Bizarre how loaded the ‘21s are vs some later model years. I’m still irritated the screen in my ‘24 is so small, it seems 10 years outdated. How did a chip shortage from 2021 affect MY ‘24? Ridiculous. Otherwise really love the Defender!

 

I'm getting ready to trade-in our 2021 and found the original window sticker. It came with many features standard like a sunglass holder above the rearview mirror, Clearview camera, air suspension, USB outlets in every row and AC vents in the way back for the dog.

 

I’m really glad I found this thread. I’ve been a Disco 2 freak for a number of years, so I’m a regular over there and have very rarely strayed elsewhere in the forum.

That said, I’m kind of in the same quandary right now. My latest D2 will be going to my son in the next year or so, and although I have another D2 waiting in the wings to start a restoration on, I’ve started to think a new Defender is really what I want. I have entirely too many cars with an S4 as my sports/luxury/nice car, and then a heavily modified Jeep as my off road machine.

I dearly love D2s for a million reasons, but living in CO where driving is downright dangerous and scary I’ve decided I want a Defender as a full-time machine.

So then, my quandary is to determine if buying a used one is the way to go, or order a new one to spec. If I order a new one, the S4 goes and I’ll eventually get a true sports car. If I go used, I can keep the S4 (that I got new) and just go forward.

The obvious concern is the typical fear of newer Land Rovers. My wife is on her second Range Rover Sport (an L320, and now an L494- both with the properly blown engine) but our experience- to include the D2s- is the reputation is far from deserved, especially if the machine is taken care of. I am a total gear head and a geek with a Gap Tool, so not much scares me other than big repairs I can’t do (of which we had a couple on her first Sport). I have zero trust in dealer service departments and perform most everything service oriented myself with high quality stuff like oils that I will NOT go over 5k on changes for.

The cost of the early headlights is obscene as near as I can tell (unless you are willing to do the PowerfulkidUK or whatever fix) and anything hybrid scares me. I’m not worried about software updates and the like, and I’m familiar with air suspension.

So should I spend literally half as much and get something with 40-60k miles and roll the dice that not just factory service was done, or remove all risk and order a new one to spec?

 

It's great to get a new Defender with a warranty, but who knows when it will appear. I ordered one exactly as I wanted it in July and the delivery date got pushed back into "sometime in 2026".

The only reason I am moving on from our 2021 is to take advantage of the section 179 tax break for business owners. I would buy a well maintained 2021 over a 2023 that is probably missing so many features. We even traded in our 2023 on a 2025 and kept the 2021 because it has more features including the 700 watt sound system.

 

I'd try to get a sub-30k mile CPO car and you'll get an extended warranty. So far, the P300 I4 and P400 I6 MHEV engines have proven to be quite reliable, especially compared to other luxury brand's engines (looking at you, Mercedes). And the V8 should be good now that they come from the factory with metal crossover pipes. Of course, it's hard to know what may or may not happen with any car, but as long as it's been taken care of, it should be okay.

 

Thanks for the input! I was a bit convinced I should just get a new one, but based on what I’ve learned from this thread (primarily option stuff), I think I’ve narrowed things to the MY ‘21 and a spec set of options. I have a very specific set of things I’d like, and a couple additional if I’m buying used:

- Clear sight rear view mirror
- Fridge
- Adaptive Cruise
- The 6 cyl
- Air suspension
- Off road “pak” or whatever they call it (rear locker)
- Towing “pak”
- Heated and cooled front seats
- Most likely 3 zone climate control
- Probably the adventure look of the roof rack, ladder, and box
- I do NOT want 22” wheels
- I hope I can get the heated windshield (been on every Land Rover we’ve owned and I love it)

I know I can program the ACC, so for the right machine, I can deal with it not being out of the box. It seems the fridge isn’t that big of a deal to add in, but I suspect the option list puts me in a category where one would be there anyway. The rack and other stuff are also not really hard requirements, but if they come with one, all the better and I can do what I do with my other SUVs and just remove and put back on as the need arises.

I’ve driven all 3 drivetrains (the Octa isn’t on the list for cost alone and is in my opinion a bit ridiculous). We know the SC V8 well and now that we’ve had 2 (her last one had over 140k on it when we sold and it never had timing chains done and zero tick or slop in the chain you can get to from the oil fill cap) and love that engine, but even the used ones get kinda silly money, but honestly I’ve not confirmed that. The 4 popper is sufficient, but I need the tow rating for horses and would love to be able to tow another car with ease (like both of her Sports). This leaves the I6 and after driving it, I’d be just fine with it. Based on the mileage folks are putting on them (there are ‘23s with 80+k miles I’ve seen still looking at a lot of $$ for them) it seems that drivetrain is good.

The last part is the use case. I’m a big mountain biker, and (used to be) a dual sport motorcycle rider, but the Jeep sucks for long drives (wanders all over the place with the big tires), and the Disco is just plain too slow (with a rack and roof top tent it struggles to keep the speed limit at times- and certainly don’t add wind to that equation). So I end up confining myself to local stuff (which don’t cry for me as local stuff is better than most of the rest of the country), but I’d like to be able to get places further away with more comfort and possibly even do mild trails with the vehicle when I get there. And if I do some trails, I don’t want to cry about getting a scratch or dent on a $90k vehicle.

So thank you again for the input and I think if I can find one even up to 60k miles, I might get serious come spring.

 

I will say the rear locker is not necessary whatsoever. I have it on mine, but off-roading with Defenders that don't have it, it doesn't give you as big of an advantage as you think it would. The traction control & ABS are so much faster to react than the previous models thanks to the new electronic architecture and brake-by-wire.

However, if you're looking for all of those features, the Defender X will have basically all of those features as standard.

All 2020-2021 Defender 110s came standard with air suspension.

 

Honestly, it’s a bit dippy for me to want the rear locker as I’d probably use it next to never (the Jeep is fully locked and frankly has no equal off road; done the Rubicon, all through Moab, a good number of the hard trails in CO, etc., but it just sucks for longer drives). I’ve done some healthy wheel stands in my latest Disco (an ‘04) and due to the CDL and appropriate SLABS in the ‘04, it is quite capable with decent tires.

I figure if 20+ year old tech can do that well, the latest hotness should certainly be sufficient for anything I’m going to be willing to throw at it. This leads to the real reason for the Defender vice sticking with a Disco: as I mentioned, driving in CO is just plain dangerous, and I get sick of living in fear when I drive the S4 (not just the terrible driving behavior, but the horrible roads, not to mention $2k a pop for a windshield- a consumable here based on redneck bob and his ridiculous lifted Chevy truck), and the Jeep has terrible visibility and just feels like a target for the knuckleheads here. This is the reason for my addiction to adaptive cruise as it just removes a ton of stress when driving, and since the Defender can tow more comfortably and has all the luxury I want, it seems a great choice because driving a nice sports/sporty car as a daily is just an exercise in frustration.

 

Very similar to our spec. The fridge, in particular, gets a TON of use. Far more than I ever expected. And if you get one, one tip is you can get 3D printed inserts that you pop in that perfectly hold four cans of soda or bottles of water in place and push them right against the cold sides of the fridge. I think we got our insert from defender3d in the UK.

 

Where are you located and/or, are you looking nationally in the US? I ask because during my search I found 2 very intriguing 2021 P400 110 for sale in Seattle. Both have winch and many things but one was all black with the other tan/brown on same interior. The black one had more proper stuff built on like sliders and LED roof lighting while the other one had all of it's DRL and fog lights working LOL. Both around $50k but in my opinion, low to mid 40's on a hard negotiation.