A couple of questions
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 44
Likes: 11
Good questions on this thread here is my experience for what it’s worth
Heated windshield cold weather package-buy it absolutely elements are not a problem on sunny day-I am pretty picky and have had this before on other vehicles and now on my P300. Love the heated seats and steering wheel and for very light window fogging I use heated windshield frequently. Also in more snowy conditions it helps to get that ice off early morning. Remote start from InControl app works well to preheat as needed. No you can’t remote start from key fob but really I only did it for fun with my truck.
Did not buy extended warranty as I figured my 4 cylinder had been out a while and all of our 5 Landrovers have been good vehicles over the years-yes I said that! Might have changed my mind on the mild hybrid 6. In general the 4 year warranty seems sufficient for me. Only time tells on this. The only extended warranty I ever bought was for Ecodiesel RAM and it actually paid off after all the fussing with the pollution control system by EPA.
I special ordered to get a 4 cylinder S model without roof skylight (never use those) but put in upgraded interior and wood accents. A note on skylights -in hot weather I have always closed shades to escape sun and heat and in nasty rainy weather around where I live I close it so I don’t have to look at the rain. On a more practical thought if you plan to use roof racks it seems a bit crazy to load objects over glass (friend cracked his LR4 doing that). That said they are cool but if I am off-roading a lot I would wonder about flex.
Love the light green color leather which goes with the Pangea very nicely. I love the 14 way seats and am very happy with that decision. Would have put in tan if that had been an option but feel the leather will age well. I also added driver assistance and tow package to get all the driver warnings and the advanced off-road programs. Did not worry too much about second locking differential as I won’t be rock hopping. If you want one it seems disguised to me in options. It was associated with that differential braking option-query dealer to be sure. I will say I am very thankful for the software over the air updates process as they ironed out some initial bugs with extra features in the first couple of months I owned Defender.
The 4 cylinder has plenty of power in my mind-very zippy. Over the passes in Washington State it does quite well. I mostly drive around town on a diet of 2-3 miles each way. After the economy registers I seem to always have from 20.5 to 21. If I add some longer drives more regularly it creeps up to around 22 combined. Yesterday I came home from downtown Seattle to Anacortes and did not exceed 64mph on freeway except for a short while (stayed in right lane) and cut through farm country part of the way. I arrived in town with 26 mpg. Obviously it is situational for terrain and driving habits but for pushing a brick shaped object around the 4 cylinder is great in my opinion.
So in summary - it is my old guy country gentleman’s (even though I am not) wagon that can go pretty much anywhere. I hunt with it and yearly have a cross country pheasant hunt trip, tow a small trailer and have outings over mountains with wife. I added a Bedrug liner which I put in for yard waste hauling ( I had to pattern it) and some lumber for home projects and it has been handy. Anything serious I have delivered but I would say it is easier to haul a small amount of 8 foot lumber down the center pass through in my Defender than in my 4 door 5.7 inch pickup and keep it dry. I also would say I am picky about my vehicles and this doesn’t mess up the interior of a small bit of care is taken. I equipped with all season even though I really really wanted the all terrain for looks but reality is I have better tires for what I actually do with vehicle. Since I am retired now and don’t destroy cars with a commute my very short daily trips are really perfect use of a quiet smooth 4 cylinder. Actually if I did commute this would be my choice (maybe the plug in hybrid) but the gadgetry is done very well and with Apple Play I could have leveraged the text reading and voice sending features to my endless distraction while in stop and go traffic. Would never have bought air suspension a few years ago but I love it and I believe it will be fine from a reliability point plus a better option when towing anything. This Defender has the same road presence of my previous giant pickup with air. I am on 19 inch wheels a compromise I realize but I don’t want to worry about curbing rimes and I want enough sidewall to air down off road just a bit and also get a good highway ride with reasonable handling.
Way more than 2 cents worth but hope this helps.
Heated windshield cold weather package-buy it absolutely elements are not a problem on sunny day-I am pretty picky and have had this before on other vehicles and now on my P300. Love the heated seats and steering wheel and for very light window fogging I use heated windshield frequently. Also in more snowy conditions it helps to get that ice off early morning. Remote start from InControl app works well to preheat as needed. No you can’t remote start from key fob but really I only did it for fun with my truck.
Did not buy extended warranty as I figured my 4 cylinder had been out a while and all of our 5 Landrovers have been good vehicles over the years-yes I said that! Might have changed my mind on the mild hybrid 6. In general the 4 year warranty seems sufficient for me. Only time tells on this. The only extended warranty I ever bought was for Ecodiesel RAM and it actually paid off after all the fussing with the pollution control system by EPA.
