Thread: Wanted! Defender Horror Stories

Originally Posted by dobbo

I have come close to buying on a few occasions, every time I get a separate opinion from different Land Rover experts, every time the same answer. Restore the Isuzu, for half the price you can get a much better vehicle. Being lazy, and having a lack of mechanical and fabricating ability, I always go back to looking at buying (the easier option), 26yo vehicles need work, it's a reality. Sounds like someone has Puma Envy... its ok dobbo I used to pull the **** out of my friends puma too when I couldn't afford one either.... Now I have one, 22000kms and going strong, no probs at all, 80% of that pulling 1.5t boat and 10% of through very soft sand..





Does one really need the displeasure and expense of owning one to formulate a conclusion that the current Defender is a crap version of an iconic vehicle?

Sounds like someone has Puma Envy... its ok dobbo I used to pull the **** out of my friends puma too when I couldn't afford one either.... Now I have one, 22000kms and going strong, no probs at all, 80% of that pulling 1.5t boat and 10% of that through very soft sand, and the difference driving around town just loving it, even the wife wants to drive it over her VW Golf R32...

There's nothing horrible about a Puma. Except the embarrassment of doing a three point U-turn on a major road with two lanes and a U-turn permitted sign and cars behind...

We had a 1995 TDi before the Puma and hence we call it the luxury bus. It is quiet (all things are relative...) and it cruises nicely at 110km/hr and is a pleasure to drive for long distances. Off road it is very capable and it's never been bogged despite best efforts and a heap of unused recovery equipment. A problem with the airconditioning was temporarily upsetting, but that seems to have been fixed by the dealer.

Originally Posted by one_iota

...Matt you could probably fill a book full of Puma horror stories based your real life experience

True but what a godawful boring read it would be.
Glad to see your trip was incident free.

A note to the OP. Here sums up for me the large role chance plays in your owning a reliable Puma. Mahn has just done a 5.5k round trip and continues to have an incident free Puma while I continue to experience problems new and old.
It appears some are great and others are a bit of a joke, and unfortunately I don't know if you can determine which is which before buying. Before I bought mine I paid two separate mechanics go over it, did complete research to what faults it already had (none) and what work had been done to it (only services and a reflash upgrade that everyone got). All reports showed it was a pearler. I drove it for a couple of months and couldnt fault it and then seemingly overnight it turned an energy, time and money sapping basket case out of the blue. IMO It's just a roll of the dice. If you roll badly, just hope that you have good dealer to do your repairs. It will make a world of difference to your sanity and your overall experience

Originally Posted by Wal Rat

Horror Stories
I tow N.R.M.A break downs in the last three years I have towed patrols and cruisers at the rate of one every second day at least.land rover type
may be one every two weeks mostly starter,alt,water pumps
defenders
1.. for welsh plug
1..for lift pump
1..for Tow flat tyres
1..for rego
not bad for three years
Thats why I bought a defender and I get towing for free

what about the fact that there are 10-1 of toys and nissans to defer's???

Originally Posted by LR09WA

Sounds like someone has Puma Envy... its ok dobbo I used to pull the **** out of my friends puma too when I couldn't afford one either.... Now I have one, 22000kms and going strong, no probs at all, 80% of that pulling 1.5t boat and 10% of that through very soft sand, and the difference driving around town just loving it, even the wife wants to drive it over her VW Golf R32...

If only that were the problem, 1.5t is just the float and tack. What about the horses?

Q: Apart from Land Rover, How many people have retrofitted transit engines to 110's? Compare that to the 4BD1

Originally Posted by Reads90

Well I have had 5 90's and 4 110's and never had a problem. And I have given them some real crap

Problem with forums is you always hear when people have a problem and not when nothing is wrong and they are happy with them


Sent from my iPhone

What, they are so good and trouble free that you have gone through 9 of them? Do you put one out on the nature strip every time you put the wheely bins out?
Wagoo.

Originally Posted by dobbo

If only that were the problem, 1.5t is just the float and tack. What about the horses?

Q: Apart from Land Rover, How many people have retrofitted transit engines to 110's? Compare that to the 4BD1

Fitting transit engines in series models through to 110's is very common,far more than the Isuzu.Silly arguement really. Pat

Originally Posted by gusthedog

My defender horror story:

Back in 2007 I took a mate, my two trusty dogs and my 1996 110 single cab ute on a trip to perth along the old nullabor road. Lots of fun had. Dropped my mate in Perth and started heading back. Decided to drop in to the Eyre Bird Observatory and take the back road to Madura. Was all going well and I'd just gone through the dingo fence when I hit a patch of bulldust and the car lurched to the left. The front right wheel got caught up on some saltbush and over she went!

Took me ten hours to get it back on its wheels with the trusty hand winch. Buried the spare tyre 4 times and kept pulling it out of the ground. Ended up digging a 30ft long trench and laying the winch and cable in it so the tyre was pulling against the ground rather than pulling it out of the ground.

While i was doing all of this I didnt notice but my big dog got into the spilled dog food in the tray and ate about 5 kilos of it. The fat bugger. The deefer got a smashed drivers side window, broken windscreen and crushed in cab. Got her back on her wheels and she fired right up. It still drove so piled all the gear and dogs in and headed off.

Got to Madura eventually and pulled into a motel. Rang the Royal Auto rip off club and told them i'd had a spill. They said they'd have a tow truck to me in 3 or 4 days. I yelled and screamed and ended up making the poor girl cry - I lived in albury at the time and told her I could be home in 2 days so to take the tow truck and shove it. So drove the car accross the nullabor and stopped only for fuel. Took 18 hours straight to drive from Ceduna to Albury. Arrived at 6am on the day Albury hit a record low of -7 degrees celcius. With no drivers window this was not fun.

Had to pull up every half hour because my big dog had the runs because of all the dog food he ate after the roll over. He crapped on two tarps which got thrown out at two stops. He then proceeded to crap on my swag, my tools, the tray, the canopy, all over the head of my other dog which nearly broke me. I thought how many times can this dog poo - and the bastard did it all the way back to Albury. Was not happy, hence the horror story. Took the Royal auto brigade 11 weeks to write my deefer off - right through winter and I had to ride the motorbike every day through rain and bloody hail.

So there you have it. When you roll your car - make sure your fat arsed dog cant get into the tucker box.

Cheers,

gusthedog

Haha, that's awseome