RE: Latest Defender gets surprise 350hp diesel

[ducnick]

I’m genuinely interested as I consider the next car purchase. What’s the consensus on the thorny issue of reliability / longevity for the d300 and d350 engines at JLR?
Have they got their act together and made something genuinely reliable and class leading in the engine department now? Are the days of chocolate egr valves, premature oil dilution, spinning main bearings and snapping crankshafts behind us with the V6’s?

On the 3 cylinder question, I can’t imagine it myself in something big and heavy. I have never driven or ridden a nice 3 cylinder. Even the triumph motorcycle 3 cylinder which is considered very nice, is in my opinion less desirable than 2 or 4 cylinder engines from competitors.

[Forester1965]

The interior of that one looks like a Walls Viennetta. Suppose that's target market.

[GianiCakes]

I actually now have both a D250 and a D300, so fair amount of skin in the game. Combined 12,000 miles with no problems, for what it’s worth, and they are great engines. When I look on the forum occasionally the majority of people are happy but I’m sure, like any other car, someone will have had an issue.
Not sure if I’m misreading your V6 reference but they are straight 6 and all the better for it.
And yes, a move to 3 cylinder would be nonsense for this car.

[Baddie]

chris116 said:

The article above doesn't mention it but apparently the PHEV option changes from a 2L 4cyl to a 1.5L 3cyl.

Quite surprised that the 6cyl petrol is replaced with the supercharged V8 for emissions reasons, thought they had stopped making the V8?

According to Autocar it’s to be compliant with Euro 6e. Surprising the old V8 is better than the newer 6, though the V8 surely has to be worse on CO2? Must be a development cost thing.

[GianiCakes]

Autocar seem to have now changed their minds and headline on the 3 cylinders?

[oop north]

GianiCakes said:

Autocar seem to have now changed their minds and headline on the 3 cylinders?

Yes I just spotted that via Twitter - the headline has changed but the main body still refers to the 3-cylinder… No idea if the phev is unchanged

[oop north]

And they have now changed the content again (unless I didn’t read properly which is always possible) to say it’s still the 2.0 4 cyl petrol phev engine as before but defined to 300bhp

[smilo996]

Spiros115 said:

LooneyTunes said:

Spiros115 said:

Whatever the power lump I have to say Land Rover are making possibly the nicest paint options in motoring at the moment, seen loads of new and interesting coloured RR sports and FFRRs, really like that shade too.

They’re actually quite limited on paint choices on Defender (especially if you don’t want black/grey/silver). There are even restrictions between models within the range.

For example, there’s a dark red that MrsLT wanted on her 110 that for some reason was 130 only.

I’ve not even specced one so can’t really comment on the number available (rather the shades I have seen are really quite nice even if limited) but wouldn’t surprise me given the desire by luxury makers to force people into expensive special orders/personalisation.

Nice, if subdued colours. Looked at the 90. The Basic model has 6 colours but the two metallic are basically two of the others with sparkles. The V8 available only in black. The X - 5 colours. More expensive the option, the fewer the colours.

[Nish Gnackers]

ettore said:

We have the D350 engine in our family wagon RRS. Would have to say that it’s a lovely thing - super smooth, refined with a huge gob of torque. It’s also impressively efficient.

Me too ... superb engine. As for efficiency, Sandbanks to Nottingham....

[bobthemonkey]

Baddie said:

According to Autocar it’s to be compliant with Euro 6e. Surprising the old V8 is better than the newer 6, though the V8 surely has to be worse on CO2? Must be a development cost thing.

Also, one wonders if they want to preserve the supply of the i6 petrol for the mostly PHEV RR/RRS, and having some 'end of life' V8s which they can detune to make emissions compliant means they don't waste them on non hybrid installations in the Defender.

This generation of defender can't support the battery pack fro the new RR/RRS and how the F Type is end of life, the Defender is the last vehicle selling in any volume that can take the V8.

[martin12345]

bobthemonkey said:

Baddie said:

According to Autocar it’s to be compliant with Euro 6e. Surprising the old V8 is better than the newer 6, though the V8 surely has to be worse on CO2? Must be a development cost thing.

Also, one wonders if they want to preserve the supply of the i6 petrol for the mostly PHEV RR/RRS, and having some 'end of life' V8s which they can detune to make emissions compliant means they don't waste them on non hybrid installations in the Defender.

This generation of defender can't support the battery pack fro the new RR/RRS and how the F Type is end of life, the Defender is the last vehicle selling in any volume that can take the V8.

The I6 almost certainly is better for CO2 but the "low power supercharged V8" is for low HC, CO and NOx emissions, not CO2/fuel economy
By having "big displacement, with low rating and Lambda = 1 AFR at all powers" it is cleaned for noxious pollutants as the catalyst will always be working as no enrichment for high load required

In fact, in the real world, the fuel economty of a Lambda =1 5.0l vs an enriched 3.0l may be pretty similar or even the 5.0l better if the engine is worked hard due to vehicle weight, otowing, spirited driving or a combination

[Clivey]

This is typical. - We've had our D300 X-Dynamic HSE for just over a month. S'pose I'll have to get it remapped!

[thelostboy]

Nice colour! The red in the article also looks great.

I know the V6 was never as bad as the 4cyl, but I am woken by nightmares due to the word Ingenium. I just couldn't do it until I was shown evidence that reliability is much, much improved.

[Angelo1985]

I was waiting for LR to introduce some interesting colours for the defender, but this one is terrible. Looks like rust

[urquattroGus]

Just as well, the D300 I drove felt gutless, it mostly made more noise and then weak acceleration. I blame the kerb weight.

[Dixy]

Is this colour just a limited edition only in that spec or are all 110 variants able to have it.

[Gummi]

urquattroGus said:

Just as well, the D300 I drove felt gutless, it mostly made more noise and then weak acceleration. I blame the kerb weight.

I think your right foot is broken.

My D300 110 is excellent at overtaking on country roads.

[Neill-l9qpf]

JLR make some lovely cars, let down by problematic powertrains.

For decades, they got by with budget engines from budget brands.

Imagine they simply bought in engines from a reputable manufacturer (like Toyota) instead of investing a fortune in developing their own in house range of problematic engines.

It's ironic that the old Ford 2.2 diesel (originally a PSA engine) or the Duramax 2.5 diesel from the Transit van has proven more dependable than any Ingenium unit.

[hu8742]

Is there an option for proper wheels? Why the skinny low profile when it's a 4x4, not a sports car.

[cerb4.5lee]

Clivey said:

This is typical. - We've had our D300 X-Dynamic HSE for just over a month. S'pose I'll have to get it remapped!

Very nice, enjoy it.

I love seeing these Defenders out and about, and I think they're a really nice car for sure. We looked into getting one, but they're quite tall cars when I measured it against our Merc GLE400d, and my missus was worried that they might struggle in some multi storey car parks with their height. Drat I thought...because I'd love a 3dr one!