I special ordered to get a 4 cylinder S model without roof skylight (never use those) but put in upgraded interior and wood accents. A note on skylights -in hot weather I have always closed shades to escape sun and heat and in nasty rainy weather around where I live I close it so I don’t have to look at the rain. On a more practical thought if you plan to use roof racks it seems a bit crazy to load objects over glass (friend cracked his LR4 doing that). That said they are cool but if I am off-roading a lot I would wonder about flex.
Love the light green color leather which goes with the Pangea very nicely. I love the 14 way seats and am very happy with that decision. Would have put in tan if that had been an option but feel the leather will age well. I also added driver assistance and tow package to get all the driver warnings and the advanced off-road programs. Did not worry too much about second locking differential as I won’t be rock hopping. If you want one it seems disguised to me in options. It was associated with that differential braking option-query dealer to be sure. I will say I am very thankful for the software over the air updates process as they ironed out some initial bugs with extra features in the first couple of months I owned Defender.
The 4 cylinder has plenty of power in my mind-very zippy. Over the passes in Washington State it does quite well. I mostly drive around town on a diet of 2-3 miles each way. After the economy registers I seem to always have from 20.5 to 21. If I add some longer drives more regularly it creeps up to around 22 combined. Yesterday I came home from downtown Seattle to Anacortes and did not exceed 64mph on freeway except for a short while (stayed in right lane) and cut through farm country part of the way. I arrived in town with 26 mpg. Obviously it is situational for terrain and driving habits but for pushing a brick shaped object around the 4 cylinder is great in my opinion.
So in summary - it is my old guy country gentleman’s (even though I am not) wagon that can go pretty much anywhere. I hunt with it and yearly have a cross country pheasant hunt trip, tow a small trailer and have outings over mountains with wife. I added a Bedrug liner which I put in for yard waste hauling ( I had to pattern it) and some lumber for home projects and it has been handy. Anything serious I have delivered but I would say it is easier to haul a small amount of 8 foot lumber down the center pass through in my Defender than in my 4 door 5.7 inch pickup and keep it dry. I also would say I am picky about my vehicles and this doesn’t mess up the interior of a small bit of care is taken. I equipped with all season even though I really really wanted the all terrain for looks but reality is I have better tires for what I actually do with vehicle. Since I am retired now and don’t destroy cars with a commute my very short daily trips are really perfect use of a quiet smooth 4 cylinder. Actually if I did commute this would be my choice (maybe the plug in hybrid) but the gadgetry is done very well and with Apple Play I could have leveraged the text reading and voice sending features to my endless distraction while in stop and go traffic. Would never have bought air suspension a few years ago but I love it and I believe it will be fine from a reliability point plus a better option when towing anything. This Defender has the same road presence of my previous giant pickup with air. I am on 19 inch wheels a compromise I realize but I don’t want to worry about curbing rimes and I want enough sidewall to air down off road just a bit and also get a good highway ride with reasonable handling.
Way more than 2 cents worth but hope this helps.
Thread Starter
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Winching
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 549
Likes: 275
From: Western NY
I appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts, by all means keep it going. After reading Freemey I'm going to add the winter package back to my build. The offroad tires are another $350, would you recommend staying with the all seasons? I'm going to be doing a lot of snow driving but it will all be done on pavement. I'm currently going with the 18 inch wheels and the dark gray 5 spokes, I'm open to the white steel wheels though. One good thing about the steel is my son may be driving this a little bit when he gets his permit. I'd hate to see him clip a curb but it happens. 
Last edited by Chief65; Jan 4, 2021 at 10:34 AM.
Mudding
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 148
Likes: 45
From: Anacortes Wa
Oh one more thought-
Someone asked about digital versus analog instrument choices. I thought a good bit about but went digital. There are some way cool options with digital and it replicates analog gages well. My wife’s Dico Sport has the analog with small info digital piece and I am sure while either would have worked for me the digital is really nice. I now run in full map on the driver side. All warnings and statutes symbols are arranged nicely around the map and I find I really like it. With an automatic I really don’t need rpm for most driving. With the digital you can have a central gage with info on each side which I believe is brilliant for off roading. You would have RPM on the gage which is now important and digital speed in center of it which is only to know how slow you go. Place 4 wheel info to one side and you are in good shape. I leave the PIVI with favorite tiles showing.
