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Just wanted to say "WOW"!!! ....I have been on other forums in the past (jeep wrangler/Ford, VW) and never have I stumbled on an insider of another OEM display such and honest and candid approach to all the questions/comments that are thrown your way!
Based on your expertise in so many areas of vehicle design/manufacturing/ distribution/retailing/ etc I get a sense that you are a "higher up" within the JLR organization...
In the other OEM forums I mentioned, I have only encountered "customer care" associates that while are eager to help, know basically nothing about the product. Other insiders are to afraid/concerned/bound about making any kind of comments about their product.
I work in the automotive industry for almost 25 years now, in the supplier side of Engineering/product development, and I agree 100% with your comments regarding engineering/production everyday challenges, especially now with not only chip shortage, but constraints on so many raw materials.
I only became active on this forums earlier this month, when my young adult son expressed interest in buying a Defender (with his own money of course) so I decided to learn as much as possible about the LR Defender in an effort to help him make an informed decision.
My son was lucky to find a stock unit at another dealer that he purchased at sticker, a week after he had placed an order on his 110 P300 that hopefully gets built in six months. Once his order comes in, who knows, I might buy the first unit from him!
I must add, my son is selling his 2021 Tesla Model 3 to get the Defender, he says he does not miss the Tesla one bit, actually he does, when he needs to pay at the gas station!
Here is a picture of his "bridge" Defender, the day he took us for a the first ride, we drove by a lot with Defenders and could not pass the opportunity of a quick photo shoot!
He is taking his Defender to it's first road trip next week to the Colorado Rockies on a snowboard trip with his college roommates.
IF JLR treats my son well, they might have a customer for many years to come!
Last edited by new to landrover; 02-23-2022 at 07:33 AM.
@insider thank you for all this information. I think we all really appreciate having you here!
Had a lot of nice vehicles over the years but there's just something about this Defender. I still smile every time I see it.
My only off-the-wall wish would be to have geo-fenced height settings to auto-lower when I get into my neighborhood. Should be an easy software update and could help sell the air? In regular height, I'm 1/4" from the garage door opening and it's a bit uncomfortable.
While not entirely inaccurate- a bit dramatic. The P400 is more profitable than the P300 for us in the US market, so it's in our interest to keep it rolling off the line. However, the MHEV system and powertrain in the P400 consumes more chips and some other bits and pieces. Therefore we sometimes need to rotate focus to the P300. Also, lots of P300 customers in the US feel that they've been forgotten and we have a lot of orders to catch up on.
Long story short- yes we're taking focus off P400 for a short period of time to focus on other powertrains. However, you folks across the pond forget we also sell the D250 and D300 engines in the UK and markets outside the US. Those are honestly the preferred powertrains, but Americans are dead set against diesel vehicles and our most recent attempt to sell them in the US didn't go well at all. Apparently a 30mpg (US Gallon) Discovery, RRS and Range Rover did not entice you all.
Have no fear, we have plenty of P400 orders that need to be filled and chip/parts supply moves in waves. Give us a couple of months
Lastly, this might be controversial with you petrol loving folks- but honestly the P300 is the better Defender. It's lighter, handles better, has a pleasant ride quality, allows for the 18" wheels and has less to go wrong overall. When we donate D110's for work use they're either equipped with P300's or Diesel variants.
Hope this helps.
Excuse my English.
P300 better? In what way?
It only has 4 cylinders and the weight difference only makes the difference in the engine weight. 4-6-8 cylinders which engine will have a higher lifetime of the basic mechanical components if I use it in the same heavy car and sometimes to tow heavy trailers? Of course, the one that has a higher volume and more cylinders. Small-volume engines are and have been a road to hell in terms of the durability and ecology of production. In my non-expert opinion, it is better to operate a larger multi-cylinder engine at 400-500thousand km in the long term than a small-volume 4-turbo engine which is loaded with constant high speeds "to keep the car running" with a lifetime of 100000 km. The production of 4 small engines will thus put more carbon footprint on the planet than the production of one larger engine. It is similar to emissions in practice. A large engine running only half-throttle emits the same emissions as a small engine at full power. Yes, the laboratory tables and measurements say otherwise, but the practice is different. I am annoyed that in Europe the famous Geen Deal gives the green light to such nonsense and forces automakers to make cars with component life up to 200k.km. Yes, that is so. I have some friends who work in the design departments of the VW Group and there really are such assignments. Cars have become consumer goods, as well as electronics, refrigerators etc. where the stated life is up to five years. Simply pure consumerism backed by meaningless environmental sanctions. Let's make goods that last and not scrap!
I understand that the P300 and its purchases into the commercial sphere predominate.
But into the commercial sphere cars are bought for 2-3 years and for 100k.km and then off with it and new. it's for a long discussion.
I myself have a Defender 130 from 1997, a Defender 140 from 2008 and a New Defender 110P400 wife then a Discorery 4 from 2014 and the least problems are the one from 1997 and the New Defender which only has 8000km on it. We'll see if after 20 years it will be in the same condition as the old one :anděl:
^^^ LOL, The last US customer who took a LR or RR past 80,000 miles was banned from ever buying another one (not that he would have wanted to. )
JLR customers (at least in North America) lease/buy for the short term, then rinse and repeat.
