Thread: Landrover Vs Toyota!!!.

IMO there is a market for the idea of what the defender is and what it COULD be. seperate chassis offers alot of pluses when away from workshops, live axles work very well. Using a Toyo for an example is not so good.....while they do have a good reputaion for certain things the ride isnt one of them......the RR was built in 1970 and rides better...with some good geometry and spring/shocks the Defender can ride very well....and dont rule out a load leveler its not a bad idea either.

what lets rovers down is their predictable unpredictability...plus the usual stupid things like elecs, electrolisis, leaking, under powered (realisticly as a full time work rig) weakest driveline amongst rivals etc etc....bad decisions have been made by LR hq for along time now that have seen the coil sprung land rover take 1 step forward and another back in other areas....

I love them but damn they **** me......

Originally Posted by subasurf

I'm referring to bush vehicles, not every day use vehicles.
Land Cruiser vs Defender. The Land Cruiser has earned it's reputation. The Defender has not...well, actually, it has....and it aint flattering.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid Land Rover fan...I just don't think a good one has been made for over 20 years.

Personal experience with both vehicles makes a mockery of that statement. Pat

Originally Posted by sumo

Pat, its been a pain with top end rattle, they have that bucket & shim set up, Nobody seems to be able to get it right!. Its the 4.7l V8 petrol.


Sumo

Sumo,they are like holden red motors,some are quiet all thier lives,others rattle like a marble in a tin.It is a very time comsuming,hair pulling frustration of a job.And it needs to be done every 100,000k's or you could burn a exhaust valve. Pat

Toyota has definitly had a better product in SOME aspects, but one thing is they have a better business plan and exicuition at EVERY level compared to LR hq and LR Au.

not disregarding Pat's experience and other rover owners....Toyota's while not being the 'goldern chariot" some would believe, they aren't a **** heap either

Originally Posted by PAT303

Personal experience with both vehicles makes a mockery of that statement. Pat

...and the personal experience of many others, doesn't.

Toyota is a pretty amazing company if I can be honest. It's featured a fair part in my studies wrt to engineering because it's one of few manufacturers that has a well documented and widely adopted quality philosophy. Auto manufacturing represents a small part of what is a pretty diverse company that is able to succeed at just about anything it takes on because of such a well developed quality system. You only need to do a bit of reading on The Toyota Way and Toyota Production System to get an idea.

Originally Posted by PAT303

Personal experience with both vehicles makes a mockery of that statement. Pat

And my experience the opposite. Swings and roundabouts at the end of the day.

If I was given a stack of money for a new 4x4 I'd have a particularly hard time deciding what to buy. I like Toyotas as much as I do Land Rovers.

To provide a bit of balance I'll add that the biggest laugh on forums is people who think a 2nd hand Toyota is going to be faultless compared with a bad experience to their 2nd hand Land Rover. A Toyota still needs to be maintained etc, it's not inherently reliable above and beyond what is reasonably expected. It's also important to bear in mind that 2nd hand vehicles over ten years old are often sold for that reason, they're getting on in age and mileage. I sold my first D1 because I saw big bills coming, I didn't like the 200Tdi + LT77 combo or the appearance of the interior.

I've had zero problems with my D1 for well over 50,000km now, once I started using a proper LR specialist and learnt to ignore many "problems". I suspect my head gasket needs replacing, but I'm not doing a preventative, when there's irrefutable evidence it needs doing, I will, that could be tomorrow or the next owner's problem. I was concerned about half a circlip that drained out of my old LT77, but it never caused a problem during my tenure and a panic rebuild would have been money wasted.

I have no problems with my 1998 Tdi 300 Disco after 100000 km and I am happy with my Defe after correcting some problems because the maintenance and services was not do properly before I got it.
I believe that the LR vehicles are as good ad reliable as any other brand as long as the services and maintenance it is done correctly.