Someone asked about digital versus analog instrument choices. I thought a good bit about but went digital. There are some way cool options with digital and it replicates analog gages well. My wife’s Dico Sport has the analog with small info digital piece and I am sure while either would have worked for me the digital is really nice. I now run in full map on the driver side. All warnings and statutes symbols are arranged nicely around the map and I find I really like it. With an automatic I really don’t need rpm for most driving. With the digital you can have a central gage with info on each side which I believe is brilliant for off roading. You would have RPM on the gage which is now important and digital speed in center of it which is only to know how slow you go. Place 4 wheel info to one side and you are in good shape. I leave the PIVI with favorite tiles showing.
Recovery Vehicle
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 1,078
Likes: 713
I have the P300 110 S model and use it almost exactly as Freemey does. I agree with most of his comments, excepting:
Only difference is I absolutely recommend the electronic differential -- and use it most days -- as I live on unimproved roads. I am on 18 inch wheels with off-road Goodyear.
I have the opening sunroof thing for the sole reason that my wife insisted, and it does provide a cool space for the dogs to wait in the summer.
I have the mixed fabric seat in tan -- and wow does it get dirty. Most likely because I am wet, muddy, farmer dirty most of the time -- but it does not clean as easily as leather. I may have made a mistake there -- we shall see.
Only difference is I absolutely recommend the electronic differential -- and use it most days -- as I live on unimproved roads. I am on 18 inch wheels with off-road Goodyear.
I have the opening sunroof thing for the sole reason that my wife insisted, and it does provide a cool space for the dogs to wait in the summer.
I have the mixed fabric seat in tan -- and wow does it get dirty. Most likely because I am wet, muddy, farmer dirty most of the time -- but it does not clean as easily as leather. I may have made a mistake there -- we shall see.
Mudding
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 148
Likes: 45
From: Anacortes Wa
I was very torn on that second differential and listening to TrioLRowner if I had it to do over would grab it now. I also think 18 inch steels are way cool and better off road for sure-another one I was torn over as well and didn’t do - if I was on a farm a lot it would have been a no brainer. I did read some threads about tires and after looking at them a lot I THINK but don’t know that the Goodyear off roads with Kevlar are not very noisy on the road at all. Just hard to tell for sure from write ups. I was also worried about dirt in the fabric portion of seats over time which is why I went with the all leather upgrade.
Also a subtle nicety of seat packages and not just the all leather is one with an auto adjusting steering wheel position. It is not so much for that as it is for the “auto” position which causes the wheel and seat to move up and away and down and back upon door opening and back on start-way cool and handy and I didn’t see that one coming.
Also a subtle nicety of seat packages and not just the all leather is one with an auto adjusting steering wheel position. It is not so much for that as it is for the “auto” position which causes the wheel and seat to move up and away and down and back upon door opening and back on start-way cool and handy and I didn’t see that one coming.
Mudding
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 148
Likes: 45
From: Anacortes Wa
No I am P300 and selected the Windsor Leather Upgrade option which included not just leather and leather accents but auto adjusted steering wheel position and maybe a thicker leather wheel-can’t tell on that account the description in configuration did t give me complete details. I also got the 14 way seats which was another item I wanted for my old rugby back.
Recovery Vehicle
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 1,078
Likes: 713
Yep. I opted out of the leather solely for cost -- we had to fund that glorious (mandated) sunroof somehow !
Was just in the tractor yesterday in the mud --- again thankful for the manual, foot activated locking rear diff !! Couldn't get anything done in the mountain slopes without it
Was just in the tractor yesterday in the mud --- again thankful for the manual, foot activated locking rear diff !! Couldn't get anything done in the mountain slopes without it
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 44
Likes: 11
No I am P300 and selected the Windsor Leather Upgrade option which included not just leather and leather accents but auto adjusted steering wheel position and maybe a thicker leather wheel-can’t tell on that account the description in configuration did t give me complete details. I also got the 14 way seats which was another item I wanted for my old rugby back.
Three Wheeling
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 72
Likes: 37
I appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts, by all means keep it going. After reading Freemey I'm going to add the winter package back to my build. The offroad tires are another $350, would you recommend staying with the all seasons? I'm going to be doing a lot of snow driving but it will all be done on pavement. I'm currently going with the 18 inch wheels and the dark gray 5 spokes, I'm open to the white steel wheels though. One good thing about the steel is my son may be driving this a little bit when he gets his permit. I'd hate to see him clip a curb but it happens.