Defender

From my experience you would need to be a great mechanic with very deep pockets to make the change.

Bad forum to ask that question, if it isn't Japanese they hate it, whether they have any knowledge of them or not!

Go to www.lroc.com.au & ask there.

Id personally go for the John Deere, They have more leg room and arent as agricultural.
Cheers

There is a Toynisswoo bias here so beware.
Personally I have been lots of places in comfort that the Toynisswoo crowd find too rough.

Land Rover do make the best stock suspension around.

Servicing them is dead easy and you can get a manual that's not written in Japlish.

The reliablity stuff from mid ninetiies on is a myth, although I'd say you can neglect a Toynisswoo for a bit longer before it stops on you.

For in depth info go here www.lrocv.com.au/forum/ this is the biggest 4wd club in Australia and ther are soem really great and helpful people here.

God luck and remember Jeep invented it Land Rover perfected it and the Japs copied it.

A car salesman who works for Toyota told me used to sell Defenders new.
He said they are nothing but trouble and watching customers bringing them back time and time again got embarrassing.

I agree they look good ,are the right shape and dimensions but I would never own one.
I go offroad with someone who has 110 defender and Im always worried its going to break down.

I guess if you have tools and knowledge it could be less painful.

There are reasons why landcruiser and patrol outsell them 100 to 1

I used to have a little Lada car once and I sold it to some guy who had 2 LR Counties which had both broken down and the Lada car was to be his transport while they were getting fixedLOL

My offsider had one for work. We go where roads don't exist. The Landy was noisy, hot (the air-con is next to useless), shook like a dog sh.ting razorblades, was as uncomfortable as all getout....but it never broke. Ever. Well, except for a relay that shook out of its mounting socket, but it only took a couple of minutes to find and we were on our way again.

I hated it. I like my creature comforts, but if you want a vehicle that will go anywhere and won't break down, then they are the one.

I even got myself a Disco 3 years later because I have memories of how tough that Landy was, and how many Jap sh.tboxes I've broken in the meantime.

I had a Dual cab Defender for a few years but the tow truck costs nearly crippled me, seriously. Great 4wd, fantastic suspension, will climb straight up the side of a sandy Finke River bed. Amazing 4wd when operational, but sadly had to get rid of it as it cost me a fortune in repair bills. Had to buy a Jap #%$* ute but at least it starts everytime.

I have a 2002 Defender 110 and love it.
It looks like it is made from a Meccano set with panels that are rivoted together.
It is easy to add things to it, just drill a few holes here and there.
The rear storage area is huge, and everything can be hosed out.
So far the only trouble that I have had, should I really say only?
Throttle pedal potentiohmeter, Fuel injector broken spring and clurch master cylinder, oh yes light switch melted. all fixed for about $3000. Thats in 4 years.

There is limited legroom but I wouldn't swop it for the world. The new Defender 2007 model has had the mechanical air vents removed and it also has an aircon unit that works, but Land Rover owners are up in arms over this as they want their air vents back!

I await with baited breath as to what the completely new Defender will look like, probably like any other 4WD!

Defender owners wave to each other, possibly in sympathy for buying one?

Someone has already pointed out that this isn't the best place to ask, but so far the replies have been pretty tame. Aussies love to Pom bash so Land Rovers are an easy target, still I guess if there was a decent Aussie 4wd they wouldn't all be driving 4WD's from the land of the rising sun. (I say tongue in cheek and smiling)

Compared to say Disco's and Range Rovers parts are pretty cheap for the Defender.

They say that your wife must really really love you to let you own one!

cheers

I didn't have much to do and knew bugger all about Land Rovers until we bought one about 2 years ago, in fact what i had heard wasn't all that good, but since owning one and going away to all parts of this country i have a very high respect for them now.

In the just over 2yrs we have owned this car it has NEVER broken down and the other Landies i have travelled have never broken either, and trust me i have friends with Tojos and Nissans who travel with us and they will back me up on this.

On some trips it's usually the other Jap 4Bs that have had problems, much to their dislike, but like most cars these days it's not a regular thing and it's normally fixed there and then and were off again, i'm not saying they don't breakdown, but i will say it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

All vehicles break down, and most of it is down to how well you look after and maintain your vehicle.

Baz.

Luke,
The defender is really well designed for its intended purpose rugged,roomy loadspace,capable and economical.Parts can be sourced quite easily without going to dealers at the right price.The defender as with the earlier disco's perhaps had its reputation tarnished with the earlier models but since the TD5 has become more reliable.The defender now has somewhat of a cult following and you will find it holds its second hand value better than most in the market place.Best of all the defender is loaded with character and i too want one.
Cheers Mark
Take it bush or take it back

I own a 1998 tdi defender that I bought new. My best friend also bought one about 3 months after mine. I give it a bit of a hard time with where I go and I have been on a lot of long journeys normally towing a boat and I have never had to replace any thing or had any thing go wrong with it except for brake pads and a few screws that rattled loose on the dash. My friend is a kitchen fitter and has a very large trailer which he tows loaded with cabinets that he fits all over Queensland especially out west. He has never had any trouble with his either ( He used to have a landcruiser ute to do the same job and went through 4 gearboxes).

I'm suprised as it appears that there's a little more "fors" than "againsts" in this thread which is very unusual as anything LR always get's a real bagging from the public bar experts.
I've actually got 2 of the things (truly mad?) a 2003 Td5 and a 1997 300 Tdi which I'm doing up as it was neglected by it's previous owner.
They both go well, pull the camper well and I've never been that stuck I can't get out of it some how and I've had 1 breakdown in the Td5. That was the throttle potentiometer and I must admit it was a problem.
Yes they may be agricultural and let dust in but when we get some rain it'll get washed out!
I like them, the cook likes them so we'll stick with them althought the Td5 (excellent unmarked condition) is now for sale.
Alan H.

Luke,
You're in danger of catching an incurrable disease. Don't do it! Leave the Landys to those of us who are already addicted.
It's Landy thing, others just don't udnerstand.
Smudger

Ive had my Defender for nearly 6 years from new, 210,000kms. I absolutely love it.
It's been totally reliable and has never let me down.
In that time I've only had to replace the speedo sensor and a weeping clutch master cylinder. The original tyres lasted 195,000kms (General Grabber) and the original brake rotors lasted 180,000 kms.
I drive 120kms freeway every day with weekend farm alpaca float pulling duties.
Will only get rid of it when the new Defender arrives.

Hope that helps
Cheers
Julian

Thanks everyone for the replys will take it all in and have a big think about it, i do truly like the defenders love the look love the shere rugged'ns of them and their off road capabilities but my prado is very reliable and thats the only thing holding me back on getting one as i do go bush far from any sort of help mechanicly. but thanks again for all the responses big help
thanks luke

On my second Defender (yep - bug bit me!), the first was a brand new TD 5 which I did around 120K of trouble free outback travel, including solo desert crossings.

The second was a project which I just completed last year, a 1995 TDI dual cab fitted for remote long-distance travel. As with any vehicle (regardless of brand)which is used for remote/outback, look after it and it most likely will do the same for you!

As a footnote, I find those that have the most problem with LRs have never actually driven one, let alone owned one. Don't let the bias pursuade you, go out and drive one for yourself.....good luck.