Full review of our Second Defender breakdown recovery & repair process. How did Land Rover go? 

Geez mate, that’s encouraging! 🤦😱😱🙄😉. Let’s see. It’s the $64 million question isn’t it. Is this model what JLR hope it is and can they provide the appropriate support. You have a different definition of excitement to me! 😂

@@nextleveloz After 25 years of Land Rover I've moved on. I REALLY wanted to love the new Defender, but after a 2 day test drive I had to pass. Capable as anything, for sure, but just too complicated to be reliable (in my opinion). So I reluctantly jumped ship, sold all my LRs and bought a Troopy, a Prado and a new 300. So far, after 2 years of Totota and lots of remote area exploring, zero issues. The only time I see a service centre is for oil changes. Quite dull really. If LR ever get their shit together and produce something reliable, I will be the first in the queue to buy one again. My Toyotas don't have 1/2 the character of LRs and I miss that. And the LR community - they are legends too.

Id never own another LR…I’ve had my fj 9 years and 300,000kms and never once let me down..

@@ianwatson3315 The FJ has served you well. Keep in mind though they don’t make FJs now and all cars will be increasingly complex and more regulatory requirements like DPF etc. So the issue confronting more people isn’t whether they’d rather have a simpler car but rather which more complex car will go to. The Y62 is probably the last current model that is naturally asphyxiated?? But it’s great you’ve had a good run with your car - that’s the way it should be really!

Yes that’s spot on

Thanks for watching and sharing your experience. A unreliable alarm is a really annoying thing to detract from a car. How annoying. We hope the recurring 2wd drive issue is addressed on our return home after the Lap. ATM the car is - apart from that - going well and has taken us to a range of the tougher places as you might see if you stay tuned to the future episodes. 🤞🤞Thanks again and have a good one. cheers

Hi, thanks for watching. Sounds like the Disco has been around the blocks a fair bit!I can't do much more on the Defender having pretty much shared the whole story. The tail gat hasn't really worried us. Hitching and unhitching is fine once you have the optimal length tow hitch (our is 190mm, 15mm longer than the JLR recommendation. Our van is also pretty high. But the car systems are good for seeing and help guide over the hitch. The rear mounted wheel with the swinging tail gate can restrict access while hitched at some angles but it's generally been fine. You've touched on the paucity of JLR service centres - which is why they have a pretty amazing roadside assist recovery policy. If you are covered by Land Rover Roadside Assist they would have come much further out of Alice to get you (I'd say not the middle of the Simpson though) and taken the car to either Darwin or Adelaide. As you point out RACQ has a good failsafe of getting you home. If you have RACQ ultimate or RV that will also get the van home or if your car had to go to say Adelaide it would likely get the van to Adelaide in that case corresponding to where the car went. In essence RACQ RV provides van towing up to a fine.cia limit of $7,000 a year (which is recovery from the Tip to Cairns plus some incidentals). I'm told the issue we had with the turbo wasn't the same as the issue the Discos had, whatever that really means. Thanks again and safe travels for the rest of your trip. cheers

Thanks Dave. My turbo issue was an air type relay that failed to kick the high end turbo on demand. Once on fairly flat ground I was able to achieve up to 90 k/hr which got me to Alice. The local garage had claimed LR capability but was soon found wanting. RACQ got the vehicle back home, flew me back and picked up the accommodation tab. I thought that was exceptional. You did some comprehensive modifications to your Defender and I was most interested in fitting the 18” wheels. Do you mind telling me who did it and I presume you were happy with what they did.

@@lawriemunro9493 Tuff Ant. Great people. (Natassia Pomroy is one of the convenors of the New Defender Australian Owners group on FB). You are in Brisbane but arrange the conversions across Australia and in a couple of places OS. While it seems like a bid mod, in reality it’s quite straight forward changeover of one LR caliper for another. The bigger pain in my case was getting the TPMS sensors changed over when I fitted tyres to the new rims. But Tuff Ant now also sell compatible TPMS transmitters and I’d pay to have those and leave the old ones in the OEM rims. But seriously not a hard process with TuffAnts help. And on the the other stuff, one of the big learnings for anybody - with or without a LR i’d have good recovery insurance/ cover in place for car and van. All the best.

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. We were well under the MBC and the GVM! 😉. Regrettably it was an electrical fault in the turbo. But the general observation is right. We’ve tried to keep well within the capacity of the car but these particular faults - like the 2WD issue (unrelated to towing) and the turbo fault shouldn’t happen. The good news is that we’ve seen no recurrence of the turbo issue since the faulty one was replaced and the car has towed very well. I don’t kind of others prefer different cars - it’s a personal preference, but the suggestion they don’t break down is demonstrably wrong. i’ve see all makes and models on the back of tilt beds for all sorts of reasons. Time will tell whether new models are more or less reliable than than competitors - but the suggestion other cars will be less complex, will be field repairable and won’t break down is a bit of a stretch. All the best and thanks again. cheers

Fingers crossed! And were very happy to be back on the road

Thanks for watching and the comment. Agree, it’s important for people to select a car that suits their traveling style and sounds like the TDV8 Range Rover is doing well for you. It would be a beast on the black top. I think having a Gap IID tool is essential - and we regret not having one when we headed off. All the best and thanks again. Safe travels.

And that’s the balance. I hope we can now have a trouble free rest of the lap and report a triumph at the end. Let’s see.

Thanks for watching and glad you’ve had a good run. That’s as it should be for the investment people make in their cars. Sadly not always the way. We will do an update on ours at the end of the Lap. All the best and thanks again. cheers

💯. The car has been reviewed so well but that will mean zero if in the fullness of time the market concludes that it’s a good (or maybe not as good) car but JLR is too big a risk. That’s the risk if they don’t back it up. The opportunity is that if it’s the car we all hope it to be AND they show that they can support it, they can make demonstrated inroads to the entrenched reputational issue. And that requires cultural change and a willingness to chase perfection and be far less tolerant of the constant slip ups and occasional bad attitudes that people almost think they can get way because “that’s Land Rover”. I hope this review shows my sense that when they and others push they actually can deliver a top notch recovery and repair support. We hope the cars don’t break down and that should be rare - but if you can turn it around quickly and even from remote locations that pays for itself in multiples because more first time LR buyers will feel less risk. Right now they might make the mistake of thinking they have more orders than cars and that provides a temporary appeal for the culturally lazy in their system. But the reputation is entrenched so now while the going is a bit better is the time to drive that performance. And our hope is that the car goes well from here, and they don’t drop the ball on the 2wd issue, and that service levels can be set and maintained at Whyatts level and maybe not at the level of my home dealer who can’t even update the signature block from their service team to remove a Service Manager who hasn’t been there for six months! Little things … and big things. But your summary - spot on.

