Thread: A sad Day. Goodby Deefer.

Sorry to hear your bad luck James. But i agree with you, we can put up with a lot, but unreliability in whats basically new car is hard to cop.

I am surprised the turbo hose continued to fail, and couldn't be sorted by using quality after market hoses and clamps. In that case I would have said bugger the warranty on that item and had a go sorting it out myself. Every story like yours loses land rover customers, and we've heard plenty. Gearboxes, transfer cases, driveshafts etc etc. Land rover should stop letting the owners do their R&D for them. They don't consider that people might think about the lifecycle cost of the car? Any potential buyer can do some research an find all these stories on the web. Unless you're mechanically inclined, have plenty of money and time, or have some deep attraction to land rovers it will put you off. Land rover has lost you as a customer, ( and ambassador), for future cars as well, I don't understand their attitude, Reputation is everything, they should do everything to protect it.

My friend just bought a new Prado, (55 K) the decision was a "no brainer" in his view. Why?, his existing 15 year old Prado has nearly 400,000 kms of trouble free motoring under its belt. Only routine services etc in that time, completely predicable and reliable. Why can't land rover do that? they've had enough practice time.

We recently bought a new family sedan, my heart was considering Citroens, Peugeot, Renaults etc, but my head bought a new Toyota Camry. I wanted something with; bullet proof reliability, a reputation for lasting along time, and reasonable comfort and economy. I don't think I'm alone in valuing these qualities in a car.
But good luck James with your next purchase, take care ; cheers simmo.

I'm sorry to hear all the drama you have had with your machine. Buying a new 90 in Feb and really hope it's a good one. Have had to do a lot ( and I mean head, clutch, brakes, gear box, transfer case, steering, radiator, pinion deals, buku gaskets and much more) with my 94 110 but have put that down to age for the most part. Really seems like the odds of potentially getting a lemon vs a good one is a little too high.

Haha I've actually been apprehensive about getting a good one which isn't right when you're buying a new car.

Good luck and don't feel bad for opting with Hilux, cruiser, patrol etc. If it does what's on the label then sure. No need for loyalty to a machine when it has a high chance of leaving you stuck somewhere remote which is the very antithesis of what it claims and was designed for.

Regards

G'Day James.
I'm sorry to hear of your issues,....I remember when you were "active" on the Forum, as you bought your 90 around the same time We did.
I hope that you obtain satisfaction from JLR, as you certainly appear to have had a very poor run.
Regards, Pickles.

That is a very sad story mate. I had my own woes with ordering a Defender and found the head office regionally and in the UK were of no help at all. I also just read an article on Jalopnik where their resident car lawyer says that trying to get satisfaction from a manufacturer is usually a lost cause - with a few exceptions here and there.

The thing that came through in the comments on that article were the strong 'lemon laws' in some states there in the US, which mean that if you say you're getting a lawyer involved then things suddenly start happening.

Whatever happens, good luck with it and who knows - maybe the new Defender replacement will tempt you if reliability turns out to be solid.

Originally Posted by JamesB71

I was so excited in 2013 when I finally, after many years of dreaming, put my order in for a new Defender. If only I had known how disappointing and frustrating it would turn out to be. I used to be very active here, but I am so disillusioned with the shattering of my dream that I havent had the will to come here and talk about it.

The truck now has 95K kms and is about to come out of warranty. Its been on the tow truck twice in the last three weeks....

As many of you know, the deefer has a long running and well documented problem with the turbo hose. Mine has blown, split, been recalled and replaced lots of times. The car has left me stranded all over the countryside, city and suburbs waiting for the flat bed. I believe its been towed five times for that problem. Three times since the redesign.

My friends are amazed that I have stuck with it this long. They think I am mad, but they dont understand how you can love a Landy. The tow truck driver has a running joke about how when he gets a job in the Blue Mountains theres a better than average chance its me. Im on a first name basis with the guys at the dealership and they know my car very well. They are the poor buggers who have to repair it over and over again. Many times with the same recurring problem.

Other than the turbo hose, it was towed from outback NSW once when it blew the top off the fuel separator, and yesterday it was picked up after the temperature spiked up off the gauge, the vehicle lost power and I was once again relegated to sitting in the gutter.

All in all, my beloved Deefer has a ride on a flat bed truck to the dealer more often than its service interval.

The roadside assist people have been great. They always send the truck and organise me a hire car. They even understood when I needed them to speak very slowly and clearly when I broke down out of mobile range and had to talk to them on the Satelite phone.

The customer service team however, speak to me like I am the enemy with some sort of Machiavellian plan to cause them grief by maliciously purchasing their product and (shock horror) driving it. When it blew the turbo hose once again in November, with 92K on the clock I requested that they give me a good will extension on the warranty just with regards to the turbo hose issue, because they obviously havent sorted it out yet. They categorically turned me down.

This morning when I once again got stranded, I rang the customer service manager and asked him if he would like to revisit that decision and he said no.

As much as I absolutely adore the car, and when it is running it suits me down to the ground, I just cant take the unreliability. I have already cancelled a tour around the country with my daughter because I cant trust the vehicle not to leave me dangerously stranded in the desert.

So it is with a heavy heart that I take on the manufacturer of my dream car in an ugly dispute over its fitness for the purpose for which it was purchased. I still owe more than it is worth on it, and I will be paying that off long after the car has gone from my garage.

Ive actually been having major anxiety over this, losing a lot of sleep and even spent last night having horrendous nightmares over it.

Im totally gutted.

Sad story.. I hope I never have similar issues, fingers crossed so far so good, I only had an issue with the rear door rippling with the weight of the spare wheel, but the door has been replaced under warranty and I have ordered a spare wheel carrier so that problem should not happen again. If the turbo hose keeps splitting I would be getting an after market one, clearly the Land Rover solution is just not working it should be easy to get someone to fit a decent mod that will never split again.
You have had a couple of other problems, but it seems like the turbo hose was the big issue. Maybe you are getting rid of your Defender just when the issues other than the turbo hose are sorted?
All the best
Chris

I dont really get it, its a turbo hose, this is a minor problem. Just buy a set of silicones, and have a good hard look at how you secure them.

The problems youve had are nothing major, **** happens cars breakdown and you need to fix them.

See post 68 page 7 here is a fix that should outlast the car..
Puma Defender Turbo Hose Recall Notice...Who's Received one?
Chris

Now that it is out of warranty perhaps you can get someone who will not be afraid of fixing the problems by using non genuine parts. A dealers garage would be limited to use the OEM parts otherwise it would be an admission that the OEM part was not suitable.

People playing with turbos have access to proper hose clamps even if they cost a few dollars more. The same for hoses. I don' know of your other issues but it will not matter what I say, it is a personal choice as to what brand of car you buy.