new G-wagon.Same here. I wish their QC guys were trained by their design guys
I think the Defender was done pretty well for bringing modern, upscale styling to a boxy vehicle. Now the Discovery on the other hand...don't get me started. Almost got an LR4 but decided to hold off and every time I see one driving around, I wish I had pulled the trigger. Also went and looked at the Defender about a month ago. I love the plain interior and it's honestly a decent size without being too much just for the sake of being big. If it was the same quality as a Toyota, I would have pulled the trigger on that instead.
You could always buy a Honda Element and have pretty much the same thing as Defender.
greynolds
SILVER Star
Just slightly less capable off roadYou could always buy a Honda Element and have pretty much the same thing as Defender.
. On the plus side, it would be FAR more reliable.I gotta tell you, after reading this a bit:
I am honestly terrified on even thinking about ordering one of these things...
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I am honestly terrified on even thinking about ordering one of these things...
Land Rover has always done “simple” fairly well but really seems to struggle with “complicated”.
Lucas electronics and constant oil leaks affected the simple and the complicated Land Rovers…..
greynolds
SILVER Star
The final straw on my 2014 Range Rover that I owned from new for 6 months was the stupid trick they added to the rotary shift knob (not a fan of those to begin with). When you shut the ignition off, the knob retreats down into the center console. Turn the ignition on and it’s supposed to come up. Well, sometimes it didn’t come up, which meant you couldn’t shift out of park. I was concerned it would happen at an inopportune time, leaving me stranded out in the middle of nowhere. There was no purpose to this feature other than to be flashy. There’s no excuse for trying to get too clever with such an important control in a car.
Pura Vida
What an absolute noob
The first mistake of Land Rover ownership is walking into the dealer for the first time hoping “maybe they got it right this year”
Despite that, the “simple” ones could be kept going with some bailing wire and a couple of fuses. I don’t think thats the case with the newer, complicated ones.
greynolds
SILVER Star
Don‘t forget to include more oil in that list…Despite that, the “simple” ones could be kept going with some bailing wire and a couple of fuses. I don’t think thats the case with the newer, complicated ones.
FWIW... the new defender in 110 and 90 versions are excellent off road with the right options (i.e. the advanced off road pack and locker).. They are very wide however so on the east coast all of the ones that I wheel with are pretty beat up already. The sheet metal (Aluminium) is very thin, its funny at wintergreen last year I was picking up bits that fell off of the one in front of me all day.. It handled everything though impressively.
You can mod them, but it's not easy other than a suspension lift via rods.
Sarek Autowerks in VA sells a bumper that fits an 8274.. and has a complete radiator and intercooler replacement package.. makes the ARB and see ones look like bargains.
My D90 NAS is all I want anymore in a Land Rover, and I have never been tempted by the new one in the least. Hopefully the Grenadier will fill that void that the defender left. Its pretty simple but then again I have had to "redesign" a number of things for reliability (like the entire ignition system, the cooling system, and some other stuff). But it can be fixed by me just about anywhere as long as I can get parts, which sometimes can be challenging.
You can mod them, but it's not easy other than a suspension lift via rods.
Sarek Autowerks in VA sells a bumper that fits an 8274.. and has a complete radiator and intercooler replacement package.. makes the ARB and see ones look like bargains.
My D90 NAS is all I want anymore in a Land Rover, and I have never been tempted by the new one in the least. Hopefully the Grenadier will fill that void that the defender left. Its pretty simple but then again I have had to "redesign" a number of things for reliability (like the entire ignition system, the cooling system, and some other stuff). But it can be fixed by me just about anywhere as long as I can get parts, which sometimes can be challenging.
Just took a peek at the forum out of curiosity...
In short, it appears to be "your fault" when something on the Land Rover doesn't work as intended.
GTFOOH!
Lucas electrics = "The Prince of Darkness" LOL!
greynolds
SILVER Star
It was like that on a Range Rover forum I posted on when I owned the 2014 Range Rover. I asked about a few things that didn't work correctly and was pretty much greeted with "how dare you say anything negative about Range Rovers" even from forum moderators. These were things that should have worked correctly on a $20K car...
If you're buying an LR/RR, I recommend ordering a case of these for when you break down
For the techies, I found a set of Lucas schematics if anyone needs them for their LR/RR
For the techies, I found a set of Lucas schematics if anyone needs them for their LR/RR
I left out the part that most of those comments where from what appeared to be long tenured members...
So glad MUD is different.
Land Cruiser owners are definitely their own breed but in a good way!
