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Compared to a Defender - some general thoughts and concerns.

Hoofnmouth

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I like the old defenders but oh boy the new ones have a horrible track record for reliability ,look how many you see on the road that are a few years old (not many)
Some of the best joggers i know own defenders
Only suv that come with heated bumpers so hands stay warm in winter.
You have to finiance an oil change first born for tune up.
All kidding aside they suck wait for your bronco or get both ,the bronco can tow the defender when it breaks down.
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mneblett

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I was all set in my mind to get the new Defender until I saw the Bronco reveal.

The Bronco is what the Defender should have been. Rugged looking, modular, a nod to the past.

The new defender is turning out to be unreliable, super expensive, and looking like any other Range Rover.

These guys are on their 3rd one due to reliability issues:

In fairness, they are on their 3rd one because a LR dealer technician cut through a major wiring harness that LR decided couldn't be repaired (which itself is not a great endorsement of the serviceability of the design ...).

So the current tally is:
1 unreliable Defender
1 Defender jacked-up by one of the few dealerships in the country

The more worrisome thing to me is that the dealer had to have been taking extra care (and yet still screwed up the harness) because JLR NA was paying special attention because it was an important YouTube truck channel that was posting on how LR responded to the initial problem.
 

bluesun68

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If you live near a dealer, it's not bad as they give you a loaner. I have a Ford Raptor. Called ford dealer, had to make appointment a month out, showed up, "we won't be able to look at it for a month" Bought a Velar, brand new Range Rover model, 26 months ago. Had a check engine light come on in Montana, took it to dealer a week or two later, no big problem. Snow storm stopped a part from making it so I drove a loaner for a weekend. 37k miles on it so far.
 

Iceman153

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Just figured I'd update here, drove the P300 as well as the P400, and I honestly liked the P300 more. It felt more responsive and peppy, I also liked the brakes better. It's definitely significantly slower than the P400, but it did not feel underpowered. There was just something off about the way the P400 reacted to throttle inputs, it does have tons of power and is super smooth, but it definitely sacrifices responsiveness. I was also a little concerned about reliability with the complex electric supercharger system, and it's $10k more...

Anyway, I just officially placed my order for one today, so that means I need to cancel my day 2 bronco reservation. Ended up being $6k CAD more than the bronco spec I was eyeing up, and its pretty well optioned. Almost exactly like the one I posted photos of earlier in this thread, should arrive May/June. bronco just doesn't make sense once you get it all kitted out, at least for me anyway.
 

Norville

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With the latest shenanigans, I started pricing out a D90 P300 myself. The towing rating is a respectable 7700 lbs. I guess I'm less interested in the Bronco, unfortunately - I just like that the D90 at least I can pick almost the exact options I need - there are notable exceptions where they are lumped together (albeit the cost is a tough pill to swallow).

I'm partial to this build (my weekender build to tow the travel trailer):

https://build.landrover/68871217
 
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NotoriousBDP

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Just figured I'd update here, drove the P300 as well as the P400, and I honestly liked the P300 more. It felt more responsive and peppy, I also liked the brakes better. It's definitely significantly slower than the P400, but it did not feel underpowered. There was just something off about the way the P400 reacted to throttle inputs, it does have tons of power and is super smooth, but it definitely sacrifices responsiveness. I was also a little concerned about reliability with the complex electric supercharger system, and it's $10k more...

Anyway, I just officially placed my order for one today, so that means I need to cancel my day 2 bronco reservation. Ended up being $6k CAD more than the bronco spec I was eyeing up, and its pretty well optioned. Almost exactly like the one I posted photos of earlier in this thread, should arrive May/June. bronco just doesn't make sense once you get it all kitted out, at least for me anyway.
Congrats! Did you go 4 door then? Mind sharing your build? I’ve not had a chance to test drive one yet, but am hoping to do that soon. Cheers.
 

Iceman153

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Congrats! Did you go 4 door then? Mind sharing your build? I’ve not had a chance to test drive one yet, but am hoping to do that soon. Cheers.
Thanks! Yup it's a 110, here is what I ordered : https://build.landrover/DFECB7F4 . It was a tough choice between those rims and the rear locker, they don't let you order both for some stupid reason, and those rim's are $7k to order separately. I also haven't seen any after markets that actually look good. The defender I saw in person had them, they really make the look of the truck when you throw duratracs on them. I also won't be doing any rock crawling and the torque vectoring system is really amazing, I'll probably regret not getting the locker, we'll see.

