The one to get, discovery or defender?
Discussion
sidekickdmr said:
Recent enough that it should be ok. If it's got FLRSH it should be pretty much like new although the seller ("mynewmotor") seems to have a lot of eBay purchases of car spares lately which rings a tiny little alarm bell. Crash damage?Check the chassis closely. Just old enough that it may be showing its age or it could be like new. Unlikely to have holes in it, but might have lost its surface finish which will, in time, lead to rouble unless addressed, and for that money I wouldn't want to be diving underneath it just yet.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 10th November 11:14
My money would go on something like this,
If your going to be towing you would want a 110. Much more practical as a family car as well.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-DEFENDER-110-...
If your going to be towing you would want a 110. Much more practical as a family car as well.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-DEFENDER-110-...
skyrover said:
My money would go on something like this,
If your going to be towing you would want a 110. Much more practical as a family car as well.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-DEFENDER-110-...
I appreciate the link and understand the 110 may be better but a standard and tired looking 16 year old car with over 100,000 miles isn't for me.If your going to be towing you would want a 110. Much more practical as a family car as well.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-DEFENDER-110-...
As ill be using it as a car most of the time, I'm trying to squeeze as much refinement out of a very un-refined car as possible.
Plus I like the look of the jacked up modified ones.
Okay... just trying to save you a headache later down the line 
Have you driven a defender at all?
You can jack up/modify a Defender easily yourself for very little money. It's a tinkerer's car, a factory built kit car, a blank canvas to do with as you please.
You can literally take a 20 year old Defender and make it look like a brand new one (hence the reason for the massive sh!tstorm kicking off in the USA due to faked VIN's and imports)
I understand some people might prefer a "sorted" car with as little involvement as possible.
The Defender is probably not the ideal car for that sort of person to be honest.
Have you driven a defender at all?
You can jack up/modify a Defender easily yourself for very little money. It's a tinkerer's car, a factory built kit car, a blank canvas to do with as you please.
You can literally take a 20 year old Defender and make it look like a brand new one (hence the reason for the massive sh!tstorm kicking off in the USA due to faked VIN's and imports)
I understand some people might prefer a "sorted" car with as little involvement as possible.
The Defender is probably not the ideal car for that sort of person to be honest.
skyrover said:
Okay... just trying to save you a headache later down the line
Have you driven a defender at all?
You can jack up/modify a Defender easily yourself for very little money. It's a tinkerer's car, a factory built kit car, a blank canvas to do with as you please.
You can literally take a 20 year old Defender and make it look like a brand new one (hence the reason for the massive sh!tstorm kicking off in the USA due to faked VIN's and imports)
I understand some people might prefer a "sorted" car with as little involvement as possible.
The Defender is probably not the ideal car for that sort of person to be honest.
Yes fully appreciate that they are very easily customisable, however I would prefer to buy one thats had the work done, that way I don't need to "experiment" with a car I'm brand new too and would probably work out cheaper than doing it myself anyway. Then i can use this as a base and once i get to know the car/avalible mods further upgrade/swap parts over if i want to change/upgrade.Have you driven a defender at all?
You can jack up/modify a Defender easily yourself for very little money. It's a tinkerer's car, a factory built kit car, a blank canvas to do with as you please.
You can literally take a 20 year old Defender and make it look like a brand new one (hence the reason for the massive sh!tstorm kicking off in the USA due to faked VIN's and imports)
I understand some people might prefer a "sorted" car with as little involvement as possible.
The Defender is probably not the ideal car for that sort of person to be honest.
Re the 20 year old thing, One of the most appealing things about the defender is that it hasn't changed since the 80's, so, as you say any defender can look brand new, however the same can't be said for the newer engines and interiors.
Jacked up and modified is easy and relatively cheap enough to do, there are millions of variations from tasteful to outright shocking!
Go onto defender2net and check it out, there are loads to see.
Have a look at urban truck for some great ideas, IMO they have it just right
As mentioned by others go and find the best one you can afford on condition not on age or mileage
Anything that you see on the modified Defenders can be bought via mail order and virtually all of it can be fitted by a half decent DIY mechanic. Failing that none of it is rocket science or that expensive to do.
Pretty much the most reliable Defender is acknowledged as the 300tdi the last of the non ECU defender engines, having said that the new ones the tdci engines are effectively ford transit engines.
The reliability is better providing they have had all the recalls carried out and they have had a decent service history.
Good luck
Go onto defender2net and check it out, there are loads to see.
Have a look at urban truck for some great ideas, IMO they have it just right
As mentioned by others go and find the best one you can afford on condition not on age or mileage
Anything that you see on the modified Defenders can be bought via mail order and virtually all of it can be fitted by a half decent DIY mechanic. Failing that none of it is rocket science or that expensive to do.
Pretty much the most reliable Defender is acknowledged as the 300tdi the last of the non ECU defender engines, having said that the new ones the tdci engines are effectively ford transit engines.
The reliability is better providing they have had all the recalls carried out and they have had a decent service history.
Good luck
A nice video showing how to build a defender from scratch on your driveway in 8 hours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEzRPXZt-uk
Exmoor trim will sell you interior bits better than land rover ever bothered with
http://www.exmoortrim.co.uk/
You can spend vast amounts of dosh upgrading your land rover...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEzRPXZt-uk
Exmoor trim will sell you interior bits better than land rover ever bothered with
http://www.exmoortrim.co.uk/
You can spend vast amounts of dosh upgrading your land rover...
Buying a Defender that's been modified by someone else is a sure fire route to disappointment.
Ditto "jacking up"
It's also not always more cost effective as a lot of sellers will simply load the price of their car with the cost of all the bolted on stuff, and yet you'll be buying those bits effectively second-hand.