@@nextleveloz Yes, exactly. Very eloquently put. Here’s hoping JLR doesn’t blow a perfectly good opportunity to change their corporate culture and “turn the ship around”.

@@nextleveloz Great video David. I agree with all that u say FYI LR Australia sales were on an upswing back in 2013 / 2014 etc SUV more popular, and less competition from every other manufacturer ( who NOW offer a huge range of SUV, in all sizes ) Disco Sport released here mid 2015. In 2016 & 2017 LR Australia sold about 4,500 DS in 2016 & again in 2017. I bought my New DS diesel HSE in June 2017. LR Australia sales peaked at 13,500 annual sales, at this time. Jaguar sold 3,500 new cars in Australia at this time !! XE sedan and E Pace & F Pace SUV, brought about a big Jaguar sales upswing ! JLR Australia were talking about continuing growth to 20,000 annual sales in Australia, at this time ! BTW Jaguar have only sold 279 new vehicles in Australia up to July 31 this year ! After the 2016 / 2017 sales peak, LR Australia sales then began going down every year for various reasons. Since COVID in 2020 LR Australia sales have dropped to be extremely low. LR only sold 4,348 new vehicles in Australia last year ! Monthly sales volumes have only now started to become decent, as we are finally getting some better supply. JLR worldwide have rebranded and are pushing even more upmarket. Much higher prices etc for all of their products. In Australia, LR will always be a VERY niche brand ( based on annual sales ) and based on the much higher prices etc, their Australian sales will never reach the heights of 2016 / 2017 again. Too much competition from every manufacturer now offering various type of SUV in many sizes Small to large etc The LR USP of offering a vehicle that can genuinely go off road and tow etc, is NOT important to most people either. Moving forward, LR Australia are definitely focusing on profit per unit, rather then chasing a lot more sales, via lower RRP and discounts etc. However As u say Still vitally important for JLR to keep on improving quality / reliability AND customer service. Via my long term Automotive Career, I am extremely familiar with LR Australia, in various ways. IMO JLR quality / reliability is genuinely improving, and this is thankfully ( nowadays ) an ongoing focus. But Customer Service ( HO and some dealers ) and warranty back up is most definitely an area that they continue to keep stuffing up. This causes ongoing bad PR, and whether it’s via accurate or not accurate information, bad public perception of JLR reliability etc, is the norm. Totally random people on the street, are suddenly / somehow an “expert” that will tell u all about the reliability woes of JLR ! Even though their “ expert “ opinion comes from totally inaccurate heresay etc from when a “ close friend “ had problems with their LR vehicle ! 😳 5 years / unlimited km warranty is a good thing. But If the customer service is bad, when your car has problems, u aren’t going to be a happy owner. And people are quick to talk about bad service etc ! This is a real shame, but, totally the fault of local and OS JLR management… All talk, and no real long term action, that anybody is accountable for, because you come from OS etc, and do your stint in Australia, as MD, and you BS everyone by saying… “ my pie chart and graphs show I’ve done this and that “ and you pass the ongoing and unresolved problem, onto the next incoming person to be the next Australian MD. The frequent changes in OS management cause the same problem. 🤷🏻‍♂️ As u say, your Defender is an absolutely brilliant vehicle, when it’s running well… My DS was the same. Sadly It’s the issues with customer service and warranty etc, that really tarnish the ownership experience. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@@Badfinger7761 Totally agree Refer my comment to David in this thread…

I’m a little bit more optimistic but you make a good point. Modern vehicles are winton not going to be the old tractors. Thanks for watching. 🙏🙏.

Thanks for watching! 🤞But happy to be back on the Lap now. cheers

Thanks mate. Appreciate the feedback and good wished - 🤞. Keep watching over the next few legs as we put the Defender to the test.

Thanks for watching and the good wishes. All the best. cheers

Thanks so much. We really appreciated the kind thought. We are so happy to be back on the road doing the things the Lap was supposed to help us do. And thanks for the feedback - we love sharing but we also know that sometimes the technical production process from us amateurs film makers doesn’t help 🙄😉. We keep trying. All the best. cheers

Yes - if there is one universal thing so hope those towing or considering the lap do - regardless of their rig - is able sure they review and chaise their recovery and roadside assistance package and make sure it suits.

Thanks for watching and yes, if you are an RACQ member go and check out the new RV cover to see if it suits. cheers

Thanks so much! Not sure what the plan is after the gap year. Quite deliberately leaving this considerations until we get home.

Thanks from Oz!! And the issues of remote travel and support are even more apparent for South Africans. All the best. cheers

Thanks for watching and. the question. I’m not sure what JLR take out of it. I understand Whyatts have provided feedback into their system that supports things like improving the response when van towing - because that would have helped them identify the fullness of the turbo issue faster. In a competitive market it’s going to take a massive effort to improve market share and driving for excellence is not only about the car is it - that has to be good and perceived to be good by more in the market - but it requires premium service and support. They actually can deliver that as Whyatts show and as a turnaround in 2 weeks shows. But it could have been one week at no additional cost (in fact lower cost) . So that’s the challenge - is JLR up to it? And we’re only human so there were moments where we might not have seemed as reasoned !! 😂😉.

@@nextleveloz our trusted dealer is Gorell in Geelong Vic. I have linked them to your channel waiting for feedback. Wanted also to commend your banter, location route & camp reviews - easy to watch, real & very helpful to get insight into place. Thx again, Brad

@@encapsul8 Thanks for watching and adding to the comments. It’s great you get good service from your preferred dealer. Thanks for feedback - we much appreciate it. While the channel is overwhelmingly about recording our lap for family, friends and followers - and was never intended to be a highly produced channel- we have tried to respond to feedback to improve it as we go. And yes we work on the audio issues!! So glad people are getting some value and enjoyment out of it - and we get to send some ad revenue off to charity as well. All the best.

Land Rover Company are well known for being utter SCUM BAGS.

Thanks for watching and the share. As it worked out we got ours fixed much faster than it sounds like in your case. And at one level that’s good news for us. It shows these aberrations can affect all vehicles. Yes I think a good code reader is a good piece of kit to carry. I’m sourcing one now. Just have to identify the best place to have it sent as were on the road. we could reset it - rather it reset itself on restart, but after more than one occurrence LR wasn’t happy for us to keep going and heading home wasn’t really an option where we were. So we had to work through the recovery process . I think cars are going to get more technical. There have been rumours for a while now that Toyota will discontinue the troopy. It will be interesting to see how the new 79 2.8 auto goods. Thanks again, we appreciate the story. All the best.

@@nextleveloz Thanks for the reply. Troopy still available with the next update model.

Thanks and getting there. cheers

Thanks for watching and good luck with your planning and the Lap. So muck to see and do. Cheers

Thanks for watching and the feedback. Much appreciated. Don’t be nervous. I’m sure you will have many more great times in it.

