So i test drove a Defender today….

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gx2lc said:
I am very satisfied with the Land Cruiser. Over the past year ours has taken us across the US from 110 degree summer days in Houston to the cold winter on record in the Pacific Northwest. It has grimly done its duty without complaint every single time, regardless of the circumstances. I paid $63k for a 2019 CPO with 42k miles. I think I could probably sell it for more at this point.

We were looking at the Defender, but felt very uncomfortable taking it across the country for months at a time. The stress that something crucial might breakdown or stop working made it a non starter.
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This is how I regard the Cruiser. Nothing phases it - nothing. 100mph on the highway, rock solid as it is crawling around in 4LO. 110F 90% humidity and it’s an ice box set at 72 with the AC barely blowing. Same thing at -40F with the heat easily able to keep the cabin warm.

No external environmental factors seem to markedly effect the Cruiser - at all.

600,000 miles in Cruisers and there is not a better vehicle on the planet.
 
MRego said:
For some reason the YT AI suggested me this and I painfully watched this guy trying to justify his purchase so badly that almost made me cry...well, not really... :)Unbelievable...


https://youtu.be/wEkkB_v13fQ?t=1709
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The worst part is that he is probably getting paid for our clicks. What a terrible off roader channel.
 
I refuse to watch that trash.
 
GordJ said:
The worst part is that he is probably getting paid for our clicks. What a terrible off roader channel.
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I don't know...I felt so sorry for the guy blaming himself saying HE broke the car, as opposed to (what clearly happened) - the CAR miserably failed and broke on him, that I almost do not mind he making some change.
 
MRego said:
I don't know...I felt so sorry for the guy blaming himself saying HE broke the car, as opposed to (what clearly happened) - the CAR miserably failed and broke on him, that I almost do not mind he making some change.
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You do have to give him credit for his honesty.
His choice of vehicle?
Not So Much (insert face palm emoji)
 
Interesting. He doesn’t say it out loud but he definitely implies that the “Lift Rods”, which I can only surmise are Johnson Lift Rods, are the culprit—likely they invalidated his “warranty“ and that’s why LR took his wallet to the cleaners. More so, he didn’t do the folks at Mainline Overland any favors…I went to the YouTube Channel, he has only one video posted, 155 subscribers as of 4pm on 6/8/22 and yet the video has damn near 10K views.

Best part of the discussion, minute 25/26 of the video—he basically states, the truck is not reliable enough to travel off-road. LOL. Fantastic analysis.
 
Having watched the video, it seems like the criticisms of the guy are a bit overly harsh. Sure, he was a bit over the top on the "I barely survived" out in the middle of nowhere commentary and looked like he was going for the Crocodile Dundee look. But in the grand scheme of things, one ought be able to purchase a Land Rover Defender and take it on a trail rated as a 2 or 3 and expect to make it back home without a problem. Especially if you replaced the stock street tires with decent off road tires. He probably should have aired his tires down further, but having them aired up too much shouldn't have resulted in essentially a catastrophic failure. If the lift rods were the culprit, then I'm not sure that Mainline Overland deserved any favors as one still shouldn't experience a failure like this on reasonably easy trails. Of course, we have no idea where he has gone before, so it could have been a cumulative failure. The vehicle isn't all beat up though, so it seems as though he has probably been reasonable careful with it. Aside from the slightly over the top theatrics, I definitely feel a bit bad for the guy. Between the cost of the tow and the repair, he's out a good chunk of cash. I wonder if his next vehicle will be a Land Rover?
 
The design of the shock is the problem.. Already seen it on friends new defenders.. several times. they really did not think about how to work around it (put a normal shock in a hook up the broken shock in the cargo area works BTW... also the front CV's fail pretty regularly off road, its a bit comical. That part is $2200..
anyway... I have no desire to own a new defender.. I'll keep the 200
 
Not the first time I have seen MLO called into question.
 
rlynch356 said:
The design of the shock is the problem.. Already seen it on friends new defenders.. several times. they really did not think about how to work around it (put a normal shock in a hook up the broken shock in the cargo area works BTW... also the front CV's fail pretty regularly off road, its a bit comical. That part is $2200..
anyway... I have no desire to own a new defender.. I'll keep the 200
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I have heard the same, but would not be surprised if the use of the "rods" (if not the only culprit) significantly contributed to the failure. The whole thing is a mess. What shocks me the most though is the LR owners mentality thinking that it is their fault as opposed to be outraged with LR for building cars that frankly do not look ready to tackle what they advertise. Unless the purpose is to be a kid hauler/mall crawler, etc.
 