As standard as possible is the way forward when buying.
The one you posted a link to is neither modified nor jacked up by the way.
Ditto "jacking up"
It's also not always more cost effective as a lot of sellers will simply load the price of their car with the cost of all the bolted on stuff, and yet you'll be buying those bits effectively second-hand.
As standard as possible is the way forward when buying.
The one you posted a link to is neither modified nor jacked up by the way.
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 11th November 08:35
I'm 6' 6" and have a Defender 90. Done a few 400 mile runs in it and plenty of commuting. Easy to work on, very practical machines and with production stopping at the end of 2015 very likely to go up in value (some are already climbing).
Get a decent 300Tdi machine, the best engine (I like the TD5 a lot but the electrics let the car down), and the R380 gearbox is an improvement over the LT77.
Planning a long distance run? Get yourself some ear plugs, or a big set of headphones. And before anyone here starts on about the risks of not being able to hear ambiwlans etc whilst wearing headphones, chances are you wouldn't have heard them in the first place.
I've had a few Discoverys too, a better machine in many ways but their ability to rot makes them a pain to own.
Get a decent 300Tdi machine, the best engine (I like the TD5 a lot but the electrics let the car down), and the R380 gearbox is an improvement over the LT77.
Planning a long distance run? Get yourself some ear plugs, or a big set of headphones. And before anyone here starts on about the risks of not being able to hear ambiwlans etc whilst wearing headphones, chances are you wouldn't have heard them in the first place.
I've had a few Discoverys too, a better machine in many ways but their ability to rot makes them a pain to own.
skyrover said:
If your going to be towing you would want a 110. Much more practical as a family car as well.
No and no.Disco 3/4 Auto is a far superior towing machine than the Defender ever will be (if you're serious about towing, the Disco 4 is what you should get)...
...and as for practical family car, the Disco 3/4 wins hands down.
M
camel_landy said:
No and no.
Disco 3/4 Auto is a far superior towing machine than the Defender ever will be (if you're serious about towing, the Disco 4 is what you should get)...
The Defender 110 is not as good a towcar as the disco 3/4 I agree... Largely due to the more powerful engine, automatic gearbox and better brakes. Disco 3/4 Auto is a far superior towing machine than the Defender ever will be (if you're serious about towing, the Disco 4 is what you should get)...
The 110 is however much better than a 90, which is what the OP was looking at.
camel_landy said:
...and as for practical family car, the Disco 3/4 wins hands down.
M
Yes... if you have deep pocketsM
A Defender 300TDI is a great toy. Mine's a genuine CSW and so has proper soundproofing and I don't find it noisy at all. It'll quite happily cruise along at 70mph and on a recent return trip to Hereford, including a very congested M25, it averaged a genuine 38MPG. My daily driver is a BMW 4 series but the Defender is a great all round and fun car and quite as capable.
Disco is a much better car and easier to drive both on and off road. I love my D3 XS had it for 7 years now and it has been amazing. Its gonna go over the winter and be replaced with something newer. Not sure what yet. I also have a D2 which I guess has similarities to a Defender. Its actually quite nice to feel like you are driving it rather than cosseted by it but when it comes to, for example, dealing with snowy and icy roads I much prefer the D3.
sidekickdmr said:
culminator said:
Mine's a genuine CSW and so has proper soundproofing
What does CSW mean?Defender's came in several trim levels, from your bare-bones utility vehicle to 4 door family car.
The station wagon's typically had more refinement than your average farm hack such as carpets, interior trim and rubber soundproofing.
They were also softer sprung, with 110's having a gas self leveller fitted in the back to allow the softest spring rates.
Gazzab said:
Disco is a much better car and easier to drive both on and off road.
More sophisticated yes... better? Off-road, arguably not. It's too complex/expensive for serious work/abuse.TBH I would struggle to recommend a disco over the equivalent Japanese to all but the most die hard land rover fans.
skyrover said:
Gazzab said:
Disco is a much better car and easier to drive both on and off road.
More sophisticated yes... better? Off-road, arguably not. It's too complex/expensive for serious work/abuse.TBH I would struggle to recommend a disco over the equivalent Japanese to all but the most die hard land rover fans.
Yes, the techie stuff helps but even with the basics such as clearance, the Disco is miles ahead.
M
It's a tricky argument.
If you put a stock defender against a stock discovery off-road, tyre's permitting, the Discovery would indeed walk all over the Defender.
My problem with the Discovery is simply due to the sheer cost and complexity of the thing. Sod's law dictates that the more complex something is, the more likely it will fail and nowhere is this more apparent than when offroading.
In the UK this is not so much a problem... we are a small island and you are never too far from a land rover dealer. But then there are other issues. A tree branch crushes the roof? On the defender you simply unbolt and replace, you are looking at a major costly repair on the disco, if not a write off.
The disco is incredibly capable ... but at a cost.
Then of course if you like modifying, the Defender is far easier and cheaper with a much larger after market.
If you put a stock defender against a stock discovery off-road, tyre's permitting, the Discovery would indeed walk all over the Defender.
My problem with the Discovery is simply due to the sheer cost and complexity of the thing. Sod's law dictates that the more complex something is, the more likely it will fail and nowhere is this more apparent than when offroading.
In the UK this is not so much a problem... we are a small island and you are never too far from a land rover dealer. But then there are other issues. A tree branch crushes the roof? On the defender you simply unbolt and replace, you are looking at a major costly repair on the disco, if not a write off.
The disco is incredibly capable ... but at a cost.
Then of course if you like modifying, the Defender is far easier and cheaper with a much larger after market.
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