Thanks Ken and thanks for watching. We did a wrap up of how the Defender went at the end of the Lap, which, apart from some of the recaps of the downsides was overall much better news if you’re interested and happy to say all is working very well and a couple of the legacy issues now fixed on our return and some great service from our home dealership which was massively improved with changes to the previous service team there. Thanks again for watching. Cheers David

@@nextleveloz ordered a 25 , 110 the other day. I’ve done lots of research and think I’ve found a strong dealer. Best wishes!

Hi, thanks for watching. We are well down the track now. The Limp mode/ turbo issue hasn’t been a problem since fixed. When we get home hopefully the 2WD issues gets resolved finally. I will do a final lap wrap up review of the cars performance after the dealer fixes that and another issue so we can update on the complete story. It’s towed well, it’s great to drive, we’ve been to most of the places we wanted it to take us and some of those were rough especially towing. It’s comfortable. Yes we have had a couple of issues - and my thoughts on that will ultimately come down to JLRs response and whether I think these issues are reflective of the model of car or early manufacturing issues or for that matter JLR back up. We have now see all sorts of males and models of cars on tilt beds around Australia so it’s important to keep this in perspective. There are a number of reports of 300 series issues keeping cars off the road with long part delays etc. So I’m not a brand tribalist and will try to keep the thoughts fair. So if your experience with your current car influences you the other way / that’s fair. As you say, many people hope these newer models help dispel some of the past issues. But if we didn’t like the car we wouldn’t have persisted. So let’s see what the end of the year and JLRs work to finally resolve those matters brings us. Thanks again for watching.

Ps you can see my landcruisers in my profile. Ive had landrover/rangerover but found the electrics have issues going right back. Love the way they drive. Hate the failures

Hi mate. I’m not the least bit brand tribal when it comes to cars and hate the BS. I can take a joke, but some people do believe some strange things. So your comment (along with many others) is quite refreshing. Time will tell which models do and don’t have issues and of course any one car can have the problem (like your clutch and a couple of things on ours). I will do a final update and wrap on the car, it’s getting serviced and the plan is in train for a couple of repairs like the 2WD issue. Good news on the turbo is that it does sound like an aberration and once it was fixed we had no issues on that front so it’s over 20,000lm since the turbos were replaced. TBH I’ve seen the best and worst of the JLR service so brickbats and bouquets were deserved. It’s fair to say I did see a few broken down toyotas in our travels including some 79s, Luxies and 200s as well as some late models (including 300s). And of course you’d expect some given how many on the road - I just raise my eyebrows when people suggest they don’t break down. BTW ours never stopped running but of course it had to be fixed. I’m of two minds about the issue of dealership coverage. There is huge difference between selling them and having an experienced tech who can fix them or if you can get the parts. So i’ve heard of 300s that went past the nearest dealer to a larger dealer. In LR case they actually have a very good recovery provision - and of course they have to. So the critical issue to us was making sure you can get your van towed the same distance. So big swings and roundabouts. Right now the turbo appears to be well behind us, so haven’t heard of two many similar so maybe that means it’s an exception. The 2WD issue is rare. One other I know of in Australia, theirs is fixed and ours is now approved to be fixed. So fingers crossed. If I was using it as a work truck on a farm the 2.8l 79 might be interesting and in that case having a nearby dealer if you like them probably is better. Overall I think the auto industry is having a lend of the Australian market at the moment. They aren’t cheaper, parts supply is getting worse not better and regrettably customer service seems very variable. We will update shortly, but have to say things are looking pretty good so 🤞. Thanks again. It was a very useful comment.

Hi. Thanks for watching. It’s a great car - and let’s hope in the fullness of time JLR learns and responds from those issues that emerge and that this model proves to be a winner. Mine has 37000 km on it.

Thanks for watching and the share. Yes that’s a big one to watch. I’m not so sure how Ineos will go but let’s see.

Thanks for watching and great story indeed. Lets hope we have no further issues also. Keep watching as we put it and the van through its paces over the Gibb river road in a couple of episodes. Cheers

Hopefully no further troubles though !! No they havent engaged me - and I’ve made no “mystery” of it 😂. Thanks for watching and the comment, its much appreciated. Cheer

Thanks for watching. That is interesting. When you refer to RACQ we’re you relying on their breakdown package or when they were acting on behalf of the JLR roadside assist. I get the delay on busy days depending on where you were, but I understood the JLR recovery would support multiple incidents? But not sure what changes have occurred over time. either. The delaminating hose issue is interesting (not good). What do you drive currently?

@@nextleveloz RACQ ultimate road side assistance as a silver member as it applies to any car I drive. I drive an Isuzu Dmax now with 3.45t Pedders GVM prerego upgrade with a Norweld tray / canopy an extreme Enerdrive wiring package setup for touring etc

@@Wilbargosh Thanks for that. Yes the various car a manufacturer road side assist packages do vary from the club packages even though they rely on the state services for delivery of the service under contract. We now have RACQ RV (that covers us, what we drive and the van ) as well as the Land Rover roadside assist while the car is under warranty. Hope you enjoy the Dmax and many adventures. Thanks for watching and adding to the discussion, it’s much appreciated. cheers.

Hi Peter. We were business owners and in the early days I was in the ADF. But it’s fair to say over careers spanning 40 years in both private sector and public sector , we’ve had to confront some big and complex problems that had to be broken down and solved. And, critically, the benefit of working with some exceptional people over many years to learn from as well. cheers

The y62 was certainly a consideration for us. A bit big for our narrow access at home. Petrol availability has improved but there were a couple of places during our lap where they ran out of ULP and a number of stations only have enough for their domestic use. But it’s still improved. Ours hasn’t had dpf issues. Be interesting to see what happens with the y63 and while it won’t affect current owners euro 6 regs will challenge a few. The Defender is already compliant. The Defender will be better on soft sand and some of the off road stuff which doesn’t trouble it and clearly the y62 has the points for the heavier end of towing given its upgradeability as well. Not sure what you’re towing but 21.8l/ 100km seems a bit low from what i’ve seen but good work. The only point Id make note broadly is we did see both LCs and Y62/ on tilt beds. Not sure why but no piece of machinery is unbreakable. For our money if we hadn’t gone the Defender it would more likely have been the y62. What the y63 and subsequent models will do will be interesting to watch. For the time being we are happy the early model issues we experienced with the Defender have been fixed. Not one of those was either diesel engine or emissions control related . I also think going forward the complexity argument will start to fall away because all future model cars are going to have to comply with increasing regulatory demands. Whether that means the Defender is ahead of the curve - something JLR are often accused of - remains to be seen. For the moment though it sounds like yours is doing really well for you and that’s a good thing. All the best, thanks for watching and safe travels, cheers