2021 LC200 said:
Remains entertaining the folk considering moving to a Defender or a Bronco or Jeep for that matter. Wish them happiness and lots of luck.
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We want to entertain the Bronco badly but lots of bad reports coming out about the 2.7L which is a bummer. I am actually looking to add another vehicle, something I'd daily a few days a week. Bronco was on that list as was another late model 200 but I am not willing to pay the prices that the late model 200's are demanding at the moment. I've been longing for a Shelby GT350 or 350R as well since GT3 prices are in the stratosphere but the 350's are plagued with motor issues so that seems taboo as well. Sitting here twiddling my thumbs trying to think of what I should get and at one of the worst possible times in the modern era to be buying a vehicle lol. Any suggestions?
 
Tex68w said:
We want to entertain the Bronco badly but lots of bad reports coming out about the 2.7L which is a bummer. I am actually looking to add another vehicle, something I'd daily a few days a week. Bronco was on that list as was another late model 200 but I am not willing to pay the prices that the late model 200's are demanding at the moment. I've been longing for a Shelby GT350 or 350R as well since GT3 prices are in the stratosphere but the 350's are plagued with motor issues so that seems taboo as well. Sitting here twiddling my thumbs trying to think of what I should get and at one of the worst possible times in the modern era to be buying a vehicle lol. Any suggestions?
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Yep, money is certainly a challenge with the 200 from purchase to gasoline. For now our second car is a great driving 2014 BMW 535d (3ltr 6 cylinder line turbo diesel) which I straight piped and flashed to keep it running (plugged DPF...). Gets about 320HP and 560 ftlbs after the upgrade. ZF 8 speed. M-sport. Drives awesome at 28mpg city and 40 mpg high way at 80mph. Accelerates 0-60 in about 5.5 seconds for a diesel. Pretty awesome and relentless push in the back including from 60 to 80 on overtakes. Once it craps out though I need to see what money I want to spend. Probably wise to get a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry and balance the car costs a bit. Or buy a LX600 F Sport with ride height control and keep the $$$ flowing... Probably not a Ford or Jeep, just throw away consumer products imo. Nice looking though and capable when they work. I know, our BMW is silly as well. It just drives so good.
 
greynolds said:
Having watched the video, it seems like the criticisms of the guy are a bit overly harsh. Sure, he was a bit over the top on the "I barely survived" out in the middle of nowhere commentary and looked like he was going for the Crocodile Dundee look. But in the grand scheme of things, one ought be able to purchase a Land Rover Defender and take it on a trail rated as a 2 or 3 and expect to make it back home without a problem. Especially if you replaced the stock street tires with decent off road tires. He probably should have aired his tires down further, but having them aired up too much shouldn't have resulted in essentially a catastrophic failure. If the lift rods were the culprit, then I'm not sure that Mainline Overland deserved any favors as one still shouldn't experience a failure like this on reasonably easy trails. Of course, we have no idea where he has gone before, so it could have been a cumulative failure. The vehicle isn't all beat up though, so it seems as though he has probably been reasonable careful with it. Aside from the slightly over the top theatrics, I definitely feel a bit bad for the guy. Between the cost of the tow and the repair, he's out a good chunk of cash. I wonder if his next vehicle will be a Land Rover?
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Aw, c’mon. He couldn’t drive it out because it was too dangerous but he was towed out? If you can flat tow it you can drive it. Blaming the tire pressure for a suspension failure on a gravel road where he was crawling along at less than 40 mph? I don’t think the criticisms were nearly harsh enough. He’s a YouTuber who is making money off his channel and giving incompetent advice. IMO.
 
That is a lot of work just to air down, no wonder he didn’t want to stop to fine tune. I used stauns for three years, much easier. Just screw them on. Drive off at a reasonable speed, and a quick stop to remove them 10 min later.

The lrd should be fine at any tire pressure though. They run the tires full up for all the testing (at least they did on the broncos).

Bummer that what sounds like a pretty thought out ‘lift’ got modified further by the installer, but if 35” won’t fit without reliability compromises you just have to run a smaller tire.

And are the lrd so new he can’t just call up king or ome or terrain tamer and get an aftermarket set of rear springs?
 
GordJ said:
He’s a YouTuber who is making money off his channel and giving incompetent advice. IMO.
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His channel has 1 video with about 10K views and 165 subscribers. He's not making any money off of YouTube yet with those numbers. Half the views may even be from the video being linked to from this discussion :).
 
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