Wrangler or Defender

[mantaray]

Nobody calls my Wrangler gay ! Both are excellent for what you are looking for , its just finding a decent one .

[Trommel]

mantaray said:

Nobody calls my Wrangler gay !

No, they call you gay.

[rhinochopig]

mantaray said:

Nobody calls my Wrangler gay ! Both are excellent for what you are looking for , its just finding a decent one .

Indeed, the threat of an angry retaliatory bumming is enough to put people off doing that

[mantaray]

Arse

[Harry Flashman]

BatterseaV8 said:

300 TDI Defender, have had one in the family for knocking on 7 years, yes it needs some TLC from time to time and it isn't in its finest hour on the M4.

They are becoming harder to find a 'good one' but there are still some gems out there.

If your down in Devon/London I normally have one kicking about if you want a go?

Battersea V8 - I live in Dulwich, and would love to buy you a pint/curry if you'll meet and tell me a bit more about them and show me things to look for when viewing defenders. From your username, you're not too far away from my stomping grounds.

[Trommel]

Just buy a £2k Forester.

[Harry Flashman]

Trommel said:

Just buy a £2k Forester.

To learn proper offroading in? Didn't think they're that suitable for it.

Also, this isn't just about practicality. I bought a £2k Volvo V70R AWD as it is practical and good for winter, and OK on the odd muddy track. It's comfy reliable, easy to drive and practical. And I bloody hate it; no soul at all.

[cmackay81]

Trommel said:

Just buy a £2k Forester.

lol. This or a Volvo would be a joke offroad

In the end, defenders are great at greenlaning and that's about it. Sorry if I offend anyone. But they are terrible on motorways, and not actually that great proper offloading. A wrangler is better offroad, but again with offroad Tyres, anything will be rubbish on a road.

Are you sure a Cherokee is too big? They are great on road, fast and powerful, and also great offroad, though do need a 2" lift to be anywhere near the wrangler. They are actually quite small as well

[Trommel]

cmackay81 said:

Trommel said:

Just buy a £2k Forester.

lol. This or a Volvo would be a joke offroad

You would be very surprised where a Forester will go, even if it is limited by ground clearance etc. Perfect for a shoot in any case.

cmackay81 said:

In the end, defenders are great at greenlaning and that's about it. Sorry if I offend anyone. But they are terrible on motorways, and not actually that great proper offloading. A wrangler is better offroad

What do you mean by "offroad"?

[TVR Sagaris]

This:

Harry Flashman said:

I am ... getting into some light offroading.

Will ruin any chance of this:

Harry Flashman said:

I suspect that it will be rather a lot more pleasant on the motorway.

Once you start modifying them, they'll both be equally uncomfortable on the motorway. This, however, may lead to a recommendation for the Defender: Defenders can go further off road on crap tyres than anything else. Put all-terrains on and it shouldn't be that bad on the road but will be surprisingly good off.

This will depend on the sort of off-roading you want to do, however. If it's mud-plugging, you'll need the most knobbly tyres you can get. If it's rock-scrambling, you can get away with road tyres.

Buy the Defender.

[excel monkey]

Ordinarily, I'd suggest a Forester or a RAV4, but the OP has specifically ruled out dull Jap 4x4s.

For a bit more motorway ability, with (some) Land Rover credibility, how about a V6 Freelander?

[JCW]

Harry Flashman said:

Surely, if I get a Wrangler, off road mod it, never clean it and acquire some dents, it will go from gay to awesome? Hmm?

Or is this just wishful thinking?

Defender is cool. But I don't fancy driving it to a shoot in Devon in the midst of winter. As this would replace my trusty but boring V70R, the new 4x4 will need to be able to do (occasionally) big distance in bad conditions.

Edited by Harry Flashman on Monday 4th October 14:59

I can't comment on the Wrangler, but am balanced enough to not start sticking the knife in with regard to their homosexuality rating or not but I'm not sure how comfortable they are when compared on road. My TD5 has been down to Spain twice this year, either on motorways or completely off road and it was perfectly comfortable with completion of the 1400 mile journey back from Andalucia in a day and half.