@@nextleveloz yes true mate--i hear a lot of fuel economy crap about the y62--- i didnt buy it for economy i like the fact its heavy so it makes a safe tow rig--- i drive at highway speeds everywhere and fuel amazes me at 22l /100, its very good and i check by fuel and kms not dash reading, its far better than my lc200 was, we test drove a 300 series in 2022 and paid a deposit--- then we drove the y62 and cancelled the 300 series as it wasnt impressive and did seem 30k overpriced, i will be changing tow rig in a few years as i do regularly as i like a change and its good comparison, i even had a v6 amarok for 12 months and it was superb towing but with all the gear it was over its gvm, the y62 has been the pick so far, but in the next 2 or 3 years i may go a landy--- we will see, if labor arent voted out we will all be towing with electric scooters with a solar panel on our hat--

cheers and safe travels

There was a suggestion at one stage when they fried the driver assist module that they might consider “purchasing”‘a similar car for us. It was never officially put to us, but at that time - already delayed by over a month at the beginning of our Lap year it was confirmed by our dealership that at that moment there were no 7 seater D300s in the system for sale, loan replacement whatever. Between that and the need to set one up fully for touring and towing made a replacement at that time unlikely. I know of some others who certainly were given equivalent loaners when something bad happened on their long trip but the specs to suit their towing were lower - and a loaner could be quickly set up wit the basics for towing for them and that’s great. So in late Dec 22 to Feb this year we had a dilemma - push to get this one fixed as we were pushing - hope that fix addressed the 2wd issue (it didn’t), ask for a refund (and as our videos cover we weren’t trying to jam the system, we hoped the Defender could work for us) try to source an alternative but in doing so have several more months of delay to a gap year that had already been impacted. So the preferred option was fix the car bought hand set up up for the trip and hope that the 2wd recurrence would be addressed. Even when the turbos needed to be replaced that was a far better and quicker option than seeking a refund or indeed a replacement - noting that in the latter case JLR actually got us back on the road in a bit over 2 weeks. So no breakdown is good - ever - but they showed they can make a bad situation better by rapid recovery and response. And had they not had the parts stuff up and the extra day assessment delay of their own making it would have been one week. Had they towed the caravan first breakdown it’s been shown they could have identified the full issue and had is back on the road inside 2 weeks across two breakdowns. That’s actually very good in the circumstances. But, and it’s important, they don’t strive for excellence consistently. In our case our confidence has been shaken and the title impact on a year off has been close to three months. So we’ve had some moments of sharpness shall we say. I did ask one exec how they would feel if LR took away their 10 year long service leave - because that ls the total equivalent of delays. So we are exceptionally happy we are back on the road. Whyatts were brilliant. I don’t mean JLR brilliant, I mean as good as we’ve experienced with any brand in 40 years of motoring. But JLR still have to address the unresolved 2WD issue - which we have managed - and we hope the rest of the Lap is noting trouble free. Thanks for watching and this all helps us send a few dollars off to charity as well.

@@nextleveloz Asking the JLR Exec how they would feel if JLR took away their LSL is brilliant David ! I’d love to c their reaction to that question ! I’m going to use that same line, where appropriate, in the future. Sadly HO senior staff r living in ivory towers. A new Fully Maintained Company Car every 6 months, or sooner. If a warning light comes on, they just jump into another company car ! These people sadly have NO perception of reality, and no true concept or understanding of how frustrating and annoying and the inconvenience of the problems with your Defender, cause u and Paula… 😢 😫 😳

@@StephenFogarty2023 I wish it wasn’t necessary at all. And in fairness you often have to deal with messengers in the system who themselves start to accept it as ok - and sadly they do get coached too quickly on all the standard responses- but when someone suggests this is “inconvenience” - missing the bus is inconvenient. Having an impact going to the order of losing 3 months of your leave - it’s worth chewing on a bit. cheers

@@StephenFogarty2023 BTW that’s not the attitude i got from Whyatts- complete opposite. They were great.

@@nextleveloz Absolutely Yes Some dealers like Whyatts are fantastic Unfortunately Some dealers are not With regards to people in ivory towers, etc, this comment refers to a lot of Senior Execs, based at HO. 👍

Thanks for your comments and yea we love the look of it also l. Swings and roundabouts really. I’d hate to be in a serious accident in the old Defender and they aren’t comfortable. It does come down to what you want to do - doesn’t it. But nobody is going to build cars like old Defenders and old Land Cruisers and there will be more not less technology in cars. Governments around the world (indeed at least one Territory Government) are regulating ICE cars out altogether over the next decade. Can i leave you with one proposition though - give or take swine safety upgrades - if people were buying the old Defender in any numbers, LR wouldn’t have discontinued them. It’s a challenge because people have a right to like what they like, but the market spoke. So in my view building a car like the old Defender for delicates Defender owners would not be viable. And the Grenadier isn’t a Defender. It’s the Defender lookalike that Toyota buyers might want. And look what Toyota did - made a retro looking Prado (with a mild hybrid engine, 2.8 litre) at a price point to undercut Ineos.

@@nextlevelozHi, do not disagree with any of that except maybe the last item. Dear old Land Rover totally neglected the Defender over the decades it was in production - indeed when they changed things it was nearly always to make it cheaper. No rust prevention worth the name being a highlight, only emissions regs made them swap the engines. The Grenadier is somewhat unknown but IMO has the ingredients and the passion to be the ultimate allround offroader. For a first attempt its superb, the Mk2 will fix the minor niggles we currently know about and may address some styling weaknesses and then Toyota will have some competition albeit at a price. If LR had any gumption they would be talking to Sir Jim Radcliffe about the price for taking his new toy off his hands and integrating it into their current line up.

The air filter has done its job on this case. We’d been to some pretty dusty places and the air filter was dirty but no evidence of anything getting past the filter. But yes you are right the 200s did have reported issues with dusting. In our case it was an electrical fault in the turbos.

Thanks for the kind thoughts and of course for watching. Yes 🤞

And all going well things like the RAM will do a brilliant job. Many cars will. But be heard some horror stories there also on parts availabilty. And also some people who got stuck at Kalumburu after the recent rain event and no access to ULP. So every male has its pros and cons and some probably better than others. That towing coverage is the fail safe and everybody doing remote travel should check their coverage - especially if they tow. Thanks for the comment. Much appreciatedZ

I drove and rode in them in Australia and for a posting in the Uk for about 15 years and had RAEME/ REME people result available to keep them going - and they mostly did. let’s see if Defender meets its promise. I hope so because it is very good when it is going. And the big question you’ve pondered is whether JLR are serious about their reputation.

Thanks for watching and the share. You certainly got a good run out of your cruiser. I’m not a cat tribal person - people have to choose what works best for them.

