Thread: Replace a Defender with what?

Originally Posted by V8Ian

ADF never bought TD5s, they were trialed and rejected in favour of Isuzu.

I’m pretty sure the ADF owned them. They were in service.
TD5 Remediation Vehicles -REMLR

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Lots of input on the net from very ****ed off owners and from reputable tradespeople. Manufacturer service bulletins have been issued pertaining to both well established faults.

Not hearsay at all.

I mentioned the oil TSB, it came out very early on when a few lunched engines!

Originally Posted by ozscott

So Rick in your experience the Ranger is a good bit of kit?

Cheers

Much better than the Hilux I use ATM!

Good and bad points like most vehicles.
The Mazda's we used couldn't handle the weight of a steel tray and tool boxes with gear in them, they all had to have leaves added to the rear.
I think the couple of Rangers we had needed the rear suspension upgraded too.
I hate the MT82 'box, it's so bloody notchy, but the synchro's are good and I do like having six speeds.
The engine is nice and torquey and gets reasonable economy.
Pretty good seats for a work ute, personal use was part of my package and I did a few 11 hour days
Quiet for a ute but not as quiet as the D2.
Re noise uninformed will vouch for the difference between the Hilux and Mazda during a phone call!
The bluetooth/audio/synching system is crap! Hard to use and does weird **** at times. I think the Hilux is better there.

Had an issue with the cruise control a couple of times.
The dealer couldn't fix it, but an independent we used had it sorted in a couple of minutes! It was to do with the clutch switch.
I blew an intercooler hose one day so out came the silicon tape. 80,000km and blowing hoses? Hmm.....
I don't think the ABS is tuned as well as the D2, believe it or not.
Hill starts are a breeze in the manual, tap the brake pedal at a set of lights or stop sign and the rear brakes lock on so you don't have to heel/toe the brake and throttle on hill starts.
With the torque they have you can have some weird stuff happen with the TC at times in the wet.
The stability control takes all the fun out of having all that torque on tap, and none of our vehicles had an LSD so if you turned it off all that happened was the inside rear wheel would light up in the wet.
Yes, I'm an over 50 hoon!
Mazda spare prices are insane! Get parts through Ford. eg. I snapped the fill piece off the top of the gearknob, it's just a plastic insert with the shift pattern engraved. $85 thankyou....
Our corporate affairs manager was gobsmacked.
Actually I think one of our blokes might've done a diff too ?
When I left Canberra my car had about 80,000km on it and a sight clutch shudder on occasion. I'm not sure how good the dual mass flywheels are standing up, but all our vehicles were flogged, and mine was heavily loaded with tools and spares, I would've carried 4-500kg in gear on top of the weight of the steel tray and two big side boxes all the time.
I think the average fuel economy over the life of the car was 10.7l/100km according to the trip computer, and we used the hi-rider suspension pack and I always had ladders on top.

I've only driven one 'Rok and really liked it, it's quite a step up IMO but it was a very short drive of the then MD's new V6. The auto is very impressive and they get up and boogey!

Originally Posted by V8Ian

ADF never bought TD5s, they were trialed and rejected in favour of Isuzu.

The TD5 did not exist when the Isuzu was adopted, by over ten years.

The ADF got a small number of TD5s to supplement the fleet around 2000. These were the first to be sold of the Landrover fleet.

Originally Posted by Zeros

Intriguing. Thanks Solmanic. Great to hear about your experience of the G on this forum.

I met someone the other day who has a Defender Puma AND a G 350! He likes driving the Defender more...but maybe just placating me 😳

How ow did the G Professional Wagon compare when you saw it, against your 350?

Itvreally is the only competitor giving me hope that the next Defender might be good!

The G Professional is much more like a Defender. No molded floor coverings, only removable rubber mats and drainage bungs. It's a pity I couldn't drive it as I really wanted to test the cabin noise levels with no underbody sound deadening (again, much like a Defender). The engine noise in the cabin however was a lot less than I remember in my Defender. Yes, driving a Defender is much more engaging but I put most of that down to the fact that it is a manual and very leaky (both hydraulically and acoustically). Being inside the G350 is like being in a mobile bomb shelter with very little road noise and only some wind noise at highway speeds. If you wind the windows down off-road then the G gives you just as much outside sensory involvement with the benefit of an auto transmission. On road the G lets you do 1000km easily whilst the noise in the Defender causes much more fatigue.

I got my G350 for a bargain price and have unfortunately become quite accustomed to the comfy, luxury interior toys. It's going to have to be a really, really good deal from MB to get me out of it and into a professional but I also hold out hope that Land Rover might get the new Defender design right and be worth considering.

What about a jeep wrangler unlimited? If he wants lockers get a Rubicon version.
Except for the Jeep Wranglers and 76 series, all new 4wds have IFS, this also includes the new G wagon.

Crash without going back and rereading from memory it was a.commercial operator so if he carries more than a cheese sandwich the Rubi-con is out.

Cheers

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

I was going to say ex-mil G-wagen, although I'm not sure they have many wagon body types, as the Land Rovers they are selling are pick-ups, also only models from 1987-1998 are on sale now so might have to wait awhile.

Not sure the Military were to concerned about ANCAP ratings though.