Hi All - I have a reserve deposit on a 2024 110 Defender arriving in a few weeks. I have read different forum boards and it seems like people that “actually have them” love them for the most part and people that have never had one are the ones that bad mouth them to no end. I have a few questions I was hoping someone could answer that I haven’t found addressed or have confused me. If you can help me out - I appreciate your time!

· From my understanding the vehicle will do software updates automatically but sometimes there is an issue with the update not getting completed (and then there can be an issue). It is also my understanding that the update is not done via wifi but rather cell signal (that seems a little odd – so maybe not true?) Where I live the cell phone signal is sketchy at best. So – in my case would it be better to disable the automatic update and have the updates done when the vehicle is serviced?

· Is it true that if the Defender needs to be towed any distance – it has to put on a flat bed? I have seen some message board comments that allude to the fact that if it is towed in neutral – after approximately 10 minutes the hand brake engages. This doesn’t sound right to me – but might as well ask.

· I have seen some crazy LR threads about oil changes - so even though this sounds like a stupid question to me - I’m asking. If an owner changes their own oil is that “potentially risky” if in a rare instance there was an issue with the motor and the oil had not been changed by an authorized LR dealer? In other words, if all service records are not recorded by an authorized LR dealer – is warranty put at risk?

· What are the typical standard maintenance intervals (mileage and assembly)

· Theft – it sounds like the Defender is one of the most desirable vehicles to steal. In reality how difficult is this and is there a viable way to alleviate this possibility? I can imagine that I might be afraid to leave my Defender at an airport for fear when I got back – it would be gone.

Do most LR dealers normally have most repair parts based on the repair history of the Defender?

Thank you so much ~

 

Hi, I can address your first and last question. Overall, after researching for the purchase of my 24 xdynamic, the sense I got was that everyone really enjoys the design and capability of a defender. However, experiences vary wildly from totally unreliable due to numerous electronic issues to folks who’ve never seen a dealer for anything but an oil change. Early models had tons of software glitches. I read somewhere the defender can have up to 85 computer modules. That’s a lot of opportunity for electronic glitches. It seems that LR has fixed the vast majority of issues. I haven't had any issues in the 1 month/1k miles I’ve owned my defender.

I recommend ignoring LR’s 21k oil service recommendation and change your oil at 1k, then 5k, and every 5k afterwards. Oil simply doesn’t last 21k miles, period.

I read that LR changed its supply chain model from distributed to centralized during the pandemic and that there are now long waits for parts. I don’t believe that’s been improved.