Defender 110 (I swore I would never do this pt2)

[What The Deuces]

Lovely car, would love one of these, however if one of my pals bought one with the ladder/box stuff on it, they'd have the piss taken out of them mercilessly until removed or a 3 week cross Saharan adventure was completed.

[DB77]

I have had my 110 for 18 months and love it. I initially thought I’d was too big and heavy, but it has proved both a comfortable long-distance cruiser and exceptionally capable over more challenging terrain. I personally don’t like the ladder and exterior box, etc. but that is just a style choice and can understand why others like the ‘adventure’ look. Mine is a pretty unassuming grey colour - I would prefer the green but it wasn’t available when I ordered mine.

Despite all the bad comments I read before getting it, mine hasn’t had a single problem.

[ballans]

BrettMRC said:

ballans said:

Getting really tempted by one of these to replace Mrs Bs Freelander. She gets attached very attached to her cars but beginning to waver after she stuck it in a hedge this week due to the ice.
I like the green but think I would have to go blue with white steelies to match my series Landy.
Where are you in Somerset? I’m SE of Taunton and haven’t seen any snow. Just lots of rain and now sheet ice.

That was Wednesday, not far off the 303 Poidmore.

Not far from me, I’m West Hatch. Very, very wet and now icy.

[Mikebentley]

DB77 said:

I have had my 110 for 18 months and love it. I initially thought I’d was too big and heavy, but it has proved both a comfortable long-distance cruiser and exceptionally capable over more challenging terrain. I personally don’t like the ladder and exterior box, etc. but that is just a style choice and can understand why others like the ‘adventure’ look. Mine is a pretty unassuming grey colour - I would prefer the green but it wasn’t available when I ordered mine.

Despite all the bad comments I read before getting it, mine hasn’t had a single problem.

I spy blue callipers. Is it a V8 Carpathian edition?

[DB77]

Mikebentley said:

I spy blue callipers. Is it a V8 Carpathian edition?

V8 but non carpathian edition (although it is carpathian grey). I didn’t want the matte film as I prefer the gloss finish.

[SpunkyGlory]

That looks great OP. I'd love one of these but apparently the new kitchen takes priority this year, so the Discovery 3 will have to do for now.

[BrettMRC]

Update:

Recently had it's first service with nothing exciting to report. (Other than the scummy local dealer trying to upsell tracking adjustments, and driving it around like knobs without wearing seatbelts... from now on it will go back to Melksham for any work.)

Speaking of "any work".. I noticed last week that the roof rack is starting to corrode - you can see white aluminium oxide coming through the black finish. It's booked in for September to have this rectified. (Given how well the rest of the vehicle holds up to the use we give it, I'm a bit surprised that this is the thing giving an issue)

Overall, I still 100% recommend the Defender.

[BrettMRC]

Update:

Roof rack replaced without quibble by Dick Lovett, will be going back again in December as they noted some of the bodykit not correctly attached and are going to replace the front plastic section & forward camera surround, plus both front lower quarter panels that hold the mudguards as these are not correct either. I suspect which ever dealer actually fitted the kit was a complete , as some other bodgery has come to light since needing a new windscreen...

About 2 months ago it got hit by a stone coming from the other carriage way on the A37, massive crack and a nice little bullet hole were the result. (around the same time I got a stone hit on the Supra screen as well...wtf is it with me, the universe and windscreens?)
When the chap came out to do the Supra repair he noted the Defender had a snorkel etc and said the Yeovil branch hadn't done one yet, so would be interesting and he would let the powers that be know it wasn't going to be straightforwards.

First attempt at fitting the new screen was immeadiately aborted because a non-solar reflective, non-heated screen had been ordered.

Second attempt at fitting was off to a poor start as although it was the correct type of screen, pilkington are apparently no longer producing the exact OEM spec with the mild green tint - so it was clear or nothing! Based on that I gave the go-ahead and went away to await the phone call. (Bearing in mind they assured me they were good to go on all other consumables at this point - lesson learnt from the LC500 saga last year)

A few hours later I get the call to head back to the Morrisons car park to collect the car...and to discuss an issue with the snorkel.
It turns out that the snorkel is fitted on to the wing by fastening the screws through the panel and into some crush fittings/washers on the snorkel... these fittings are single use only and they didn't have any replacements. Result being the snorkel can't be refitted as there is no way of tightening it up properly now. Fitter was very apologetic, and I feel for him because ultimately he's been given a guide to the job & parts list that wasn't effective. He called up the warranty team and got them to order up the parts, and said they would send out a fitter to complete the job.