As far as reliability is concerned, you have to bear in mind that they far outnumber any other off roader in the UK and (particularly at off road venues) are quite often run on a shoestring so it unsurprising that people notice them breaking down.

Put it this way, having returned from a three week holiday mine didn't look out of place at the chateau we stayed in for the first week, bombing down the beach near Biarritz or at various camp sites in the Pyrenees - so it fits in anywhere. Oh, and it didn't break down unless you count the dent in the bonnet from the hail storm I got caught in near Caceres.

[mrdelmonti]

All I'm going to say, and this is as a big Land Rover fan, is make sure you take a drive in a Defender and make sure you can fit comfortably, for anyone taller than 6'2" you'll probably bang your knees a bit and unless you have a very thin and short right arm it's likely you'll end up whacking it on the door every now and again unless you leave the window open.

[braddo]

mrdelmonti said:

All I'm going to say, and this is as a big Land Rover fan, is make sure you take a drive in a Defender and make sure you can fit comfortably, for anyone taller than 6'2" you'll probably bang your knees a bit and unless you have a very thin and short right arm it's likely you'll end up whacking it on the door every now and again unless you leave the window open.

It'll be just like the Morgan then, right?

[jamiebae]

Jeep parts availability can be a nightmare, and they cost a fortune too so you have to be prepared to have it off the road occasionally waiting for bits.

For me it has to be the defender, it's truly classless and will almost certainly hold it's value far better than the Jeep too.

[Matthew_Eames]

I have thought myself about a defender (no other option really, it would be a fun car used off road, to lug bikes about and when it snows) but would only have a small budget to buy one

Which is the best engine to go for for say a budget well under £5k, 200tdi, 300tdi, 4 cyl petrol or a V8 (on gas?)...can they be had for £2.5-£3k or are you just going to get crap at this level?

[cmackay81]

Trommel said:

cmackay81 said:

Trommel said:

Just buy a £2k Forester.

lol. This or a Volvo would be a joke offroad

You would be very surprised where a Forester will go, even if it is limited by ground clearance etc. Perfect for a shoot in any case.

cmackay81 said:

In the end, defenders are great at greenlaning and that's about it. Sorry if I offend anyone. But they are terrible on motorways, and not actually that great proper offloading. A wrangler is better offroad

What do you mean by "offroad"?

by offroading, meaning quarries. best place to have fun imo. mud plugging, greenlaning and rocking combines all into one!

used to take my old Cherokee XJ along on road tyres,put alot of other vehicles to shame.
Also parts were easy to come by as long as you are willing to look around a bit.

look at that link above about wranglers, and thats on the landie forum. if landie owners think wranglers are the mutts nuts offroad, then i won't be argueing about which is best.

in theend though it does depend which kind of offroding you want to do.myself i would go for an allrounder.

[Big_Dog]

I had a 2.5 four pot wrangler for 3 years and nothing dropped off. The roofs a 10 minute job involving loads of zips and velcro.
Off road it was amazing, truly a laugh out loud experience. On the motorway the bonnet bounces up and down but the humour of this soon strays into misery.
I would happily buy another one but probably a V8 just because I really like V8s and it couldn't be much worse on fuel than the 18 I got from the four pot.

[cmackay81]

Big_Dog said:

I had a 2.5 four pot wrangler for 3 years and nothing dropped off. The roofs a 10 minute job involving loads of zips and velcro.
Off road it was amazing, truly a laugh out loud experience. On the motorway the bonnet bounces up and down but the humour of this soon strays into misery.
I would happily buy another one but probably a V8 just because I really like V8s and it couldn't be much worse on fuel than the 18 I got from the four pot.

did the 2.5 have enough grunt for the steep stuff?

[Mars]

Spend more and get one of these:





It's no limo but is surprisingly good on the motorway, even with those tyres. Does an easy 100mph.