Land Rover Engineer Requires Info

The main reason I sold my 2003 Td5 Defender was the lack of service agents not the actual reliability of the thing although the Throttle Potentiometer stuffing up 1200klms from home didn't do too much to help either the cooks or my own faith in it.
Or the fact it took 3 weeks to get it back to Perth although the blame for that lay with the disinterested truck drivers.

So what I'd like to see is massive expansion of dealers or accredited service agents, less computer control of the things, bigger fuel tanks and an engine big enough to pull a camper trailer up hills without struggling!

Lots of others have expressed some cynicism about the poster and I'm the same.
Why the hell would LR be interested in Australian users after years of couldn't care less that they're building products which don't appeal to buyers because of their bad reputation, deserved or not, and why now after running the dealer/servicer network into the ground and about to be sold probably to the Indians?
Even if it's a genuine inquiry I don't believe anything will come of it anyway.
Alan.

G'day Folks :)

This questioning post could also be a way for the "New Owners" to find out just what is wrong in the rest of the world outside of UK and what Ford did wrong, anything has to be an improvement on the current situation:)

cheers

i am ready to delete it now...

dust sealing on a defender? how would the water get out? buy a disco ;)

cup holders? give me a break .... buy a disco ;)

oil leaks ? its a pommy truck for [inset your universal beings name here] sake! buy a toyota or nissann ;)

decent service network now that is something worth looking at.. :eek:

:spudnikbackflip:

:TIC:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scallops

Sorry, but I can't see this as being a real question placed by Land Rover or one of their representatives.



Phoenix checked it out earlier ;)

---

The IP address also correlates as it being a LR employee. Whether it's being done of their own back, or at request of the company is yet to be seen, but I doubt they would be allowed to use a company e-mail for personal use.

Great to have a Land Rover Engineer on here. In my experience:

Diffs, halfshafts, cvs need to be upgraded - they are the smallest/weakest of any COMPARABLE 4x4 available in Australia.

EVERY other manufacturer has switched to hypoid diffs, why is LR still using spiral bevel???

Why did the salisbury go? It was great (just needed slightly larger halfshafts). The P38/wolf (or whatever it is called) diff that replaced it is woefully inadequate.

Why isn't there a LSD option. A company called Haultech in Australia has proven that LSDs combined with traction control work fantastically offroad.

EDIT: As mentioned earlier - a factory option of larger wheels would be great - like the one-ton of old. Jeep managed to do it with the Wrangler Rubicon (which sold quite well to my knowledge) - why not a defender model with 35" tyres from the factory?

IF this is serious then how about some factory front and rear diff locks on the defender. Trucks that can spend weeks away from civilization don't need electronic traction control a more reliable mechanical way of controlling traction is far better. 140 litre plus fuel tank,At tyres as standard get a 4wd training program going in Australia so new buyers can be taught by Landrover experts. Dealer networks definateley need to be improved not much point in having a car that you need to drive 1000k's plus to find someone who can service them. The product you have is a good one it just needs a better support network to convince rural Australia it is worth the risk.

I drive a Defender so can't really comment on the Discoveries. From what I've seen of the Discoveries and RR's they are both very nice vehicles but speaking from my own experience I would like to see the following enhancements on the Defender:

Stronger Axles
Oil instead of grease lubrication for the axles
Automatic gearbox option
Low-low range option
Front and Rear Diff-lock as options
Bonnet-mounted and rear-door spare wheel carrier (yes 2 x spares wheels is a definite plus out here!)
FIX THE LEAKS
Keep the air-vents
Add a ceiling mounted air-con in the back somewhere
More ute options
Proper side-steps (ie, drop the existing side-steps and replace the sills with rock-sliders with tree-sliders attached - use them as the side-steps)
Re-inforced housing on the diffs
Smaller steering wheel for the larger person
More leg room in the front of the Defender would be nice
I've seen a mod to the Defender handbrake to replace it with a RR handbrake, that seems to work well
A centre console where the lock doesn't constantly fall out

If I think of more I'll post 'em up :)

G'day,

I've a couple of things to suggest -

The electronics are excellent when they work, what they really need is to be a lot more robust.

With regards to engines - if you could figure out a way to keep the electronic control for the most part, but also a way for it to run in an electronics independent 'dumb' mode: fuel + air = get home when it all goes belly-up in the middle of nowhere.
I agree with TDV6, TDV8 as options :thumbsup:
And a fuel tanks to last 1000+ kms.

Also, in Australia, we do like utes - there have been some really nice conversions done to Discos 1 & 2 - but I'm not too sure about the dual cab D3 (yet ;) - although a single cab should probably look pretty good.
And King Cab style 110s and 130s would be popular - more room for the big blokes.

For a future Defender, is there a chance you could look at redesigning the structure so that there's the chassis, then there's a roll cage, then there's the bodywork?
One thing I liked in the pre-2007 Defenders was the fact that the rear seats were divided evenly, so the person in the middle got a full butt's worth of seat - unlike most other cars where the middle seat goes to the drawer of the short straw. So the new, full backed rear seat with the old seat spacings would be perfect.

I know it's a bit hard to address things like dealer network and vehicle availability (or lack thereof!) and so on from a design and engineering point of view, but it would certainly help if the vehicles don't have to go back for repairs!!
:D

There is little I can add that has not already been said.

The biggest issue is the dealer network (or lack thereof). But given that the dealer network is sadly lacking, it is essential in a vehicle intended to be used (even if not based) outside the major cities that it not need specialist dealer services for repair of maintenance. As suggested, this could perhaps be best done by using simple, understandable engineering, with a well written service and repair manual (as e.g. Series 2a) so that any mechanic could repair or service it. An alternative could be to provide full on board diagnostics that can display the diagnosis without extra software and a PC - this would add almost nothing to the cost of the car, and is something I expect to eventually appear in all cars - why should not Landrover be the first?

As others have mentioned, the range is inadequate - 1000km should be considered the bare minimum. Some of the others' suggestions would lead to a much heavier and larger vehicle, which is not really a very good idea, but a modest increase in width of the Defender to allow more space would be a very good idea. The average western man or woman has increased substantially in size since the dimensions were set in the 1950s, in the UK's post war austerity.

John

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JDNSW

An alternative could be to provide full on board diagnostics that can display the diagnosis without extra software and a PC - this would add almost nothing to the cost of the car, and is something I expect to eventually appear in all cars - why should not Landrover be the first?

---

I love that idea John :thumbsup:

They have the displays to do it, so rather than a meaningless warning light, why not be able to switch mode to say that there is a fault detected at the wheel sensor, or an engine sensor etc!