Hi, thanks for watching and the question. Yes. I’m in the process of getting a good quality scan tool. In this case it might have helped early indication of the problem but the problem required recovery to a service centre and repair. We could reset it, but that only provided temporary mobility. In the first instance we could get ourselves to a larger town but even then the car had to be towed (800km). Second time LR didn’t want us to driven any further. So we spent the night at a truck pullover. So while i do think it’s a good idea to have a good quality scan tool that can identify the Defender fault codes, it wouldn’t have avoided the need for recovery in this instance.

Hi. So sorry I did miss this, but have tried t answer all your other very kind comments. We got a bit hot under the collar LOL, but as you know we completed the lap and had a ball and the car got fixed and the service got better. As you say other cars do break down and that's not good when people experience it either. Safe travels

It goes to the purpose of weighing and whether that was a reasonable thing to do upfront absent any suggestion the load was excessively. So it’s worth unpacking it a bit. Firstly I’m not a mechanic so excuse the layman language - but the system including turbo will of course work harder under load (towing) than not towing. But turbo operation is also impacted by other factors as well that create higher stresses for any given load - so the vacuum and pressures get higher during increased revs (fuel feed), ie acceleration and uphill higher torque etc. So a lower towing load higher revs up hill in sand etc would work it much harder than a larger weight with momentum on a flat. But there was no evidence the load was excessive and the service centre didn’t think it was an excessive weight issue - just that ( and assuming all sensors were working properly ) whatever the fault was became evident under normal towing rather than unhitched. So it was evident then not necessarily caused by that. They had started to suspect it wasn’t mechanical failure (stress) but electrical. The conditions at which it triggered in this case was relatively low cruise level revs, flat ground, so yes more pressure than not towing - which is why we believe any repair should be tested under the same conditions - but it wasn’t at the higher torque, uphill higher revs etc. So for any given weight there are much more stressful conditions the car is supposed to be capable of dealing with. They had already found one physical parts fault on the previous breakdown. So for example, Goodness knows how long the vacuum harness reduced efficiency has been occurring and what cumulative effect that had on turbo operation. So the starting assumption here by Whyatt team was something was “broken” and it wasn’t mechanical failure. So they were looking at the machine not doing what it was designed to do in those conditions rather than a suggestion the owner was making it do something it wasn’t designed to do. And keep in mind they picked us up on a long flat stretch of road - so our description of what happened looked to be oretty right But the JLR process was to test at the get go if they could buck shift the cost. So if it was say 1 kg over gross weight even though it hadn’t been triggered by that pulling uphill or accelerating when torque and pressure is higher than cruise - would that have made then stop looking and would that have really explained a delaminating air hose, sensor fault and electrical fault in one or both turbos that they only identified by pulling it apart and further incestigation. No. But having applied that process almost certainly they would have used that as a crutch to avoid looking properly or rewuiredn us to pay upfront and initiated a dispute. Otherwise why do it at that juncture? Consumers don’t have to put up with that nonsense. Now, having demonstrated the car didn’t do what it’s supposed to do rather than the operator that JLR are gong to make up for the significant impact? Of course not - but it’s hard to see they wouldn’t have expected something from us if it was 1 over. it can only be to shift the onus. So while in this case - where a quicker turn around should make a bad situation so much better and worthy of commendation - whoever pushed to weigh the rig as the first step only shows JLR look for a way out at the get go. It’s silly, annoying, pointless, confrontational and counter productive. It’s a risk that should only occur if you have a reasonable basis for thinking the vehicle had been unreasonably operated which they didn’t and as it worked out they had a turbo failure at 30,000 km and more people will remember that and the fact they tried to get out of it than the fact they stepped up and through otherwise good response and the tireless effort of Whyatts they could turnaround a major recovery and repair in around two weeks and potentially better. “Wow, that surprised me. They actually are better than I’d heard” The latter is what a smart company does and keeps the focus on. A not so smart corporate culture reinforces the negative perception of its brand at the cost of celebrating the success. “typical Land Rover”. See what I mean? And in all this we were the victims and we are still trying to find a way to show this car is ok!!

@@nextleveloz I Cannot argue with any of your very well reasoned arguments. I really didn’t mean to. Reading my initial comment, if I’d used the word comment instead of “claim” maybe I wouldn’t have sounded like I’m challenging you. I agree with everything you said. I was with a private land rover mechanic working mainly on 1990 to 2010 models and I can tell you that many people blame the vehicle for their own errors. I was the diagnostics lead for the workshop and as such it was my job to rule out the obvious possibilities before digging into the more complex, to diagnose and repair, in order to minimise all aspects of the repair. If you’ll permit me, a short example. A customer brings his disco2 in with a very high fuel consumption. I plug in and start investigating all aspects of the electronics and I find nothing wrong. We put the car in the workshop in neutral with no hand brake and I lean on the rear end and it rolls easily. I drove it home and back the next day. The telemetry tells me that the fuel consumption was good. I spoke to the my boss and he had the customer come in and take me for a drive with the computer plugged in. Out on the freeway where he could expect the best economy he was terrible at speed control. He’d go over the limit and when he noticed he’d back off, then he’d be slow and accelerate and so on. The driver was the issue. I asked why he doesn’t use cruise control and he doesn’t like not being in control. I asked him to use the cruise control for one week and let me know if it used less fuel. Happy customer using less fuel with no work on his vehicle. I had another car that wouldn’t accelerate unless you put your foot on the floor. This was from brand new. He went back to LR many times and they replaced turbos, sensors, control modules and finally the PCM direct from LR England. Still the same. He came to me with obvious frustration and said “fix it or burn it, your choice”. I spent a couple of hours on the computer and I found a glitch in the PCM programming. We took it to LR (not his dealership, the closest to us) and they refused to believe it could happen as they’d replaced the PCM. They said there’s no way to remedy the issue either. They refused to plug in their computer to see the problem. We developed a small plug in device to tell the PCM that conditions were right and now the driver has full control of the power. Total cost to the customer was about $1000 and he loves his car. In the first case the obvious is ruled out before the problem is isolated no money spent. The driver blamed a car that performs perfectly under inspection. I can tell you it’s not nice or easy to tell a customer that has decades of driving experience that his driving is the problem but that’s the job. In the second case LR spent many thousands to no availe, I spent 2 hours looking at the computer telemetry and didn’t change a single part to diagnose the real cause. I’m sure you’d sympathise with the owner who pays for a new car only to have LR throw their hands in the air and say it’s too hard, we can’t fix it. I also sympathise with LR because their mechanics were merely parts fitters, not good at diagnostics. My point is, if the issue is one that you haven’t seen before, where to start. Rule out anything you can, that cost nothing. I suspect CRC may have been guilty of blame shifting but it may just be someone saying “rule out the load”. I sincerely hope you and LR can find a solution to the 2 wheel drive problem. I look forward to your next video, good luck and safe travels.