And it doesn't matter if every single member of this forum comes on to tell me how they have taken their Disco to 800,000 miles as the original owner; active participation on this forum is like 400 people. Not even a rounding error to people trying to move iron in the hundreds of thousands per year.
European Luxury cars used to achieve that status by 1) charging a lot, 2) lasting a pretty good while compared to cheap cars, and 3) including a few tasteful and modest "luxury touches."
But for the last 30+ years they've achieved Luxury status by including bleeding-edge (mostly electronic) convenience and safety technology, and more leather than cheaper cars. "Lasting as long as a Corolla" isn't even on their design metrics. And I'm a guy who only buys MB and Porsche cars/SUVs until adding this defender. I buy them in spite of their longevity, not because of it. (Porsches haven't behaved that way for me, but I've never taken one past 45,000 miles.)
IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO HEAR A MILEAGE INTERVAL RECOMMENDATION FOR TRANSMISSION AND DIFFERENTIAL FLUID CHANGES WHEN USING THE DEFENDER PREDOMINATELY AS A TOW VEHICLE.
[/QUOTE]
Sorry I missed this question earlier. If you're doing heavy towing and working the car hard then I'd be changing that differential fluid at 50K miles. Cheap insurance. The active locking diffs require special fluid-use the specified fluid.
The transmission is more complicated as it's dependent more on how the mileage was acquired rather than the mileage itself.
That said, I've talked with ZF about this before and the consensus is generally if you're going to be a transmission fluid changer you really don't want to start later than 75K miles. You run into issues when you start upsetting things on a high mileage transmission. Do not flush the transmission and do not worry about the filter (the capacity is huge on these units). Just partial drain and refill every 75k with the factory fluid. This must be done carefully though-over or under filling will cause problems. One of the reasons manufacturers went to lifetime fill on transmissions is because it's easy to screw up and you get too many problems changing fluid on higher mileage vehicles. Neither manufacturers or retailers want/need the trouble.[/QUOTE]
I had a similar issue with my wife's 2003 S-Type Jaguar some years ago. it also had a "sealed for life" ZF auto-box. Changed the fluid at around 75K miles, but it required that the car be perfectly level, so I let my local independent Jag mechanic handle that one on his lift. I hope the quality of plastics that JLR use under the bonnet have improved. As that car got old bits started to break up due to heat and enbrittlement. Lovely car used to get lots of compliments on it, probably one of the nicest cars built by Jaguar in the last 50 years.
My Trek was displayed at the grand revealing of the L460 new full size at Galpin Motors San Fernando Valley new Land Rover Dealership a few months ago. It was an awesome experience. We're you there?
Im thinking about putting a deposit down on one...
We really appreciate your insight on here.
Sincerely,
Mark
Originally Posted by The Insider
Mark!
What a wonderful collection of vehicles! Thank you so much for your support and interest in the brand over the years. We can't tell you how much we love to hear from our longtime owners.
Have you attended any clinics or customer events over the past year in LA? These vehicles look very familiar to me.
@insider thank you for all this information. I think we all really appreciate having you here!
Had a lot of nice vehicles over the years but there's just something about this Defender. I still smile every time I see it.
My only off-the-wall wish would be to have geo-fenced height settings to auto-lower when I get into my neighborhood. Should be an easy software update and could help sell the air? In regular height, I'm 1/4" from the garage door opening and it's a bit uncomfortable.
You're quite welcome and I'm glad to hear the Defender brings you so much joy!
That's a very interesting thought on the geo-fencing. I know we've discussed that in the past, but I think there were some "Yes, but what if..." comments at the table.
I’m surprised you didn’t wind up in the Discovery, which has a roomier third row and more cargo space. It should be a better fit than the D110 in that regard. It’s a great vehicle-though very different than the Defender in tone and style.
In regard to the 20” wheels- don’t cringe! If you switch to a more aggressive tyre in size 265/60/20 you’ll be just fine with the added sidewall and rim protection (just don’t lower the tyre pressure!). Although the wheels are getting bigger these days, so is the overall diameter of the tyre. There's more sidewall on your 20" tyre than our old 19" options. Wheel size in itself means nothing-it's what you wrap around it. We now offer multiple 23" wheel options on the new L460 Range Rover because the overall tyre size has increased.
Hope this helps!
Yes. A Discovery would have been a good fit but the 7 seats are needed rarely. It was a must have for my other half. A Defender has always been something I wanted so when the new one came out it got my juices flowing.
The new one is a far cry from the old beaters I used to drive back home in Ireland. Farm vehicles I got to muck a bout in.
For where I use it and for what I need, the Defender ticks all the boxes. It's an absolute beast and has opened up a whole swath of new places to explore and play in that my last vehicle (a very much abused and overburdened 2WD Acura MDX) could not.
02-23-2022 | 07:14 AM
P300/p400
