19k miles on my 2023 D110 P300. It had been flawless until a couple of weeks ago when the power steering failed in my driveway. LR service had it towed to the dealer (40 minutes away), who had to replace the steering rack.

If they hadn’t found one in the US, they warned that it might have been months to get the part. But I got lucky and got the car back in a week. They gave me a RR Velar to drive while I waited.

So… if the Lexus dealer is right around the corner, I’d consider a GX550. Might have similar issues, but less hassle in dropping the car off and picking up the loaner.

But if you don’t mind the drive, and are willing to risk a loaner for what may be a few months, go for it. I don’t have any regrets. I might be grumpier if I were still driving the loaner though.

 

- Our 2021 had annoying dashboard rattle issues when new that I fixed myself by adding felt to the back of some dashboard pieces. That was the only issue over 4 years and 40K miles so far.

- Our 2023 had a slow coolant leak repaired and needed a new XM radio module. Just those 2 issues over 15 months and 32K miles.

- You can easily change the oil yourself so no need to go to the dealer for basic maintenance.
As noted above, the Defender is built in a rather new plant in Slovakia. From my experience the build quality is excellent. Of course your results may vary.

 

Thanks for the info thus far.

I'm in southern CO, with the nearest "premium" dealers all being in Santa Fe or Albuquerque. So if I want anything other than the big 3 or Toyota, Subaru, Nissan etc. I'm looking at ~4 hrs to the dealer for Porsche, Audi, BMW, MB, Lexus, Tesla...you name it. I'm a life long car guy, and gave up my race cars and nice street cars when we moved to this area. And I've been in a 5th gen 4Runner for 7+ years, so I'm ready for something a little more interesting.

So in my particular case, it seems to be coming down to whether I'd be a LOT better off with a new GX550 at 4 hrs from the dealer vs the same situation for the Defender. It seems like not necessarily, and all else being equal I'd rather be in the 110.

 

Remember that engine that’s blowing in 22+ Toyota tundras I mentioned in an earlier post? Yeah, that’s the same engine in the gx550.

In my opinion, making the assumption that a brand new model with a highly stressed turbo charged engine from Toyota/lexus somehow inherited the durability and reliability of previous Toyota/lexus models would be a mistake.

Update on 5/30 Toyota issues a safety recall of @ 100k 22+ tundras due to engines failing while driving. It’s a sad day when Toyota can’t build a reliable engine.

 

Yeah, I've been following the V35A (Tundra motor) thing pretty closely. Frankly it's the only reason I wasn't scrambling for a GX allocation last year.

 

No issues at all on my 2022 Defender.
Now on 12,500 miles.
Been back once for a coolant pipe recall but apart from that, it's never seen the dealer.

Had the oil changed twice as a precaution but there's an ongoing argument as to whether it's necessary.

The vehicle seems very well made. One rattle was traced to a piece of plastic in the rear but that was soon fixed once l had a chance to get in the back and look at it.

 

Smart move with the oil changes. Anything over 7500 easy miles is marketing not engineering. Oil simply doesn’t retain its protective properties longer, no matter what their marketing dept says. After all, if the engine or components fail down the road, likely out of warranty, it’s your problem, not theirs.

manufacturers moved to longer intervals to make the epa folks happy.

 

My 2022 P400 D110 is my first, and honestly probably last*, Land Rover product, unless they hit a homerun with another SUV I just have to have, like this one. But it’s not because of reliability. I live close enough to a dealer to walk home (if I’m not in a hurry) and I’ve been there three times in 35 months since picking it up. All 3 have been windshield replacements. The first was during a storm when a large tree branch fell on it and cracked it; the other two were just normal driving. Before this vehicle, my 45th I’ve owned, I replaced one windshield in 40 years of driving. So it is prone to windshield cracks but that’s never an emergency; I drove with one for over a year till I collected another, larger crack, then replaced it. I’ve gone to the dealer each time, but I’m told that nowadays you can have Safelite replace it, and I think they do it in your driveway.

Other than that, nada. I actually have any service (other than oil changes, which I do) done by an indy who is walking distance in the opposite direction (I usually just walk home for the exercise). You can read the mtc schedule and see how often you’ll need to either do it yourself or take it in for that. I did have a recall done, but it was something I didn’t care about so I had it done while it was in for a windshield.

And then I’ve had the indy replace the Clearsite camera (I backed uphill into a garage I can easily pull forward into, but the angle backwards made the camera too high and it got scraped off); I’ve had the indy install a winch and the rear brakes from a Discovery so I could run smaller wheels on a P400. That’s it. All, obviously, optional.

*So why wouldn’t I buy another LR? Well, first off, I think I would buy another LR if this one got totaled right now; I would give the Lexus/Toyo offerings a look, but so far I’m not crazy about what I see. But if this one just runs its course and I get a lot of miles on it in another 3 years or so, I can see not taking it past 70-80k miles for fear of it becoming expensively unreliable at that point. But I’m a serial Porsche sportscar driver for the last 20-something years and I’ve never owned one of those past 45,000 miles either. I just like to change things up.

So the Defender replacement would probably be either another Rubicon or a Bronco equivalent. I’d even look at a 4Runner, but I’m sort of just generally disposed against them for no logical reason. Probably just a silly Jeep-guy/Toyota-guy thing.

 

l love my 2022 Defender but l would love a Wrangler five door, l think they just look so cool and then there's the Jeep heritage going right back to the Wartime CJ-1

l know that dynamically the Jeep has been left behind but l honestly don't care, l've driven a couple and they are great.

The only reason l didn't buy one was the tax status here in the U.K.
lts not classed as a "Commercial Vehicle" so l couldn't put it through my LTD Company without paying a whole hill of tax and penalties (the BIK alone would be close to U.K.£3.000 per year)
BIK= Benefit ln Kind
Basically the charge for running the Jeep as a Company Vehicle

 

I have bought a total of 3 Defenders, a 2020, a 2022 and a 2023. Both the 2020 and the 2023 were totaled unfortunately- got rear ended by a semi truck on the 2023 and rear ended by a tow truck on the 2020. They are incredibly safe vehicles and I have not had any service issues at all with mine. My 2022 is a CE 110 with the V8 and it has been rock solid. Having a nearby dealer is always a plus tough.