I don't think any of us can answer that yet. Typically a heavy Land Rover will wear out both the pads and the rotors so it's not as easy as pushing the caliper in and swapping out the pads. And I'm not sure how the Defender parking brake works. On an LR4 there were parking brake shoes inside the rear rotors, much like old drum brakes. And if the technician didn't know how to put the parking brake in service mode while changing the rear brakes, you would destroy the parking brake on your ride home. Not to mention the burning clutch smell plus the rotor gets so hot it turns blue and warps.

 

I'm still trying to figure out if the Electronic Active Differential is zero cost if you select it alone without selecting it with the off road package for the USA market. Right now in the USA on-line build if if you don't select the off road package it gives you the option to select it on the next screen at no cost. It shows in the summery page being there.

So is this just a bug on the website or has Land Rover decided it's easier and more cost affective on the manufacturing line to let it go at no charge.

 

no. As far as my dealer and others have said — no off-road package, no rear locking diff. You can check it but when you order it will not be there.

 

It is a bug in the ordering software, which has been present for months -- and has caused confusion and disappointment. It needs to be addressed and fixed and has not been.

 

Similar to Mercedes and other premium European Vehicles, the rotors are not able to be turned, so must be replaced at each change. So too, the rear brakes have combined drums (parking) and discs, which require more parts and more steps. There are several YouTube videos for Range Rover and D4 / LR4 how to steps, and aftermarket parts are available in the U.S. from Atlantic British and others.

$1000 US brake changes are a cost of owning these vehicles and having the benefits of their capabilities. It is something to factor into your buying decisions.

 

Actually, the build function on the LR USA website has nothing to do with the actual ordering system. It's just a shopping tool.

For custom orders, someone at the dealer enters the order directly on the factory online order portal. Once this person enters the order they can send you a confirmation for you to review. Review it carefully to be sure it's everything you want. It will include a last revision deadline date, production date and an approximate completion date.

Here is one more difference between the online shopping build function and actual order portal...the total order entry cost for the offroad pack is $1900. $1550 for the active differential plus $350 for the offroad tires. These are separate line items so I suspect on the actual order system you could order the active differential with all season tires.

 

That's news to me. On my 2020, you could either order the off-road pack (was $1,345.00 on my 2020 ordered about a year ago) which included rear lockers, off-road tires and 120v plug socket in the trunk, OR the off-road tires alone, $350.00. If you tried ordering both, the $350.00 charge for the tires would be automatically removed. I went to look at the window sticker of my 2020 110 HSE, there is no extra charge for the off-road tires I received with the off-road pack, it's all included in the $1345 off-road pack. $1900 would represent a 40% price hike from the 2020s - if that's really what they charge you in 2021 for those options. Either that, or your dealer owes you $350.00...

 

Anyway, there are reports from several news outlets that production in Nitra will stop soon - if it hasn't already - due to a worldwide shortage of microchips from Asia that's affecting a lot of car manufacturers. If your Defender has not been built yet, you may be in for disappointing news of long delays.

 

I was wrong, well sorta...the build confirmation did list the offroad tires and offroad pack as separate items:


But the actual sticker only charged $1550 for both:

 

I heard the same from my dealer. Said that orders recently placed no longer come back with an expected completion date. And on March 1st they will start taking orders for 2022 Defenders That means that March orders likely deliver at least 6 months from now or longer.