Fellow Land Rover owner here, been loving it so far. A friend of mine has been looking at the new Defender (wanted a G-Wagon, but (including used) prices are astronomical. Can anyone please report on issues and the overall ownership experience? Thanks!

 

https://landroverforums.com/forum/20...0-p400-115182/

If you owned a JLR product before, the Defender quality is far better. But it's not perfect so if your friend is coming from owning a Lexus they will consider it a disaster when that first issue comes up.

 

probably the only person to share this, but I had a friend with an old Lexus LX (the LC in Lexus styling). Although LC is always described as "bulletproof" in terms of manufacturing quality, my friend's experience with the Lexus variation was not and he pushed back on that reflexive characterization. He got rid of the LX as he thought it had some mechanical problems it shouldn't have. He got it I think over 100k in mileage, but LC should be good for 200k, so the LX had enough issues & overall detracted from his enjoyment to owning it. He didn't buy another Lexus, but does have a Toyota minivan, so it was more a "no Lexus" decision. I think the repair budget for a LR is always a valid consideration: parts are more durable for sure, but when they break they are expensive to replace. I drove a Forrester prior to my LR, and the poor Forrester was breaking down bit by bit, given how I drove it: suspension parts, struts, coils, rotors, brake pads - all those parts were designed for gentle drivers on pavement. The LR takes the abuse and doesn't break, but when I do replace something, it's a bill. I have an older LR, so I can't say if the ND is designed to withstand Mr. McGoo driving over every pothole in the street, but the older LR I drive is 9 years and running, so they certainly used to make them with durability in mind. It's all the attachment pieces - the little things you don't see. You can swap big tires on a Forrester, but stuff that's attached to the wheels are what was breaking, and that's what LR did correctly on the older one I drive. Given no good would come from a lighter but weaker build quality, I'd have no reason to suspect they lessened parts quality. The Defender seems built to take bad roads or no roads. Reliability is a consideration for all cars, so if they use cheap parts that break often, folk won't want to buy such SUVs for long adventure trips. IMO the expensive parts are a good thing so long as they are stronger than what is normal or standard. The build on my older LR has led to me buying a new 110 Defender. I would say that in general, folks that buy LRs want a LR. If you say "I want a luxury car" and don't know much about cars, Lexus is a good landing spot. But if you like cars, like the challenges that may come from keeping them going, LRs are great and fun, but the experience is more "interactive?" than owning a Lexus. If you say "I just want any car" and you're not that particular on what car, anything from LR is likely to appear needy and temperamental compared to a Toyota or Honda. The other point to keep in mind with gripers on LRs is this: there's tech and there's non-tech issues. My LR has a few techie inspired ghosts, but the car runs. The mechanical parts don't stop working immediately - it runs, even if there's a electronic gremlin. For the most part there's a been a firewall in my old LR where tech flutters don't cause the LR to stop. Anyone that says they had a problem with the tech on their LR, ask if it stopped the vehicle's ability to drive? So long as the answer is no, you can have the dealer fix the tech issue next time it's in, and so I personally don't think those are detractions. I'd only care if the tech problem or sensor malfunction stopped the car from driving.

 

lf it does. No issues at all with my Defender 90 after 10,000 miles

 

Fantastic vehicle, no issues with mine in 18 mnths - highly recommend. with any car brand there will be some issues, but from my experience the current Defender model is no better or worse than other luxury vehicles on the market.

 

Looking at this forum, you will find a wide range of ownership experiences from “no problems” to “something new every week” (I happen to be in the latter).
In my unofficial tally of this forum, these seem to be the most common issues (in no particular order):
- cracked windshield
​​​​​​- coolant leak
- squeaks and rattles
- assorted PIVI software issues

For the most part, all of these are relatively minor and the drivetrain (the most important part) appears to be solid with few if any reported problems.
So if you can live with some occasional minor issues, you’ll be happy with the Defender.

 

My Defender is my first JLR vehicle, I am two years and ~24K miles in and and absolutely loving it.

 

Test drove an INEOS today. Good truck, definitely leaning to the off-road enthusiast. Coil springs, high access, decent on highway (BFG KO2 18" tires) no navigation (but carplay). Really like the interior instrument looks. Seems to me more like my son's Gladiator and Wrangler than my Defender. Did not go off-road but take for granted the reviews and YouTube. Just feels like it will take more punishment without destroying the look. Lack of a nationwide dealership network (in USA) would be a problem if you are not close to one. Many will like it. In the end, glad I bought the Defender.

 

You could prob add the sticky door issue to this but it’s not a big issue imho, it just happens a lot.

 

I had an early reservation (Feb 2022) but when it came time to turn that into an order I passed. I went to an April 2023 off-road driving event and enjoyed it just fine, but of the things you mention the high-access step-in height was the deal killer, since my wife loves riding in it and is on the shorter side, and my mother is 5’ tall and has trouble with the Defender at Access height. Also, the rear cargo area being compromised by the folded seatbacks sticking up 9 or 10”, preventing you sliding anything deeply into the space, really stinks as well.

In other words, I never even got to the considerations about dealer network and first-year-of-a-new-model-of-an-entirely-new-brand thing. The ergos chased me away.