| Product: |
Land Rover Defender 110 |
| Date: |
14/09/05 (2032 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: A tough vehicle, by far the best working 4x4
Disadvantages: Suffers mechanical breakdowns
I drive the 110 12 seater Land Rover Defender TDI for work, and have driven the Defender 90 previous to this as well.
One question people have is which is the best 4x4 vehicle to get?
This all depends on what your use for it will be in order to find the best for your needs.
If for example your a farmer or landscape gardener, and it will be solely used for humping equipment around, sometimes over difficult terrain, this vehicle is the one you should go for, provided you have the right type of tyre on.
Let me explain what I mean by this, I worked on the beach in a defender 90 as part of my job, which was a Beach patrol unit which worked along side the Lifeguards.
The vehicles we had were painted a bright eye-catching yellow with red writing on the side to let people know who to contact in emergency situations, we had amber beacons on the roof and would respond to most incidents that would occur on the beach.
The main problem was the tyres, they were a standard radial tyre designed for the road use only, and they would severley hamper efforts to rescue people that were stuck in mud, and often resulted in my vehicle getting stuck also.
It is comparable with putting slippers on a 100metre sprinter, you have the capability speed and power, but no grip and losing traction even with diferrential lock in low engaged.
If your only purpose for choosing a 4x4 is for transporting the family around, then this would not be the vehicle for you, I would go for the Land Rover Discovery, it has good high driving visibility, seats 6-8 with lots of boot space, not too bad on the fuel, but there are better 4x4's out there that will win hands down on the fuel ratio, any of the japanese built vehicles.
Getting back to the Defender, it is a basic vehicle inside, some are fitted with a radio, basic heating and cooling system, basic dash board nothing fancy, vinyl seat covers for ease of cleaning, not much leg room in the rear seats and thats about it.
They are let down by their constant mechanical failures, as with even the classier Discovery's they have a problem with the seals around the doors, which can be most uncomfortable in the winter with the rain seaping in, also the doors themselves can come off the hinges very easily after a few wind blown incidents have proven.
Another problem we would encounter on the beach was the disc brakes would have to be replaced after only 3 months use because of the sand, drum brakes would probably have worked better.
So in short, if your after a working vehicle then this would be suitable provided you equip it to the conditions of use, after all the british army have used them since world war 2.
Summary: A tough working 4x4, with the right equipment will go far.
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