Thread: My New MY12 Defender 90 is broken already!

Originally Posted by dobbo

Like Ben I just wish the new defender was built like our county's.

That's a fair point, (however the gap would probably be greater than 20k!). I do miss my County, but I couldn't live with it for 1000km/week like I can with the TDCi.

Originally Posted by dobbo

Also $20k cheaper and I won't be paying that in service costs. Like Ben I just wish the new defender was built like our county's. Seems they were the last of a dying breed.

The County's weren't that well built, the survivors have just had 20+ years to be sorted. For example many have a problem where the front driver's side coil spring rubs on the chassis. That's pretty dodgy. And they all elongate the lower front shock mount holes. Of the 5 housings i've seen this year, all have had this issue. The steering boxes are weak compared to Defenders. Shouldn't mention the Isuzu habit of lunching gearboxes either.

But when that lump fires up, you sedately drive lines that others baulk at, well, it's a County thing

Originally Posted by isuzurover

....................................So - let me get this straight - you think it is fine that LR sell vehicles with hoses not tightened correctly, t-case/handbrake bolts loose, extra nuts/bolts floating round in the roof, etc, etc... ????

Interesting....

No, just normal

My first Landy was a 1966 SIIA which I bought very second hand in 1973. It still had the plug in the tail shaft sliding joint that was supposed to be removed and replaced with a grease nipple at the first service!!!.


Deano

Originally Posted by dobbo

My none Land rover ute, 20+ thousand km's, four months 1 week, two services totaling $520, not one problem.

You do the math

Maybe you should bring your non LR ute into the outback,you know the place you never go too and see how well it is then,my TDCi has 25k of it and going fine,but I'm sick of these bull**** threads about the defender being no good by people who don't own one and live in the city. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

Maybe you should bring your non LR ute into the outback,you know the place you never go too and see how well it is then,my TDCi has 25k of it and going fine,but I'm sick of these bull**** threads about the defender being no good by people who don't own one and live in the city. Pat

Yep, my Ute has never seen dirt.

Dirt is the least of your worries try the Pilbara there is a bit of dirt separating the rocks occasionally.

Picked up the Defender yesterday and it's as good as new - apparently there was a recall and they replaced the steering pump bracket.

The discussion on faults in new cars reminds me of an English magazine on classic cars I read a few years back and a guy had bought a brand new Rover car (a P6 from memory - mid 70's Rover with the 3.5 litre V8) - he had approx 150,000 miles on it when it started playing up and took it in to get fixed - apparently he hadn't any services done to it, ever! The oil which was still the original was sludge and the push rods had worn out, hence the troubles - apparently they just couldn't believe you could run an engine that long without a service! They just don't build Rovers like they used to!

Unfortunately I think it's standard procedure to send vehicles out with minor issues these days. Land Rover and others included. A guy at work here just bought a new Jeep Wrangler and it's been back for mechanical issues 3 times now and I think he's only done about 10,000kms. Last visit was a new gearbox! He's been happy with the service once he gets back to the dealer, but every time - just like Land Rover - their comments are similar to, "Oh yeah, it's a known issue. We'll fix that up.".

If it's known, why aren't they fixing these things BEFORE selling the vehicle!! Must be frustrating. (I've never owned a new vehicle). That's just how manufacturers operate these days...