Wrangler or Defender

[Harry Flashman]

braddo said:

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?

Exactly! At 5'9", I don't think I shall have any issues...

[Harry Flashman]

Mars said:

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.

I love this, but am sticking to £6k budget. That looks like a pricey truck. I don't want to spend £10k+ on something that will only be used in winter/rain and for learning offroading. I don't drive to work, and have some not-hugely-cheap non-motoring hobbies that need feeding (like a pair of game shotguns for this season!)

Can you get a reasonable modified Landie for £6k (don't care aboput age - condition/reliability is what I'm after)? What's the difference between the 200 and 300TDi engines?

[Harry Flashman]

Also, how easy to put bench seating in the back of a hardtop? And can you put windows in them - or does that get very pricey (lotsof hardtop commercials for sale, but relatively few windowed/rear seated ones at my budget)

Lastly, anyone know any good 4x4 people in SE London/Kent, for maintenance purposes?

Think I've pretty much decided on a Landie from this thread - mainly because it's my personal preference, but also because parts/maintenance seems rather easier on them. But I am going to have to do quite a lot of research, as it would appear that there are some rotters out there...

[jamesson]

I love both, and have driven both. The Land Rover looks the best, and as others say, fits in anywhere. However, overall I prefer the Wrangler personally. I found it just a bit nicer all round, and I much prefer the 4.0 petrol to the Land Rover's diesel.

I suppose the best advice anyone could give you is try both, see what you think, and then buy on condition - whichever one you find a good example of first may be the clincher.

[Bill]

You're probably better asking the specific questions in the landy forum here (or I can move this there if you want...).

There are fans of both engines and (IMO) there's very little to tell them apart. People will tell you the 200 is more robust and the 300 does have (fixable) cambelt issues but both are good engines if maintained properly. The advantages (IMO again) of the 300 is the later gearbox is better and the post 95 (IIRC) Defenders have disc on the rear which saves a load of drum/mud interface issues.

[wombat172a]

Harry Flashman said:

Also, how easy to put bench seating in the back of a hardtop? And can you put windows in them - or does that get very pricey (lotsof hardtop commercials for sale, but relatively few windowed/rear seated ones at my budget)

Lastly, anyone know any good 4x4 people in SE London/Kent, for maintenance purposes?

Think I've pretty much decided on a Landie from this thread - mainly because it's my personal preference, but also because parts/maintenance seems rather easier on them. But I am going to have to do quite a lot of research, as it would appear that there are some rotters out there...

Bench seating is easy, it's purely a case of drilling & bolting. Windows can be a DIY job to the existing panels, or if you want you can just buy the panels already done from one being broken (see http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Land-Rover-Defender-90-roof-...) then it's just a case of drilling and rivetting the roof back together (an easy job in a day).

[Harry Flashman]

Bill said:

You're probably better asking the specific questions in the landy forum here (or I can move this there if you want...).

There are fans of both engines and (IMO) there's very little to tell them apart. People will tell you the 200 is more robust and the 300 does have (fixable) cambelt issues but both are good engines if maintained properly. The advantages (IMO again) of the 300 is the later gearbox is better and the post 95 (IIRC) Defenders have disc on the rear which saves a load of drum/mud interface issues.

Thanks Bill - would you mind moving it? Wouldn't mind some advice from owners...

[Digga]

Defenders are pricey, but then they also hold their value well. So even if you buy an old 'un and run it hard, it's unlikely to be 'scrap' price when you come to sell. And they are so cheap and easy to get parts for and look the dog's bks.

Slightly O/T, our engineering manager has just got a new 110 and I'm amazed by how much more reifned it is than even the TD5 - which BMW (then onwers) had itself very much improved over the earlier TDi 300 Defenders we'd run.

[edo]

Digga said:

Defenders are pricey, but then they also hold their value well. So even if you buy an old 'un and run it hard, it's unlikely to be 'scrap' price when you come to sell. And they are so cheap and easy to get parts for and look the dog's bks.

Slightly O/T, our engineering manager has just got a new 110 and I'm amazed by how much more reifned it is than even the TD5 - which BMW (then onwers) had itself very much improved over the earlier TDi 300 Defenders we'd run.

Being disabled it must be tough to climb up into.

[Digga]

edo said:

Digga said:

Defenders are pricey, but then they also hold their value well. So even if you buy an old 'un and run it hard, it's unlikely to be 'scrap' price when you come to sell. And they are so cheap and easy to get parts for and look the dog's bks.

Slightly O/T, our engineering manager has just got a new 110 and I'm amazed by how much more reifned it is than even the TD5 - which BMW (then onwers) had itself very much improved over the earlier TDi 300 Defenders we'd run.

Being disabled it must be tough to climb up into.

It's his domain, he can park where he likes!

Note: LR ran out of side steps too (being fitted at dealer's tomorrow) and, even at 6ft, I find it a bit of a stretch.

[krusty]

There's a nice 90 V8 that would tick all the boxes and at only half your budget in the classifieds

[Big_Dog]

cmackay81 said:

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?

Certainly did. I pulled my sister in law in her Polo for 3 miles until I saw on a bend the discs glowing. me: "So why have you got your foot on the brake then". Her: "I was ever so close to the back of you". I didnt notice her on the rope after that.
So in short yes, bags of grunt. Felt like it could pull stumps up.

[loafer123]

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-pa...

That'll do it.

Edited by loafer123 on Tuesday 5th October 13:42

[Liszt]

Jeep in the US and Defender here purely on the basis of cost and avialability of parts and service.

The biggest fail point of them is in the driving seat. A standard car can get through stuff a tricked up one wont purely due to the way it is driven.

Get someone who knows the brand to look at any you are interested and buy on condition. For shooting and most greenlaning all you really need are decent tyres.

That is another mine field.

[chillo]

I sooo want one of these.....



how much would those wheels and tyres cost?

[wombat172a]

chillo said:

I sooo want one of these.....



how much would those wheels and tyres cost?

Your dignity for a start.

[rhinochopig]

chillo said:

I sooo want one of these.....



how much would those wheels and tyres cost?

Pretty cheap really. I had similar on my Landy and they were peanuts - black steel 8 spoke rims with mud terrain remoulds. ~ £400 for the lot.

[chillo]

[Harry Flashman]

loafer123 said:

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-pa...

That'll do it.

Edited by loafer123 on Tuesday 5th October 13:42

Thought about it, but a mate has one, and running costs are epic, and everything has gone wrong with it.

Also, say I were to forget fitting this 4x4 on the drive and were content to leave it in the road, is a current generation Range Rover in TD6 spec capable of some light green laning and teaching me the basics? Or is it really just a big fat luxury car that happens to have 4wd?

[mrdelmonti]

Harry Flashman said:

loafer123 said:

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-car-pa...

That'll do it.

Edited by loafer123 on Tuesday 5th October 13:42

Thought about it, but a mate has one, and running costs are epic, and everything has gone wrong with it.

Also, say I were to forget fitting this 4x4 on the drive and were content to leave it in the road, is a current generation Range Rover in TD6 spec capable of some light green laning and teaching me the basics? Or is it really just a big fat luxury car that happens to have 4wd?

They are still very capable but there is always the risk of dent and scratches when taking a "shiny" off the black stuff.