Defender 90?

[BillyBlade]

I'm a time served mechanic, I did so at a general repair garage. However, where I worked, we had a lot of landies come through the doors as it is a country area.

I'm not going to slate them, but all I'll say is this, if you buy one, be good with a spanner and be willing to give up one weekend in four for at least a pair of hours looking over it.

As for the stuff the MOD disposes of now, well, I spent 12 years in the military and the way land rovers were driven/treated during my time was appauling. No mechanical sympathy whatsoever, because if it breaks, well, who cares. It's not your pocket that takes the hit fixing it. One example - home made cruise control i.e. leaving it in a lower gear and using a cut off broomshaft to keep the accelerator to the floor and bouncing it off the limiter to keep it at sensible speeds. Mental, aye, but young lads that are beasted tired and have to be somewhere late at night, well, who cares? Just steer the thing.

I've also seen them overloaded to the point of damn near cracking the suspension mountng points. Thrown down terrain they were never designed for just for sh*ts and giggles. If it gets stuck, get a tracked to recover it. Never mind the bust suspension etc doing it. All good fun. If it's NOT your truck.

So, go into it with your eyes open. In life, 'cheap' tends to be 'cheap' for a reason.

Good luck.

 

[garethw]

Hi there
I went down this road, as I said in the post above, and like the look of the Landy.. but by experience (of others) I went for a Jap 4x4 and got a Nissan Terrano 2.
Well having driven a number of off roaders (Patrols, Land Cruisers etc) But I've been well pleased with the general off road performance and motor of this car... Mine had a few niggles when I got it, mostly electric, central locking, electric windows etc... Well its built in Spain so bound to have electrical hassle!!!
But mechanics and offroad caperbility are very good. The LWB vehicle is pretty well priced too and the 2.7TDi Nissan engine is far better than anything Land Rover have ever used.
Also its on road drive is pretty car like...
cheers
Gareth

 

[coln18]

Got an ex mod defender 110 and love it, had nothing go wrong with it for the first 2 and half years then the ECU went, so in over 3 years its only been in the garage once, which is much on a par with any other car ive owned. I love the fact that when i walk into a busy car park, my 110 can be spotted within seconds, its just so different to other cars, also love driving it and have been up and down the length of the country a few times and found it fine.

Just my opinion but i would say do your homework and be patient and you can get a good car that will last for years.

 

[MartiniDave]

Well, I just spent sunday morning placing pheasant feeders in the woods on our little shoot using my 90. Strangely enough a few of the other guns have "better & more reliable" jap 4x4s, but not one of them was prepared to risk taking them into the brush and brambles in the woodland (2 years growth - I'm not looking forward to beating in there. One of them who rode as passenger in a Series landy, actually said to me that "I must get a Landrover" as he unlocked his 4x4 to drive home afterwoods. Of course I did have to spend time putting my 90 right afterwards. In fact it took me nearly 10 minutes to pick all the leaves out of the footwells and bits of branch off the roofrack. I'll stick with me landy thanks.

 

[Nonsuch]

If you buy a Jap 4X4, you will always wish you had bought a Landie. If you buy a duff Landie, you will be wishing you had bought a Jap 4x4!
Unfortunately, a good, reliable, rust-free 90 is not going to come cheap, and buying a cheap one will end up expensive unless you are an enthusiastic mechanic.

 

[streetcleaner]

Hi..

I have a ex military defender 90, its a J reg and it had 60000 on the clock, I bought it last april.

In my experience of buying mil vehicles I would not buy from witham's in lincs they have the contract to dispose of all mil vehicles but the cream are sold to dealers!!
Mine was in mint condition and was fully MOT'ed. It was bought by the dealer from witham's two week prior to me buying it.
As the dealer sold it on the road, he had it mot'ed, registered and taxed.
Also I could look over the vehicle and test drive it.
I paid £3000 and I recon I could have got one for £2500 from withams but I would have had the extra expence of MOT, Tax etc etc

The mil vehicles are far better than the civvy type, because they increase in value and the insurance is £70 fully comp on a classic unlimited miles policy.
If you need any details, just pm me.
many thanks and I hope this was of use

 

[Sideburnt]

Thanks for all the advice and offers of additional support, I've re-enforced my expectations a lot based on the advice posted here.

Very much obliged to you all.

 

[bdshim]

i own a mk3 hilux love it ive jumped in it lotts of time and done 4-5 hours soild driving, so dependable, go over to hpoc.com there grest bunch on there, they have great hilux knolage to,

 

[Trojan]

The day I bought my 110 XS and the day i sold it are two of the best days of my life!

 

[Dave]

Ive got a Freelander 2, and I love everything about it. Its a 10 reg, with 40,000 miles on the clock now.

So far, no problems with it. Sounds like a tractor.

 

[huntersforge]

Hi . I have had 5 land rover defenders / series 3s in the past and the common trend was that the newer they were the worse they got . Swapped to jap pickups and never had any of the same reliability issues, however on the rare occasion you did need to fix, parts were a lot more expensive.
Currently running a Hilux....its good

 

[MartiniDave]

I've just been Defender free for 14 months, absolutely dreadful time! So I've caved in and bought another 90, this one a TD5.
Looking forward to sorting it out to my tastes and needs.

Dave

 

[worzel 5]

i go for a land rover 2a with 200tdi with galvanised chassis. old school is best (NO ECU) you can fix the old land rover with a butter knife & tape

 

[kard133]

i go for a land rover 2a with 200tdi with galvanised chassis. old school is best (NO ECU) you can fix the old land rover with a butter knife & tape

Don't forget the hammer and wd40

 

[MartiniDave]

You do have a point Wurzel, I shall be obtaining a spare ECU for the TD5, so I have one "in stock" just in case.

 

[The Lord Poncho]

You do have a point Wurzel, I shall be obtaining a spare ECU for the TD5, so I have one "in stock" just in case.

Look into purchasing a nanocom or similar diagnostic tool as well. Perfect for reading fault codes, clearing them, programming keys, and generally fiddling around with various settings. A tool like that starts to reduce the worry about running a modern vehicle with all its electronic trickery.

 

[MertzMan]

In 10 years of family ownership of a 300tdi 110. We had a water pump, transfer case, rear cross, Prop UJ's and 2 wheel bearings go. The biggest hit by far was the transfer case but we'd buy another again no questions. Yes the Jap stuff is technically better in pretty much any category, but you pick what you like in life and choose what to spend your money on. It'd sit quite happily at 55-60 on a run too.

 

[worzel 5]

its only took me 5 hours to work out how to put my photo up i forgot about big hammer and wd40 and lots of blood lol. if you got a land rover you should go to Old Sodbury Sortout for your second hand parts its the nuts. land rover key£3 (new programming key like vauxhall astra £150 from vauxhall) the newer the car the more problems you have ie.ecu. abs. sensors. air flow meter. if your car breakdown its a rac job you can not fix it with a butter knife & tape

 

[lou1661]

Nice, how do you find the 200tdi runs with the selectable 4x4 transfer box on the 2a?

 

[worzel 5]

:You_Rock_ hi m8 land rover engine fitted with quick release clips lol. its had land rover 2.25na diesel & montego turbo diesel & ford transit 2.5di on series 3 box next 200tdi