troopy or defender

Before all the sillyness about landrovers get out. Up front here and now get a troopy. the land crusiers have a bigger non turbo motor that dosnt stress out and the box and diffs are very reialble. Toyota you can get parts for anywhere and though dear you dont have to wait for them to be shipped in from england.
the aother thing is unless you are under 5 foot 6 you wont like the crowed cab of the defender.

shadow

Troopy for the reasons Shadow man above said.

Although Toyota are having issues with drive lines, In my case front diff.
The turbo diesel is a brilliant engine and thats coming from someone (Me) who had two petrol Troopy's before this one.

some idiot just ran into me on a dirt road in the Barrington Tops. My Cruiser has damage to all four side panels/doors. I now have to wait four weeks for a pillar to come from Japan.

Hi
I believe the troopy now all use the. stronger gear box than the natualy asperated 1hz fromm 1999 to 2004. the front diff is not the one used in the 100 series constant 4 wheel drive. and troopys are part time 4x4 also. The new commom rail direct injection turbo engins are fantastic. The mining industry will back up the strength of the new troopys.
No contest
Crusher

Rather than become embroiled in all the unsubstantiated ravings you'll get from the Tojo crowd, I'll actually try to answer your questions.

Defender
Consumption 11.3l/100 km
Towing 3500kg with 350 kg ball weight
Carries 1000 kg

I have no idea how a troopy compares with these facts, you may be lucky enough for someone to actually give you some honest figures.

Off road performance and interior .. no contest with the base model troopy with leaf springs etc. You'll need to spend an extra 10K for the model with diff lockers and non-vinyl interior etc to come close.

Reliability .. another tojo furphy foisted upon you by the masses.

I hope someone will actually give you some facts on the tojo, rather than a heap of biased drivel, but somehow I doubt it.

The Defender is not without it's shortcomings, by a country mile. I'd be the first to agree there. They're certainly not for everyone, but it shouldn't be needlessly lumped in with an underperforming over rated heap like a troopy.

Cheers

G'day,

78 series troopies have coil front suspensions.

I have 2003 Troopy camper - get 12 -13 L /100km., might be able to do better than this, as the camper fitout is quite heavy.

I've had a bit of experience with the earlier defenders (2.5 L turbo diesel), and would recommend the troopy (4.2 L) for grunt and reliability, as well as a generally better finish. Parts availability is important, and I suspect better for Toyota, but that's only an opinion, as I've never had to get LR parts.

cheers
Terry

haven't read all the comments as way too long. Don't go near the defender. Had them in the Army (did 11 yrs). Always in getting repaired. OK when it's the tax payers money but different story when it's your wallet!

When I saw the question I suspected that the inevitable Toyo vs LR rant would occur - I wasn't disappointed. I think the best thing to do is talk to as many folks as you can who actually own one (or either of the one's you are thinking about) and talk to dealers about the actual specs of the models you are looking at. Test drive, think about what feels rigt - then go for it !

If you like it - and it does the job for you - and it is within you budget- what does it matter what anyone else thinks about the brand of car you get?

A few observations: 1. A lot a 'expert' landrover opinion is offerred by folks who have never even sat in one, let alone owned one and operated it out bush.
By all means ask, but check out the cred of the person advising you.

2. The Army LR 110 has different spec to the Defender you buy in the street.The other problem they have is some of the people we get to drive them (21 years in the Army, so I am aware of hwo they are treated).

Bottom line I thonk is take your time and try out all the options - and enjoy the process.

cheers

Mark

Seating position in defenders sucks to start with.

but then again, look at the build quality of the 2, that should answer it within 10 seconds.