We were under GCM by a pretty good margin and we try to do that so you do have a margin. It was just a colossal stuff around and was in our view what it looked like. We knew the issue was more apparent when towing but given the conditions it wasn’t really likely to be a weight issue as much as a fault issue - and that’s what it proved to be. But despite telling us they didn’t want us to drive the car, even though we had suggested we could limp to the next road house for the night and meet the tow truck further down the road, at that time they said they didn’t want to risk damaging the car. Ok. We were comfortable for the night. But then it was ok to collect back, hitch up and tow and it suggested looking for an option to buck shift. It was poor form. That and the parts muck up detracted from what would otherwise have been an exceptional recovery and repair effort that would defy the poor reputation.

I’ve provided multiple inputs. so know some of the issues are recorded in the system and I know Whyatts included some of the suggestions in their own input - particularly the issue relating to van recovery - because all that affected them also. I also know my channel reviews have been seen. What they do with them - I have no idea. Now we have a breadth of different issues dealt with, if we can we will document them all together. But it’s also worth noting we are trying to have a gap year and LR have cost us nearly 3 months in disruptions and delays. So there is a limit as to haoe many times you can feed things back in. They have a CRM system but ultimately it’s up to them. Thanks for the feedback and yes the critical things have been fed back but where it’s stops and where it goes is a mystery to me.

@@nextleveloz In the unforgettable quoted words of Sir Joh Bjelke Peterson applied with respect to JLR: "You can lead your horse to drink but you can't make it water". I hope the remainder of your journey is trouble-free and a more pleasant adventure. ( I own a D300 Defender)

@@atoieno 😂. Yes I know. I’ve seen some of your shares on anther forum were both on. Enjoy it. When it’s on song it’s brilliant.

Thanks for watching and great yarn and great you’ve had a good experience. Lets hope the worst is behind us and the Defender helps us enjoy the rest of our lap. Stay safe. Cheers

hi thanks for watching and sorry to be so late in replying. We aren’t technical car people so not really on a position to recommend cars to people. We haven’t given up on the Defender yet. It also depends - are you towing, what are you towing and what sort of places do you want to go to. If you are planning a lap, we hope you have a wonderful time and hopefully our shares might give you some ideals as well. cheers

Thanks for watching. That wasn’t my intent and I’m not an auto expert, so my description might not have helped. The codes were definitely turbo and they progressively identified issues (ie the harness was definitely kinked). because the codes could be cleared and didn’t readily reappear they didn’t pick up the bigger issue but once they diagnosed there was a bigger issue they stripped the turbos and found the delaminating issue - which wasn’t externally visible - and they did pick up a sensor fault and the diagnoses determined an electrical fault was occurring in the turbo, so at least one was throwing the code but they couldn’t determine which one or if it was both, so they replaced both. I hope that helps. More broadly though - that is going to happen with all modern vehicles. Fault codes only provide a range of potential issues in particular systems. They then have to explore and try to seduce the more specific. But they knew it was the turbos for sure, but because the kink in the harness was evident and other tests appeared ok, the first repair logically stopped there. had they tested under the load of towing we likely would have been only 2-300km up the road from the first repair when the bigger issue was exposed.

@@nextleveloz My read on the repair was they were changing everything that might be at fault as well. In truth without understanding what had actually failed this repair would not lend myself a lot of confidence. Afterall if the turbos (two!! I thought it had just one) have failed the replacements made in exactly the same factory to the same spec will in time also fail if 'worked' to the same extent. Just what would two airfreighted turbos fitted cost an out of warranty Defender owner? My guess at least £4,000.

@@tillyfoxtrotter Tilly, Based on what David said, the root cause of the problem was clearly identified. David said in the video ( 4.30 minutes in ) that inside one of the turbos, they found that there was delamination on turbo air cooling hoses. And that ( some ) sensors on the turbos were probably / possibly faulty, on both turbos ? On that basis, it seems very sensible to replace all of these items. Maybe this issue that affected David & Paula has happened before in Australia & OS ? Maybe JLR Australia know more then they will tell the customer regarding the problem with their vehicle. If this issue is not an isolated one, JLR will instigate a quality control campaign on turbos, in order to ensure that the maker of the turbos improves the quality of this item. This investigation on the turbos might discover that the turbo supplier changed something at their end ( as of production from late 2021 ? ) which has now caused this turbo reliability issue. EG - different quality or type of sensors ? A cheaper / lesser quality type of cooling hose(s) ? Until the supplier changed their production process ( or some parts ) this turbo problem was not an issue, and might be a problem that has only recently started to occur on some vehicles etc ? It’s wrong to assume that this exact same problem will keep on occuring with the turbos, and affect ALL D300 motor Defenders, for the reasons I mentioned. The very first problem regarding a kink in vacuum line harness, ( that put their car in Limp Mode ) was most likely an unfortunate one off ? Or due to human error / mistake / mis handling ? on the production line. Obviously, if this specific problem starts to occur etc, JLR can investigate this matter, at the factory, and thus find out, who what why how this kink problem is happening, and rectify this situation. Many, many thousands of parts make up a new car. Many components need to work in sync at very tight tolerances, in a hostile environment. EG - 40 degrees Celsius in outback Australia, whilst the vehicle is at GVM & GCM And many components on new vehicles, come from external suppliers. All manufacturers place a huge reliance on the quality of components from external suppliers. Things go wrong ( frequently) with all modern vehicles. Sometimes the issue is easily identified and fixed. Sometimes it’s not. That’s just the way it is. Nowadays with social media and RU-vid etc, we are all much more aware of vehicle reliability issues, compared to before everyone had an iPhone / social media and RU-vid etc. And as vehicles get much more electronic and advanced, there is more chance of reliability issues etc, say after 3 years and 80,000 kms of driving ( in tough conditions etc ) All manufacturers constantly debate the issue of cost / quality etc of components v reliability and longevity ! It’s a massive conundrum / opportunity cost situation ! Car companies are in business to make a profit. Personally I wouldn’t spend $ 100 k AUD on a New Toyota Corolla, instead of $ 35 k AUD, if Toyota said it costs this much to make it with better quality components etc etc. that are much more reliable and have much better longevity etc And I doubt other consumers would buy a new Corolla at $ 100 k AUD either… R & D sadly, won’t eliminate every possible problem with a vehicle. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@@StephenFogarty2023 That makes more sense - they swapped out the turbos due to the risk of them being damaged by the delaminated pipework. Other car companies might not have so good on JLR for that.

