Defender TD5 vs Puma - 2nd hand buyer guide

G day RAR110, We have had the pleasure of owning both TD5 Defender (01) & Discovery 2A (03) also a Discovery 2 V8 & now have a MY11 Defender 2.4ltr. Both our TD5s were purchased second hand. The Defender was not as well looked after buy the previous owner. The only real issue I had with her was some body rust in the upper rear and the clutch went at about 200K, just as I traded her in on the Discovery 2A TD5. Our first Defender was a ball to drive, she just did it slowly. I found I just slowed down when ever I drove her & was happy to cruise along. Loved the push out front vents & wished our new Puma still had them. Generally I have found the TD5 engine to be very reliable & have found that driveline & fuel pump issues to be the weakest links in all our previous Land Rovers. ( The only fault the V8 had was gearbox thrust washers wearing out & I replaced a failed coil pack) Now the Puma! well so far I'am very happy(as is the wife, she just loves Defenders LOL ) Engine performance is very good thou she is already re mapped ( Alive tuned via BD performance) She only has 30K on her so far but definitely much better for highway touring ( done the Melb to Syd run twice already, easy as) I haven't used her much off road yet but one little trek near Jindabyne showed the traction control to be very good indeed. All up I would say the Puma will be a better tourer then the TD5 but I do have a real soft spot the the last of the Landy motors. Just buy the best you can find with a high maintence record would be my advice.
Regards Chris.
P:S ; The Puma still leaks water into the cab like a real Landy, but not a drop of oil yet. ( "Touch Wood" ):p

Two weeks ago I purchased a td5 110 my05 with 64000km on the clock for 30K (they took a TD freelander trade in......for 5k so hip pocket assault was only 25k) Good deals are out there (there are a few dodgy ones out there aswell unfortunately).......you get the feeling that they are not ultra fast movers in the car yard like Tojo's and pootrols so you do have a little bit of bargaining power IMO) You must get it checked out by independant LR specialist. Mine may have an issue with centre diff locking linkages but all up i think its a bargain......with the money saved it wont take long to set it up with TT/Ashcroft DL etc.

If i'd of had the cash for the Puma....... (which i didn't).....it would of been a tough decision......i dont doubt they are more improved but i think you would be better off judging individual cars on their merrit...if that makes sense.

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Originally Posted by chezzter

Two weeks ago I purchased a td5 110 my05 with 64000km on the clock for 30K (they took a TD freelander trade in......for 5k so hip pocket assault was only 25k) Good deals are out there (there are a few dodgy ones out there aswell unfortunately).......you get the feeling that they are not ultra fast movers in the car yard like Tojo's and pootrols so you do have a little bit of bargaining power IMO) You must get it checked out by independant LR specialist. Mine may have an issue with centre diff locking linkages but all up i think its a bargain......with the money saved it wont take long to set it up with TT/Ashcroft DL etc.

If i'd of had the cash for the Puma....... (which i didn't).....it would of been a tough decision......i dont doubt they are more improved but i think you would be better off judging individual cars on their merrit...if that makes sense.

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Thanks, good advice.

TD5 Defenders with that few kms are pretty rare, so good find.

Pete, if you like, you are welcome to borrow mine for the weekend and give it a run. Take the family camping, run it down the highway for a few hours and get a feel for it.
A Tdci is an expansive bit of kit to be using them for what they were made for. They are too expansive to sit in the driveway and do little. So I'd be very disappointed for you if you went that road and family aren't completely sold.
Mine had it's last service the other day. I believe it's has taken the 3 years to finish it off, but that was my draw on the build I got. I can only hope maintenance is it's only ongoing concern, as we all do on here regardless of model.
I put almost 1000K on it this weekend towing a little boat. Have to say at 90K it's running like the first day, actually better because it didn't leak, has no drive line noise, and all my accessories added.
I'm no expert, but feel I can identify various clunks in a 2.4 drive line for you, and report what has been done to mine to resolve it. For gods sake though, buy a 130.

Well set up for touring, TD5 just listed on ebay in QLD:
Land Rover Defender 110 TD5 4x4 2000 4D Wagon 5 SP Manual 4x4 2 5L in in Buderim, QLD | eBay

No connection with this vehicle or seller, but looks like good value at first appearance.

seems a few on here are currently on the market. Nuggets Tdci 110 cab ute, rutmutt is soon to put a Td5 110.