Thread: Do we have 15-20 year cars in the Puma

Originally Posted by mike_ie

A second-hand car buyer will suck it up (to a point) because it's exactly that - a second-hand car, complete with X amount of miles on the clock and the possibility that something may be on the way out. I don't think it's too high an expectation of any owner that they buy a new car straight off the production line and not want it in the garage one week in every four, having something repaired.

Too many of the complaints aren't from people that have been driving the vehicle for a few years before a problem pops its head up, but rather owners that have had the vehicle for mere months, weeks even. There's a thread here posted just today from an owner who has fond a list of problems, 70 something kilometres off the line. That's pretty shocking, in anyone's book.

Perhaps what I wrote did not come out the way it was meant to. I did not mean that new car buyers should not have expectations to get a trouble free product. I just thought that if Defenders are hand made as opposed to made by robots then the expectations that you might have when buying a new Japanese sedan which is made by the millions might be different for a vehicle that only sells in the tens of thousands if that.

Hand made or not some things are just not acceptable and that puma with the poor paint job where the rust is coming through, the paint is cracked and in places the pant is not adhering due to bird poo or some other contaminant not cleaned off properly are not things anyone should be happy to accept.

Just back from a trip to the doctor. While there I asked the doc ehether I'd be around in 20 years time. Lots of laughs and then the "Well I don't see any reason why you should'nt be, but there are no guarantees!" Even if I am around the question is whether I will be able to get into the Puma or not! Ah yes just enjoy things and what comes down the track will come anyway.
Over here two years ago the road tax on new vehicles went from being based on engine cc to emissions based. The road tax on a private registered Defender (i.e. windows and seats) went from 1394.64 AUD overnight to 2983.53 AUD annually. We managed to get a Puma registered the day before the change over so we pay the "cheap" 1394.64 yearly tax. It will be the last Defender we will ever have so we love our Puma. It is not a case of whether the Puma will last 20 years but when the bureaucrats will tax us off the road. So till then we will drive our Puma and love it.