Thread: How reliable has your Defender been from new?

Julian contacted me after I commented on his thread, having kept in touch since early D4 days. He mentioned that someone on FB was also having the same very stiff suspension with his brand new vehicle, although nothing diagnosed as being wrong and seemingly fobbed-off by the dealer. I wonder that if there's 1 vehicle with rock-hard suspension due to a faulty component yet no DTCs stored then there could easily be others.

A bit dragged out,but an honest review.Seems the vehicle still has some sort of issue that has not been sorted.

Full review of our Second Defender breakdown recovery & repair process. How did Land Rover go? - YouTube

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Just home from big outback trip a little over 10000 kms 8 weeks .Dpf did not burn with all the slow travel ,threw up a warning lamp ,cleared with gap tool no other problems

Originally Posted by discojools

In the meantime I really hope it's sorted before a big trip in October.

Fingers are crossed that LR can get the chassis module from the new donor vehicle programmed for yours tomorrow.

Squeaky door seals would be due to being the Defender being a monocoque and some movement going on.

With my D4 I had holes in my driver's door rubber, when it was 18 months old. The dealer blamed me. I explained I also have a 1997 Prado (bought new and I gave it to my son this year) and that its rubbers were fine, despite it being then (2015) 18 years old. I also complained that other owners had the rubber replaced by the dealer as it's a known run of bad rubbers. It's still never been replaced but it doesn't make any noise or leak dust. I was very glad to drop the dealer for an Indy. And I had an extra two year so called "factory" warranty.

I never bought a Gap Diagnostic IIDTool BT reader because they were around $Au1,000. If I buy a Defender it will be first on my extras list!

And by the way, LandCruiser Sahara drivers door mirrors costs close to $4,000. They have a reflection adjustment for night time rear headlights, that flexes the mirror to diffuse the headlights, which results in very high replacement costs. And a straight mirror is an issue too ...

Originally Posted by Graeme

Julian contacted me after I commented on his thread, having kept in touch since early D4 days. He mentioned that someone on FB was also having the same very stiff suspension with his brand new vehicle, although nothing diagnosed as being wrong and seemingly fobbed-off by the dealer. I wonder that if there's 1 vehicle with rock-hard suspension due to a faulty component yet no DTCs stored then there could easily be others.

I checked with Land Rover Brighton - Melbourne suburb. Although I use an Indy I am considering a Defender, and I mentioned to the sales guy about that issue, and he said they had had a few with the hard ride and it wasn't straight forward to sort out, but they now had a handle on how to fix it. I did not realise it was a major issue ...

I had mentioned to the sales guy that the my wife preferred the Landcruiser (we only did back to back driving tests around our area). She much preferred the 300's smoother ride, and I had thought she'd love the Defender after a big 300 Tojo because the 300's should feel a whole lot more cumbersome I had planned. Also she also disliked the dashboard of the Freelander as it did not show an analogue style speedo ... I presume that the digital speed reading can be switched over to a conventional looking analogue (impression of at least) speedo?

Originally Posted by Melbourne Park

... Also she also disliked the dashboard of the Freelander as it did not show an analogue style speedo ... I presume that the digital speed reading can be switched over to a conventional looking analogue (impression of at least) speedo?

And yes it can, the digital dash can have an analogue looking speedo and tacho. On the test vehicle I could not work out how to incorporate mapping in-between.

Graeme did you ever do a Llams for a Lexus 200 series? Their high mode drops down at a low speed ... I reckon the 500 and 600s would do the same as they have the hydraulic suspensions as well.

And here is a review of Defender issues which did scare me ... since I tow, I am still nervous about a monocoque.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi1k-zUPFH4

My Indy also says about the Ford V6, that they have had some come in with the same issue that the Lion V6 has sometimes suffered from ... at least they have short block motors available.

Bit of an update from me…

I have a [emoji[emoji6][emoji6]] Defender - delivered in September from memory.

Just clicked over one hundred and thirty nine thousand kms.

Zero issues…