Wow. So cool. I like what you have done. Sleek and unshowy.

 

I have a whopping 40 miles on my coils but am totally impressed thus far. Thrilled with the synthesis of compliance and flat cornering; LR tuned the spring rates beautifully.

 

if you plan on only keeping your new defender during the 4 year/50k warranty - go air. if you plan to keep it longer, go coils. this is coming from someone who has had 2 air-sprung land rovers...didn't have any issues with the air for the first few years, but as soon as the warranty expired, things got wonky. especially if you off-road. I'm not sure if the new defender is like the first-gen terrain response cars, but once the air suspension encounters a problem, it also disables your terrain response.

@sarek there's a rumor going around that you're developing a coil lift, any truth to that?

 

Solid advice. I agree.

 

I know that with the Lexus (air) “landcruser “ and the Toyota (springs). It is fairly inexpensive and easy to retrofit the air to springs as the truck gets older. In the past have land rovers been able to make this swap?

 

I think it's a tough call. If you have a lot of people in and out I think the extra inch you can drop it helps. Auto leveling is probably a good thing too and then if you ever need the extra height there's that. For reliability coils probably win out but I'm not terribly concerned because from what I've heard the air (compressor) is not as expensive as I thought to replace anyway. Plus I bought the extended warranty to cover the air suspension and with air vs without it's a trivial amount on the warranty, I want to say it was like $300 more. With that said the main reason I chose air is I never could get a test drive on the coils and with the special order didn't want to take any chances that the ride would be less comfortable. Good luck, I think you'll love it either way.

 

ahh... the age old debate. Since no one's said it exactly in the way I think about it, I'll chime in too:

I'd 100% suggest choosing air over coils (not coil overs btw, that's something else entirely).... unless you are going to fit huge/much larger tires on your Rover.
If you are planning to put big tires on, you should go coils. Because (and this is basic, but you may not know why), the problem is, if your air suspension craps out and you're running large tires etc, the truck falls down on the tires, the fenders hit the top and sides of the tires, and you *cannot move*. You get stuck on yourself. Hopefully that makes sense? It's super annoying -- but this is why the hardcore crew steers clear of Air. (I'd say Sarek is hardcore based on those sweet pics

If not - air is better in every way *when it is working*. It's better when it's working on a RRC, it's better on a P38, it's WAY better on the rear of a D2 than a coil sprung D2, it's way better on LR3/4, it's way better on Disco5, it's better on L663 Defender. I have owned all of these models except D5. If you're a regular person, and you buy a Land Rover, get air.

20 years ago everyone was converting RRClassics and P38's to coils. Now everyone with them wishes they had air. It is entirely cost based and the parts sites like Atlantic British etc made tons of catalog pages about "convert to coils" that got people excited about it.

One thing. Land Rover air suspensions are not even close to being fragile. They are just expensive to replace out of warranty. I think the costs of maintaining air suspension are outweighed by the benefits, both on and off road, and from a ride comfort perspective. That said if you're totally broke, air suspension repairs can be a real issue financially (I'm not judging, I've been broke !). The one memory I have is my 2010 RRS SC, had a bad front air shock out of warranty, and it was something like $3-4k to do both fronts at the dealer. I was somewhat annoyed esp since there was a TSB on those early 2010 supercharged sports, but I was out of warranty and got no love.

 

Thank you for all the responses, I am still confused and undecided. I doubt I will keep this truck past warranty so now I am leaning air.

 

I just do not get the "expensive to replace" bit about air shocks. First off, aftermarket units for a Range Rover cost $155. If you have the time, you can just replace the air bag unit, which takes about 30 minutes, once its off, for $70. To replace a front unit, the more difficult position, is a 1 hour job for someone with enough experience to replace any shock (three bolts on the top, two on the bottom). Then the really technically challenging part, unscrewing the air line, phew! The level sensors are $22 each and the 4x4 information page will quickly show you the offending unit, it will be totally out of place in the graphic. It takes two sheet metal screws and a nut to get off and on, in addition to the radically difficult part of un-plugging and plugging in the connector.

I have had to replace coils on my 97 Defender ST. It is a total pain in the a$$. First off, to do it safely you need a special spring compression tool. A rather pricey device I just didn't seem to have in my toolbox. Nothing about doing that change was a pleasure. The other item, decent coils are rather expensive, way more money than replacement bits on an air system. So if you can fish for ants with a stick, then you probably have the mechanical skill to change air system components. Which does not seem to break down as often as one is led to believe. In the 14 years of off road in the Range Rover, I have replace to date; two level sensors (total $44) and one air bag ($70). The kit from AB is almost $1200, so $300 per wheel + the cost of a total re-alignment. Hmmmmm math does not work out, since I know they do not last forever, defiantly not 14 years.

 

My argument was never about cost to replace. It's just less likely to be a problem. When I go to events and I see vehicles sitting on the bump stops, they are not complaining about the cost to fix. They are left stranded with a vehicle that cannot be driven. As I explained previously, air suspension has a lot of benefits. Just one big drawback. The complexity of the system and the multiple areas where a failure can occur. In my opinion the benefits don't outweigh the drawbacks. I know that 95% of new defenders will be air suspension. And maybe the new Defender air suspension will end up being very reliable long-term. I just don't want to worry about it.