Defeneder comes 2nd in 4 x 4 Australia Top Six Expedition Vehicles

[Chenz]

A friend bought me a copy of the October 2014 4X4 Australia magazine while I was recuperating in hospital after surgery.

It had an interesting article on the top six expedition vehicles in Australia. They rated the Defender at No.2 behind the 70 Series Landcruiser and ahead of the Nissan Patrol GU

It is quite a good article but they cannot help but make the statement "When it comes to reliability, Land Rover does not have the most enviable reputation".

It does however come back and say "I have driven Defenders in some of the most remote places on the planet and have never had a serious mechanical failure".

All in all a good write up on the Fender. The other vehicles on the list were Jeep Wrangler JK, Ford Ranger/Mazda BT-50,Toyota Landcruiser 100 Series.

[Bushie]

Don't know where they should be in a list. Just know from experience that they do a bloody good job and we've never had any reliability issues, even with the old red terror. Not sure how a 1992 Toyota would go.


Martyn

[PAT303]

The 70 series has many well know faults that are show stoppers so no it's not better than the defender. Pat

[Ranga]

What sort of expedition are you going to do in a Wrangler?! chuck in your pocket knife and tin of beans and it's fully loaded. :p

[Randylandy]

Spent two weeks living out of the back of a tj wrangler. Was fun but can say was an exercise in creative packing. The fuel capacity wout be a tjs problem as only got 350 km out of a tank in mine. Not sure how th jks go on fuel though.

[B.S.F.]

I guess having a section called "What did you do on your L/R today" does give the impression that Land Rovers are unreliable and need constant attention. If I woud read that as an outsider I'd come to the same conclusion. .W.

[DiscoMick]

I read that section in 4 x 4 Australia and thought it was a fair enough write-up.

[Chenz]

What sort of expedition are you going to do in a Wrangler?! chuck in your pocket knife and tin of beans and it's fully loaded. :p

It is quite interesting that my Land Rover mechanic has branched out into Jeeps. The main part of his work is now converting and beefing up Wrangler front ends, suspension, and drive trains into something tougher like a Defender. Some of these conversions are up to $10K! Why not just buy a Defender to start with.

I spoke to a few of the owners while I was getting my 130 ready for the last EDJIT Simpson Desert trip and asked them about where they were going and for how long. They all lamented the lack of space and range of the Jeep.

Most of them do short trips on "challenging tracks", which is great for my mechanic as they get towed back in on Monday to get repaired.

[solmanic]

I guess having a section called "What did you do on your L/R today" does give the impression that Land Rovers are unreliable and need constant attention. If I woud read that as an outsider I'd come to the same conclusion. .W.

That's funny, I have never read it that way. I would assume, like me, people would expect that thread to be about mods & upgrades, not repairs.

Perhaps I would worry if there was a thread titled "What went wrong with your L/R today".

[PAT303]

Considering the age and K's on a good number of vehicles owned by people on here it doesn't supprise me about the repairs mentioned.You have to remember that 40 year old LR's are easy to find,other makes have rusted to the point of non repair by then. Pat