Love my 2025, about a year now on the roadways. Love the tech and happy with the 19" rims which allow me to pop over curbs in parking lots without worry. There's some streets where it's difficult to do a 3 point U-turn; up and over the curb on the other side no problems and no reversing . Anyways, I'm happy to see the initial service is telling me 2 years or about 20k.... BUT, it does seem like a long time to go for an initial service visit? My other LR goes in for annual service calls (it's older with high mileage), so maybe the Defender does annual service after the initial 2 year stint on the road? I've had no issues; no lights have ever come on; about the only thing I can think they should do is rotate my 5 tires so the spare doesn't end up being a wasted $ purchase. But other than that, am I missing something? Are other new Defender buyers going in for annual service to their dealerships? I fully get that lots of Defenders go out of the dealership on leases, but I have zero intention of getting rid of it in a few years; please no "lease and return" calculations. My Defender is a daily driver and the goal in any service visit schedule would be to do what's rational to extend and protect the Defender for longevity of use and reliability. Thanks for any insights...

 

I changed my oil on my 2025 at 4k miles, 20k just seems to long!

 

Oil changes should be done much more frequently. I wouldn't go more than 10k miles between oil changes depending on your use case. And since you plan on keeping your Defender for a while, I'd highly recommend changing your oil at least every year or 10k miles.

I've had my 2021 Defender for almost five years, and I have done oil changes at my dealer while under factory warranty every 5k-7k miles and currently have 47k miles. I personally changed the oil in July and the oil was darker than I was expecting after 7k miles, and it was previously changed at the dealer. I change the engine and cabin filters at least once a year (sometimes more) depending on their condition.

As for everything that's included in the first service, it is an oil change, engine air filter, cabin air filter, and changing the brake fluid.

If you have the locking rear differential, I'd recommend changing that every 30k miles instead of the recommended 63k, especially if you off-road or drive in rougher conditions.

 

I personally changed the oil in mine at 5000 miles and then took it into the dealer on the anniversary of its' delivery for a service. Without any other issues arising, I will visit the dealer annually until the end of the warranty.

 

Oil quality is critical, particularly on turbo charged vehicles. We change ours every 5000 miles. I'm convinced Land Rover's suggested maintenance interval is designed to get the car through the warranty period and not much else.

 

I don't drive a lot so I change the oil annually at about 5-6,000 miles. Services alternate years - so did the 21,000 mile service at 11,000 and the 42,000 mile service at 20,000. I'm planning on keeping the vehicle so want to look after it. Plus driving shorter, infrequent trips is counted as "severe" conditions by most manufacturers.

 

I have seen this 5k-10k km oil change claim for L663 on different forums. My last car (RR) I had for 8 years / 200k km. only doing oil change according to LR recommendations. Car was perfect all the way - never missed a beat!

When I got the L663 2 years ago I started out by following the 5k-10k guidelines on some forums, as I want to keep the vehicle for many years. However, my dealership/service shop told me “not to waste my money on useless oil changes”. They have sold 20-30 L663 and besides me only 1 customer was deviating from LR guidelines. If you essentially double or triple the number of oil changes over 200-300k km - this will amount to a lot of money..(that could be spend if your engine is suffering from too few oil changes).

I decided to go with the recommendations from my dealer/service shop.

 

New OEM oil and aftermarket filter now costs me $64. 30 minutes to swap the oil out.

A tank of gas is over $100.

My oil analysis at 10000 mile intervals would not lead me to go any longer.

When it comes to vehicle longevity and reliability, I hold little stock in LR advice.

Example: LR service interval on transmission is 105k miles or 10 years. ZF recommend 50-75k miles.

Another example. 63k mile service on rear e diff. There are lots of problems reported on this piece of delicate expensive hardware. $80 to service it. Takes 30 minutes. Seeing the oil at 50k I’ll do it every 25k.

Again. Service schedules chosen for cost of maintenance metrics are not for everyone.

YMMV

 

What did the oil analysis show at 10k? I'm surprised if there was an issue. Modern cars in many brands are doing 15-20k between oil changes. And given that makes money for dealers I don't buy that they make it longer than it should be. We did annual 16000 mile oil change with our old discovery and had it tested at Blackstone a couple of times and all was great
I'm doing the 21k mile servicing on my Defender and doing an interim 10k oil change in between. Doing 5000 mile oil changes on a modern engine seems overkill

So - am interested in what you learned from oil analysis that suggested to do more frequently

Thanks!

 

plenty of iron and other metals.

More information in the oil analysis thread. All the data is there.

Minimal change in flash point

plenty of silicon

Volume loss to burn off is minimal. That’s from my own measurements.

My use profile also falls within the arduous use parameters from LR. This seems to be largely ignored by many. The LR recommended . interval Is halved.

the 21k is best case.

no significant miles with towing, off road, spirited driving, high heat environment, stop start city driving.