@@tillyfoxtrotter Yes I agree that under these particular circumstances, best to replace the whole turbo, and all associated sensors etc As I said, maybe JLR know a lot more about this problem, but obviously they don’t tell customers certain things etc Glad u still have your Defender 200 tdi. I still remember the power / torque boost when the TD5 motor came out in Australia, in the Series 2 Disco, in 1999, ( 1998 in UK ) and then this motor in Defenders… 👍

Haha 200 series have just as many problems

Thanks. Who knows really, we’re just trying to enjoy the gap year. Let’s see how the car goes from here and while it jolted the confidence a bit, it’s taken us through some relatively tougher stuff that other cars failed on in the 6000km since the repair. So let’s also keep in mind the upside as you pointed out - they effected a significant repair in relatively short time and but for some stumbles it would have been blindingly fast. I think it’s too early to make a call on the Defender as a model and too early to declare the reliability of the 300 as well. I don’t want anybody to have these issues. Appreciate the feedback and the comment, it’s been great hearing from people. cheers

There is so much to unpack there. As is abundantly clear we don’t see ourselves as experienced remote travellers This issue of simplicity is an interesting and recurring theme. I wonder if all cars as we move forward aren’t going to be more complex. More regulatory stuff like DPF and emission controls, smaller, more powerful, turbocharged engines with hybrid support (like the Defender and the new Prado apparently). So the days of the old straight six or straight four naturally aspirated engines with a simple drive train is disappearing rapidly. So we shouldn’t be afraid of technology - it’s just that the support and logistics chain has to adapt. Recovery, Modular replacement and get equipment back in the field. But therein lies the challenge IMO as somebody not particularly mechanical (I haven’t tinkered with my cars in any serious ways since my early EH (a car that was as old as me) and then an XY falcon. So I wonder if those holding on to an old notion of a very simple car will increasingly be holding on to very old cars. So that’s not desperate right now, but… On the monocoque (or un) that actually simplifies. It’s stronger and more rigid and by being so safer and more stable. None of my issues touch wood have been related to chassis. In fact it helps with towing and on road and off road performance. The downside is you can’t do a GVM upgrade. And that said something because when many people say they want a simple car they want a simpler entry car at a more modest price that is upgradeable and modifiable on the way they want to make it. ECU maps, lifts, new axles, suspension components, extra oil filters, extra fuel tanks, new intercoolers,tens of thousands of dollars of extra cost and complexity across multiple suppliers - that Toyota and others will use to avoid warrant. And when and if it breaks down they get recovered to where and which supplier had to fix it. I dare say the most modified cars are out of manufacturer warranty so the owners accept they have to arrange their own recovery to a mechanic somewhere and they then deal with the supplier of the component that broke to try to get it repaired or replaced. I’m not sure if your direct experience and if your mechanical capacity is sound (like many people are) all that doesn’t seem complex. But I watched several reviews on this topic by several overlanders and yes they do say similar things, but the underlying issue they have with Defender and even the Grenadier is that the companies take the customisation out of it and make technical decisions and they don’t get to build the car they want. And i note that one of the biggest followed overlanders 4x overland is having a fight with Toyota over a low range selector rod in a 12 month old car that they wouldn’t warrant because it had corroded in off road use (he says red dust, they say corrosion). As for dealer network - yes, It’s a factor and that means the recovery, repair and return process needs to compensate for that. But I questioned this myself in our case. Living for 2 weeks in Exmouth while we waited for a car repair wasn’t so bad and does it matter if you are 800km away from a car you can’t use in Exmouth or 50km from a. are you can’t use in Derby?? What matter is that you get recovered quickly to a reasonable place to be stranded for the shortest possible period and have you can returned to you and you get on the road. So because they have a small dealer and service centre network JLR have to have that process slick and premium. and final point JLR like all manufacturers who import into Australia have to focus on other markets as well. For sure. But the cost of not delivering better service when you have an entrenched reputation is ever diminishing sales because you rely on a shrinking pool of satisfied former customers. So they have to deliver better cars, that the market sees as a better car (they have achievers some of that with the Defender coverage) but they also have to deliver the premium support to overcome the reputation issue. If they don’t- they die as a brand. And note they have just done a big brand change - so that tells us all they have differed brand damage. You make some great points that really challenge some of the issues. Im really not a car expert or an overland expert - but I am getting a fair bit of experience with Land Rover issues 😂👍. cheers

Ok you might not see yourself as experienced but you are...now! I am not an expert just curious (but I am Mechanical Engineer). Re the monocoque thing I they might seem simple but they are complex thats why they are relatively new. You need complex software to design them and fixing them is not so simple. Yes dynamics are better and they are safer but if you drive in Havana or outback australia and want to keep a car on the road ladder frame is simpler. (I understand that your issues are not chassis related - just noting that complex software and technology is involved to make the Defender behave well in a wide range of situations). I love the defender and if everyone drove them I would too but in Australia I would stick with the masses. I have an Everest on order and plan to do what you are doing. Its complex enough. I like you, am willing to risk the new tech rather than drive some 15 year old dinousaur that is simple. I would prefer to live in a crash. @@nextleveloz

@@zambacan Last line - exactly!!! I hope you have a terrific trip and thanks for sharing your thoughts. We’ve seen a couple of Everests on the road, but not towing anything like our our van of course. cheers

@@nextleveloz ps I can’t afford a Defender. The interesting subplot or theory is that humans build a rationale to support their emotional decision (not the other way around)

@@nextleveloz Oh the memories ! I grew up with Mums 1972 LJ Torana 2.25 litre / 138 cu straight six, carby 3 on the tree ! Great car Loved it Tinkered with it all the time… The straight six Holden motors, until they went fuel injected with the VK model, in April 1984, were all easy to work on As were the 4.2 litre / 253 And 5 litre / 308 - V8 engines… 🚗 💥 💨

Hi, I missed this one. We understand the person who organised the consignments was the same person. It was ink our view a bit dopey and it delayed us another week. Even then, to be recovered 750km, diagnosed parts ordered and a pretty significant repair and back on the road in around 3 weeks including the hiccups is pretty good. We've posted a warts and all wrap up after completing the 32,000 km and can happily report an overall good experience. Thanks for the comment and sorry again for the delayed response.

There was no indication or reason to believe the rig was overweight. The service team didn’t think that was a likely issue and car should be capable of dealing with what we were doing. So while towing does psh the system more the operating conditions that the fault was evident were relatively benign. Keep in mind the two turbos operate at different ranges, so a fault in one might not be evident at part of the driving range but will be at another part - if that makes sense? But, having asked us not to drive the car to avoid damaging the vehicle further - to then hold up assessment and ask us in the first instance to weigh the rig suggested looking for an operator issue in the first instance not a car/ manufacturer issue. So not only were we well under max weight and operating the car within its design capacity, there was no reasonable suggestion to go looking for an owner issue first up. Something LR have since indicated should have been a last resort not a first resort. As for testing under the same operating conditions it is mainly an issue of prudence to assess if the repair is complete. And yes towing does work the car harder, but the car should be able to do so. So the service dealership felt that testing under the same conditions was more likely to expose if there was an additional issue that testing without the van didn’t trigger. So towing wasn’t the cause of the failure, but it did help expose it. It is also possible that other sorts of driving might also have triggered the turbo issue ( uphill, soft sand driving at high recess for example)

Which yard is that you are referring to Ryan?

