Thread: Defender Puma 2.2 - voice your issues

Originally Posted by AndyG

I got my defender in sept 2014, without a test drive, I blame this forum, took it for a 5000 km spin to Birdsville etc over two weeks, parked it up and I went back to PNG. Got to home airport and hopped in the near new Hilux, my immediate reaction was, what's wrong with this POS. Nothing , but it's not the Defender ! Btw back in the Deefer on Sunday

Hey AndyG, are you back in your Defender? ...can you regail us with some more hilux comparisons? It's great to be reminded first hand of the difference :-)

I drove an Amarok for a while, it just felt flimsy. One of the biggest differences was the poor visibility all around compared to Defender, not to mention the slouching seating position, constant shuddering from the horse and cart rear springs and the lack of 'feel' / confidence both off road and on the highway in comparison... How is 'car-like' ever a good selling point for what is promoted as a serious 4WD? It beats me why there is such devotion, particularly to hilux, all over the country when the short comings are so clear...

Just did another 5,000 km down to Melbourne and back, clicked over 10,000 km now, going great, nil issues. Went up a track easy as, the Hilux would have run away and hid, or at least bottomed out seriously.

Tommy's Rock lookout off the Old Grafton Road, a truly beautiful part of the world.

And of course, in the Defender, the rear does not want to pass the front of the car on fast dirt corrugations, unlike the Hilux, that likes ot lead with the back foot

Originally Posted by MrLandy

HHow is 'car-like' ever a good selling point for what is promoted as a serious 4WD? It beats me why there is such devotion, particularly to hilux, all over the country when the short comings are so clear...

What i cant get over is the number of 4WD journos who consider it acceptable that you need a 2" lift at least for your Jap market leader 4WD before it is usable off road. And in fact recommend a lift as par for the course

Originally Posted by AndyG

What i cant get over is the number of 4WD journos who consider it acceptable that you need a 2" lift at least for your Jap market leader 4WD before it is usable off road. And in fact recommend a lift as par for the course

The fact remain that the vast majority of vehicles falls into the class of "4WD capable" Utes or wagons. A Hilux is just a work Ute with a 4WD system that is by design intended to be used occasionally. Use it 24/7 for 60 days solid and a very high percentage of them will fail (been there, done that).

Similarly almost all wagons are mostly road bias with even their 4WD systems designed around DSC and wet road handling, rather than actual offroading.

It has been discussed at length before, but a SWB Wrangler needs at least $15,000 spent on suspension upgrades to match a stock Defender 90, which in itself says a lot.

No wonder mainstream journalism accepts and advocates that most products needs upgrading before you can actually take it offroad.

Cheers,

Lou

Probably does not hurt their advertising revenue either.

I got my 110 just after AndyG's and have clocked 11,000km with no issues so far. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Heads up for everyone on the recall Bob has posted in the recalls thread.

I've checked our VIN's and I'm ringing Land Rover tomorrow as I think they need to see both of them. Not sure on when the VIN's start and end in terms of time but I picked mine up in May and Pocket Rockets in November. I believe they start building mine in January 2014 if it helps and the other one is a MY15.

Originally Posted by loneranger

Heads up for everyone on the recall Bob has posted in the recalls thread.

I've checked our VIN's and I'm ringing Land Rover tomorrow as I think they need to see both of them. Not sure on when the VIN's start and end in terms of time but I picked mine up in May and Pocket Rockets in November. I believe they start building mine in January 2014 if it helps and the other one is a MY15.

Easy to check and make sure though. Ignoring the preceding numbers, just look at the last 6. If your cars are in the batch of 2400 that falls between 461900 and 464300 (last 6 is the serial number) they need to get their bolts swapped.

The recalls are all early MY15's and the last one 464300 was built on 4 December 2014



Cheers,

Lou