We almost became one the early-ish adopters to leave coming from a Jeep…have a 22 110 SE (bought July 21). 3 months in the rear air shock broke through the vehicle and wasn’t drivable. It took a month and threat of lemon law recall (our right) to get fixed. This was during the peak of Covid and parts shortages so we understood but a rental would have been nice (maybe would have been possible had they not sold them all off).

That said, we love the defender and kept it. No other issues other then the windshield being replaced. It’s a keeper.

 

Nice looking bulldog too! Matches the Defender!

 

Two weeks left on this poll! Calling all Defender owners to list the manufacturer of the vehicle you owned prior to buying your 2020 Defender.
From the 75 owners that have posted, it's not surprising to see that less than one in five were already from the Land Rover/Range Rover family - probably from an earlier Defender model or a Discovery 3/4 or Range Rover Sport or Velar perhaps? You are the true tragics of the LR brand - serial owners despite suffering issues with previous vehicles. It's a love affair that could be compared to 'Stockholm Syndrome', but as Lord Tennyson said "It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all."

Toyota (includes Lexus) leads the poll, followed by BMW and Jeep, which I find very interesting, because the appeal of this vehicle seems to be split between luxury SUV and capable 4WD.

Give us your comments on this thread, what motivated you to buy this vehicle and now that you are part of the Land Rover family, what do you love about it?

 

Nice collection of vehicles you have there

 

thanks!

 

Came from a Volvo V90CC, which was a fantastic wagon, but I needed to tow and venture a bit further off road than the wagon could handle. Miss the mileage and car like handling, but the Defender has surprised me and even won over the wife with its long distance comfort. Never thought I’d get an suv, and don’t really find off roading very interesting as an activity, but I do want to get to out of the way campsites with our small trailer, and the Defender does the trick. Wish it got better mpg towing though. Don’t feel I’m helping the climate much driving this beast.

 

Well, I kind of always had a Defender/Series Land Rover or Range Rover. So it was a logical progression. What made it easy was the irrational amount that the buyer paid for my 97 Defender ST, it equaled what I paid for the the Defender 90X. It always amazed my wife what people would pay for my old ones, considering she absolutely loathed them. She was defiantly shaking her head on the last one. What has me puzzled is how many people that have the new ones are utterly dependent on the dealers to fix them. For so many years, there were no dealers to fix Land Rovers. Then they abruptly emerged back on the market with dealers popping up everywhere. It was just part of the community that if you had one, you fixed it yourself, or helped somebody fix it. On the plus side the earlier ones were blazingly simple to work on, you just needed a complete set of hammers and, oh yeah; a set of Whetworth wrenches. Only the English would maintain an even more obscure fastener sizing. I just wish they had not painted the calipers bright red on the 90X. It is really embarrassing when I take it to a mine site. Lots of eye rolling going on.

 

Pretty much the same for all new cars. My old Alfa was a four banger with twin webers and a stick. Was like maintaining a go kart. Those days are long gone, and longer warranties make it easier to just rely on warranty repairs for anything that goes wrong.

 

We got our first Defender (‘22) in Sept of 2021, previous owner had it for 4 months only. We had owned 5 MB vehicles by then (ML550, E350 Cabrio, E350 sedan, GLS450 x2) and I was waiting on a brand new GLE450 I ordered a few months before when I found that one for my wife. Traded her sedan and we immediately fell in love with her vehicle.

When my GLE450 arrived and started having so many QC issues, after 1 year of owning it my wife said “it’s time to get rid of this lemon” and I searched for the perfect one until I found a slightly used ‘22 Defender V8.

 

Tesla cybertruck as I didn't want to wait for it.