New Defender, any good?

One thing I'd add to this thread is that as good as the new Defender is, it really hadn't been fully tested in extreme conditions prior to release. This may or may not be important to you.

For example, the placement of ancillary equipment under the bonnet has not been fully thought out and this has only become apparent after 15,000km of extreme use in the Australian outback.

My Defender has been sitting at Southside Land Rover for a week and a half now whilst "headquarters" try to make a decision on how to fix the following issues...

1) the Brake Master cylinder rubs on the underside of the bonnet and will hole the plastic reservoir.
2) the lower intercooler hose requires replacement and re-routing to prevent rub on the knuckles on the steering column.

Both of these items, I would have thought, should have been foreseen.

The weird thing is - even though the list of warranty issues I have had for my 1 year old vehicle is starting to look like the New York phone book, I love my Puma!

What about just getting a later model Disco? 03 or 04 with low k's...they still look more comfortable then the new fender. Plus the Auto will probably do a better job of towing..if you get an auto.

It will be something you are familiar with and the numbers will surely work out better..

MMM Southern Landrover . I have a 3 page letter in with them at the moment about my experiences, not related to warranty at all but rather customer service. Looks like Ill have to go to the "alternative" in Osb Park.

Id be interested to see the outcome of this as Im losing patience with them at Ill be posting the letter up here in a couple of weeks if I cant get any joy.

Should have bought one in QLD would have been a good excuse to explore the Cape while picking it up!


The 130 is bloody fantastic though!!!

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Originally Posted by discokid

MMM Southern Landrover .

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Don't know for sure if you're referring to my post but mine's at Southside LR in Brisbane - and I'm not sure about buying one here in Qld either - all the dealers seem to leave a little to be desired. The best one I've come across is Suttons in Alice Springs - so then you could do the Gunbarrel going home! :D

Woops sorry about that I just didnt think two landrover dealers could have such bad customer sevice in my view. Over a week about a pipe and a brake resi. Id be pressing them to fix it!

Maybe I was just looking for an excuse to vent my frustration about customer service.

No issues with the 130 thus far (wouldnt want to be with only 3100kms on the clock) Im testing this weekened in the sand dunes north of Perth so Ill report back

My wife has a toyota and they bend over backwards when we have had issues with that. Mind you the issues have been mechanical and the bloody thing cost about twice the price!!!!!

Regarding the rubbing of the plastic brakefluid reservoir.
I had a look at mine,all is well.I did turn the sensor unit so the wires are on the engine side of the reservoir.I did this incase the sensor unit is rubbing off the underside of the bonnet.However it will probably be solved by cutting away some of the interior bonnet structure around the brake reservoir to give more clearance.

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Originally Posted by Scallops

One thing I'd add to this thread is that as good as the new Defender is, it really hadn't been fully tested in extreme conditions prior to release. This may or may not be important to you.

For example, the placement of ancillary equipment under the bonnet has not been fully thought out and this has only become apparent after 15,000km of extreme use in the Australian outback.

My Defender has been sitting at Southside Land Rover for a week and a half now whilst "headquarters" try to make a decision on how to fix the following issues...

1) the Brake Master cylinder rubs on the underside of the bonnet and will hole the plastic reservoir.
2) the lower intercooler hose requires replacement and re-routing to prevent rub on the knuckles on the steering column.

Both of these items, I would have thought, should have been foreseen.

The weird thing is - even though the list of warranty issues I have had for my 1 year old vehicle is starting to look like the New York phone book, I love my Puma!

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You fill me with confidence about Southern - that's where mine is coming from and I'll be watching them closely - seems car dealers are the same the world over - very helpful until you've taken delivery, then the opposite afterwards. No competition in Perth - aren't they all owned by the same company?

Yep, all are owned by Alf Barbagallo. We have had a few problems with the Osborne Park dealership and I aint goin back... The Cannington store - Southern LR, is from memory run by his son.

So far for us they have been better than Osb Pk. Unfortunately the Kalgoorlie dealership was sold to Barbagallo and closed a while later because the profit margin was not large enough (grapevine). Now the country LR owners are screwed!

Oh well, one day Land Rover will get its act together.......

I might sound pedantic :cool: but I note a lot of people are calling the 2007/08 Defender a Puma Defender or Puma etc - it is just a Defender 110, 130 or 110 SVX in Aust. However I do understand the name Puma may officially apply to some models (but not all) in other countries.

The term Puma is just the code name for the engine - just as the TD5 engine is a Storm, the TDv6/v8 is a Lion, the old 200 and 300Tdis are Geminis and some of the V8 petrols were called Tempest.

So we do not call the old Defender TD5s - Storms or the earlier versions Geminis so why call the new Defender a Puma. We do not call D3s Lions.

Yes I have too much time on my hands at the moment.:o

you best watch yourself mate

or one of them puma drivers might be around to bite you on the bum :D:D;)