I'd definitely recommend driving both engines. I wasn't even considering the P300 initially, but my dealer happened to have one. I'm glad I tried it.
 

Iceman153

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With the latest shenanigans, I started pricing out a D90 P300 myself. The towing rating is a respectable 7700 lbs. I guess I'm less interested in the Bronco, unfortunately - I just like that the D90 at least I can pick almost the exact options I need - there are notable exceptions where they are lumped together (albeit the cost is a tough pill to swallow).

I'm partial to this build (my weekender build to tow the travel trailer):

https://build.landrover/68871217
Yeah, thats what happened to me and I realized the bronco I wanted was almost the same price. Nice build, keep in mind that you don't need the "towing pack" it just add's a bunch of software crap to help you line up the hitch, all you need is the tow hitch. I'd also suggest dumping the adaptive cruise if you want to keep the price down, it's pretty gimicky. Also remember that most of the bronco's lux options are just standard on a base defender.
 

NotoriousBDP

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Thanks! Yup it's a 110, here is what I ordered : https://build.landrover/DFECB7F4 . It was a tough choice between those rims and the rear locker, they don't let you order both for some stupid reason, and those rim's are $7k to order separately. I also haven't seen any after markets that actually look good. The defender I saw in person had them, they really make the look of the truck when you throw duratracs on them. I also won't be doing any rock crawling and the torque vectoring system is really amazing, I'll probably regret not getting the locker, we'll see.

I'd definitely recommend driving both engines. I wasn't even considering the P300 initially, but my dealer happened to have one. I'm glad I tried it.
Thanks a ton for sharing that build. About to checkout out now. I haven’t been on the Ford site to B&P my 4-door Badlands for a really long time, so when I did a build a few minutes ago I was shocked to see how much more the price e has increased for what Inwant in my Badlands. It’s now up to about 58K, whereas the last time I did it the build prices out to just under 55K! At that rate, the Defender seems well worth considering (negative reputation for reliability notwithstanding).
 

Iceman153

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Thanks a ton for sharing that build. About to checkout out now. I haven’t been on the Ford site to B&P my 4-door Badlands for a really long time, so when I did a build a few minutes ago I was shocked to see how much more the price e has increased for what Inwant in my Badlands. It’s now up to about 58K, whereas the last time I did it the build prices out to just under 55K! At that rate, the Defender seems well worth considering (negative reputation for reliability notwithstanding).
Definitely, the reliability is a bit of a gamble, but it's a different class of truck. Comparing to other european luxury SUV's, which it genuinely can be compared to, reliability looks much better. The luxury aspect requires complexity, so that's really the trade off. If mine starts having issues under warranty I'll probably extend the factory warranty out to 10 years just for the peace of mind.
 

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Hoofnmouth

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I dont know whats worse buying knowing of the unreliability or first model year pick your poision ,good luck all.
 

Iceman153

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I dont know whats worse buying knowing of the unreliability or first model year pick your poision ,good luck all.
Yeah I guess we are kind of assuming the bronco will be more reliable, can never really know. Bronco will be great, it's just overpriced IMHO.
 
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I have also been going back and forth on this for a while especially after pricing out a fully loaded Wildtrak with the luxury package. After all the delays, I think it is time to cancel my Bronco reservation and move forward with a Defender 90 with the 400 engine and call it a day. The price is similar, and I will probably be driving it before any Bronco.

I love the styling and color options, and unlike most here, have little concerns over Land Rover quality issues.

Best of luck to all, but time to move forward.

Cheerio
 

Broncolli

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I have also been going back and forth on this for a while especially after pricing out a fully loaded Wildtrak with the luxury package. After all the delays, I think it is time to cancel my Bronco reservation and move forward with a Defender 90 with the 400 engine and call it a day. The price is similar, and I will probably be driving it before any Bronco.

I love the styling and color options, and unlike most here, have little concerns over Land Rover quality issues.

Best of luck to all, but time to move forward.

Cheerio
good luck and follow back around and let us know how it goes. What color are you planning ? I like the blue with white roof.
 
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good luck and follow back around and let us know how it goes. What color are you planning ? I like the blue with white roof.
I like the blue with white top but also the Pangea green with white and Pangea top. Priced it with 20" wheels and several other options came to 62k....My Wildtrak would have been 59k so it's not significant.

Still a lot of coin, so will build a few out over Christmas vacation, and finalize January 1st, because just about every single thing has sucked in 2020, and don't want this vehicle tied to it.... LOL
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