Thread: My New MY12 Defender 90 is broken already!

Despite the inconvenience of my new car breaking down - the Dealers and Land Rover couldn't have been more helpful. Once I had pulled over into a petrol station, I rang the 24 hr Land Rover assistance line - they were very helpful and it was eventually towed away to the nearest dealer which was Alto in Artarmon, Sydney. Got a call from the service people on Monday asking the usual questions about what was wrong and they rang back on Tuesday to say it was all fixed and ready to go. No dramas whatsoever, mind you, the intercooler hose was probably an easy fix and they did the recall fix on the bracket at the same time. If I have any other troubles and this is what I am to expect, then I shouldn't have any complaints.

Originally Posted by Judo

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, ".

I might be blaspheming here, but I was seriously considering buying a Jeep Wrangler - what changed my mind in the end was the fact that you have to spend a lot of money just to get the suspension halfway decent for off-roading. Apparently, they build them as cheap as they can and the suspension isn't as strong as it should be. Also, they are pretty terrible to drive. However, with the family history of Rover cars, and having owned a Series II Discovery before, plus the great deal on the Defender 90's coupled to a novated lease and there was just no contest. I just love the 90 - it's such a fun vehicle, great retro styling and so functional. Plus I can't believe how easy it is to park in the city - it's way shorter than my previous car, a Honda Accord - the 90 will fit into just about any space, making it a great city vehicle too.

Originally Posted by PAT303

I did,in three years time my 60K defender will have 80% resale value,your 'olden ute will have 25 maybe 30% if your lucky. Pat

Considering you do so many km's of outback travel why are you only accumulating 20k pa? Got nowhere to drive to in Newman?

No based on it's current km's in 3 yrs my car will have 180000km's + on it and who gives a crap about resale value or what is? It's not an Aston Martin. Fact is I drive this vehicle a lot and I as well as others cannot trust a modern day defender to cope with that amount of km's. TD5 or earlier, any day of the week. Puma no.

Oh yeh as Holdens are renowned for solid reliability and never breaking down. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

Oh yeh as Holdens are renowned for solid reliability and never breaking down. Pat

It wasn't built by Holden, and from my experience Isuzu's tend to be very reliable. Besides with an option of two dealer networks available to maintain said car. I would have loved to get another Land Rover, 5 out of the last 7 cars I have bought have been from the marque, but I simply do not have the confidence in the marques lineup at this present time. I do not feel that I am alone in this.

Originally Posted by dobbo

Considering you do so many km's of outback travel why are you only accumulating 20k pa? Got nowhere to drive to in Newman? ..................................
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What a strange observation.

My impression is that Pat has more than one 4WD, maybe even access to a work vehicle. Always the best sort to do long country Km's in as the cost is picked up by the employer .
To me 20K pa doesn't seem so bad for country leisure cruising when working full time. I mean averaging 400 Km per week, every week enjoying your 4WD I would have thought most people would have envied ? But I dont live in ...'Close enough to their Shire to smell the dirty Hobbit feet', wherever that might be, so I can't really say.

As to Newman, I can understand that those ignorant of the region may consider its remoteness to be a negative. In fact its 'remoteness' means that a resident doesn't have to drive as far to 'get away from it all', something urban or urban fringe dwellers unfortunately must do to enjoy the 'bliss' of the bush or outback.

Newmans closeness to the pristine Oakover River area, Carawine/Upper Carawine Gorge with historic Gold minining regions to the North and Australias second largest National Park to the East along with the beauty and challenge of the historic CSR make it a great place to be from a 4WD touring perespective. In Newman you don't have to drive to the area you want to visit, you're already there. But I'm biased, I've been there.


Deano

Originally Posted by dobbo

Considering you do so many km's of outback travel why are you only accumulating 20k pa? Got nowhere to drive to in Newman?

No based on it's current km's in 3 yrs my car will have 180000km's + on it and who gives a crap about resale value or what is? It's not an Aston Martin. Fact is I drive this vehicle a lot and I as well as others cannot trust a modern day defender to cope with that amount of km's. TD5 or earlier, any day of the week. Puma no.

While were going from OT to MS I wonder how much of the crap you hear about LandRovers being unreliable & Jap stuff being legendary is based on personal experience or heresay !!

Generally if a Toyota or Nissan owner has a problem they keep quiet about it, Its like a secret society that does not want the bad word to get out.

As I said before Ive never had a LR let me down to the extent that I could not fix it on the road & What has let me down is a piece of Legendary Jap Crap with a Timing Belt, For me the Td5 is so much better simply because it has a Chain instead of a rubber band to drive the engines most critical functions.

There is nothing you can't do yourself on the side of the road to fix a Td5.

heres some happy snaps

This is the only time in 32 years of 4x4ing that Ive ever had to be towed. I got $1000 for the 80 series at the Broome wreckers, ( it had 4 bent valves & holes in two pistons) & had to buy another one at the Toyota dealer to finish the trip with, Lesson Learned only LandRovers from now on.

Originally Posted by goingbush

...

As I said before Ive never had a LR let me down to the extent that I could not fix it on the road & What has let me down is a ... Timing Belt, ...

I could say the same until I bought a 300Tdi (with a timing belt) - however is was the head gasket that let me down...