2 weeks have now passed and it turns out that the parts are on back order - I've verified that with JLR and they confirm there is no ETA on the spares!
The car now looks a fking mess with a missing panel in wing and whichever s, (see above) originally fitted the snorker did so by taking a junior hacksaw to the top of the A-pillar trim to make a hole to fit the top bracket, so that looks st and is far from being water tight as well - meaning in heavy rain water can track down there and if driven it looks like water can ingress from the wing hole into the footwell under certain conditions too.

fking perfect.

Oh, and obviously the windscreen trim hasn't been refitted correctly either, because that's par for the fking course.

s.

Utter s, everywhere.


Still drives nicely though, nice car except for the fking s who mess with it.

Edited by BrettMRC on Thursday 26th October 13:21

[Northbrook]

Well, fk.

[alfabeat]

Getting any parts out of LR at the moment seems difficult. I've been waiting for an EGR pipe for our Disco 4 for pretty much a month now.

[SpunkyGlory]

Lovely car OP.

I've been toying with the idea of one recently but can't believe how much they are, and can't justify spending that much when my Discovery 3 is the most practical car I've ever owned and does everything I need of it. It's also not helped by the fact our iPace has had nothing but issues so my faith in JLR build quality is quite low at the moment.

[BrettMRC]

Are there any aftermarket options you can look at?

It seems they have moved on to a 0-stock model, and only create an order when they hit a certain level of demand.

Of course they are happy to sell me an entire new snorkel that comes with new fittings, but not the fittings themselves.

[BrettMRC]

Looks like the latest version of the snorkel does away with the crush fittings and just uses clips.

https://accessories-instructions.landrover.com/enU...

(Unless that's just US specific)

[Pflanzgarten]

Brett,
You may want to chase up your dealer about the snorkel-my MY24 arrived mid august for September registration and as you may or may not know, the dealer fits all the extras rather than the factory.

So my adventure pack like yours, was done by them. However, I only have front mudflaps as the rears are on back order but more importantly for you, the snorkel is on back order too (not to mention a silver lunchbox as the black ones are NLA so my dealer is painting it at some point).

I was told this won’t be a quick fix as there is a design fault with them so it’s not about getting more out of Ukraine or wherever, they need to redesign and modify production before they come back through.

I don’t know if it’s going to be a recall on all existing snorkels (I didn’t think to ask) but I wouldn’t expect to see a new one any time soon.

Pic included of lunchbox in use for the half term holiday trip…



What do you think of your alloys with the wide arch kit? I’m a bit annoyed I didn’t stump up for 22” wheels now so just yesterday I ordered some spacers to get the wheels out a bit. Everyone seems to fit 30mm (each side!) on these which seems somewhat excessive but will see what the result is when they arrive.

[BrettMRC]

I quite like the overall look of ours with the alloys, but then again the type of use we put it through means a smaller wheel/fatter sidewall is a definete plus!

Now in a circular series of conversations between the windscreen firm & JLR customer services.

Customer services cannot raise a ticket until they know which branch/retailer the glass firm are trying to order from... glass firm don't normally share that info and around and around we go. Glass firm actually quite helpful though, so anticipating details from them today.

The whole suppy chain is a joke at the moment.

[Networkgeek]

Lovely Defender, OP.

I use Dick Lovett Melksham for warranty work on my BMW M2, I have to say, they're utterly hopeless.

My car has been with them for 2 weeks now, and I've had 1 call back for an update.

Before I bought my M2, I went to test drive a new Defender and RR Sport from the Land Rover/Jag garage also in Melksham. I've never come across such an arrogant bunch of bellends! I'd love to know your experience with them, as they were constantly looking me up and down, and generally, looking down at me.

Anyway, I hope you get your car fixed. It sounds like a bit of a nightmare.

[BrettMRC]

Networkgeek said:

Lovely Defender, OP.

I use Dick Lovett Melksham for warranty work on my BMW M2, I have to say, they're utterly hopeless.

My car has been with them for 2 weeks now, and I've had 1 call back for an update.

Before I bought my M2, I went to test drive a new Defender and RR Sport from the Land Rover/Jag garage also in Melksham. I've never come across such an arrogant bunch of bellends! I'd love to know your experience with them, as they were constantly looking me up and down, and generally, looking down at me.

Anyway, I hope you get your car fixed. It sounds like a bit of a nightmare.

Melksham are a bunch of superstars compared to the ones in Yeovil!

[Networkgeek]

BrettMRC said:

Melksham are a bunch of superstars compared to the ones in Yeovil!

Oh jesus christ

[BrettMRC]

In the vain hope of getting some support I sent an email to the JLR CEO over the weekend, pointing out what a st show it is to have a vehicle off the road for want of two nuts.

Not expecting any magic, but we'll see.

Suspect I'm going to have to fork out for an entire snorkel kit if I want it back on the road in the near term.

[Pflanzgarten]

Where can you buy one though? Second hand?