Thanks for watching. and in a nutshell that's what LR have to overcome. The LR faithful sometimes suggest they aren't less reliable - I don't know, but the market thinks they are. We felt the Defender represented a great package ideal for us, it was well reviewed and not being long term LR owners, hoped JLR were up to support g the car. And - the obvious setbacks aside - at times they show they are capable of good service, so they need that to be consistent. Because ultimately if they rely on formers owners like you as the main part of their market, that's diminishing and they need more buyers like us who are convinced to give it a try - and then prove to more of those people that purchase was justified. So they need both fabulous vehicles and a cultural emphasis on excellence in service support.

Probably the nut behind the wheel LOL !!

@@chaquisa1 😂😂. Good one mate. And that from a Territorian. I’m honoured! cheers

And the critical thing is they regard themselves and charge as an upmarket brand and service should reflect it. To be fair the Wyatt Land Rover guys were brilliant, and if there were more like them and JLR drove for consistent high end respond it would go a long way to beating the reputation they get - rightly or wrongly. On the weights our GVM and GCM were all under max. Weighing that should have only occurred if they had ruled out other failures - not done it as the first thing.

thanks for watching and the question. You can do GCM upgrades in Australia for the Land cruiser for example and the American trucks to over 7 tonnes, so it's both a legal limitation and specific to each vehicle le capacity and any engineer approved upgrades. ButI think you mean specifically the Defender in Australia, where yes the GCM is 6780kg for the 7 seater and can't be upgraded - not because its not legal for that rating to be higher, strictly, but because the unibody / monocoque construction can't be GVM upgraded and that's the max rating JLR put on it in Australia. Land Rover advertise a higher towing capacity in the US at 8200 pounds (3.7 tonnes towing). Same car. But the main point here was that there was no suggestion the fault codes and the actual driving conditions were likely to have caused the fault. It was an initial attempt to find a reason to say no.

@@nextleveloz you can't do a GCM upgrade on Defender as it is a mono chassis.

@@HughSmith that's correct. You can't do a GVM upgrade and it follows you can't upgrade the GCM. I was clarifying if your comment about 6.7 tonnes was the max GCM in Australia (as I first read it) - but noted you more likely meant for the Defender given the number. sorry for the original reply here, it came up as a different name so I've amended it because it would have read weird. These weights BTW are all over the place (5 seater vs 7 seater vs MY year etc) but my annoyance aside - we were under. Weight wasn't a factor.

I should add here, the new 23.5 MY Diesel 7 seater has a lower towing capacity. No idea why. But bottom line for me on this one is we were well under GCM in Australia and there was no suggestion weight was a factor in the actual fault code/ fault.

I know why they made you weigh it. They wanted the turbo to be fubar because of additional strain even by a KG they would have said no fault. However I had the exact same experience with Toyota. They tried to say the turbo was under too much strain due to the Van.

Thanks for watching. It will be interesting to see how it goes in Australia. Good luck with it. For what it’s worth If you have the misfortune to break down where we did - I’m not sure the service coverage is better?? But where are the nearest service centres for Ineos in remote locations and if you can - what is the Ineos recovery guarantee. Hope you never ever need it and I for one am interested in all the options but so early in the roll out what is their plan for remote Australia? All the best.

@@nextleveloz thanks for the reply mine hasn't arrived yet, I don't know about remote recovery with it yet I will be watching early recivers blogs with interest. Great watching how you go about dealing with your break downs.

@@warrensaillard7022 I hope they are behind us now. All the best for your new acquisition and adventures.

Don’t claim premature victory, Grenadier = the best of English and German integration, let that sink in.

@@nextleveloz Gidday Mate .Love your stories. On reliability issues .,i cant think for the love of me what a monocoque chassis has to do with breaking down hehe.They have been around for a good 20 years or more on 4X4 s Jeep GC for one. I have a Disco 3 has both Mono and ladder built like a brick S.H. I live in the NT travel remotely regularly .I have i will admit now converted from air to coils only for the fact of convenience .I did have isses which were really minor but irritating ,but never left me stranded remotely. Done 475000klm already and cost me nothing other than small repairs and maintenance. There is a falicy that LR break down continuously ,but i can prove to many that is not true.I have towed more Toyota LC;s than any other car.Great motors ,but the rest of the vehicle falls to bits around you.Stick to your Defender mate maintain it regularly and it will go forever. These are the very Best 4X4 in the world that is why every other manufacturer copies the land rover . Look at the Grenadier ,Ratcliff vertually coppied the Defender albeit latst tech ,Why ,because thay have propven themselves over an over since 1948 when HUE was built It was him that even purchased it and travelled the Gobi desert in it...a 1948 model Land rover crossing the Gobi desert !!! .Over 2 million sold around the world in every country possible ,The toyota 300 is basically a direct copy of the discovery 3 haha ! And look at the new LC ... duh !!.. or is it a Bronco . Happy travels Cobber !!

Hi sorry I missed this. We were in and out of Darwin briefly - We did stop over a few nights at Berry Springs. The nature park and NT wildlife park are quite good. Sorry again that I missed the comment. Thanks for watching - we really appreciate it. cheers

Sometimes I feel that way 😂😂. Thanks for watching and 7k down the track so far so good 🤞🤞. cheers

You should buy the car that best suits you. So no issue from me if you prefer the LC. We saw a few on tilt beds also including a couple of 300s so presumably that was causing those owners some headaches also. Hope they got it resolved quickly. All the best.

I just googled that. This was the most recent Australian report I found. rac.com.au/car-motoring/info/most-unreliable-cars. The US reports didn’t mention LR. But add the reference you have for the discussion. I’m a big believer in informed markets and yet despite all the consumer laws and calls for lemon laws it’s interesting no major car manufacture publishes their serious break down incidence stats. Probably because Choice reported that 15% of people have problems with their new cars. I find that curious that because if certain brands were as reliable as they claim - they would want the figures out there and while consumer sentiment is important (and ultimately drives personal choices more than technical facts) it’s not a measure of reliability, it’s a measure of perception. So i don’t doubt people hold these views - not at all, but I’d love to see actual stats. And RAC mentions a number of brands but not LR. there are no doubt lots of lists but those based on actual incidence would surely be the most reliable?

@@nextleveloz do world wide search. Australian market has very little of LR products due price and rep. If you do by volume of sales over 10yrs. In Australia a Morgan would be one of the most reliable cars because there is very few of them. The report you pointed too, all the vehicles have high sale volumes. If you look at UK high volume there in top 3, and if you look at US there just in top 20, europe LR has 3 models in top 20. These are LR major markets. Australia in overflow. They do make great cars they just need to sack Gerry McGovern and get proper development engineers involved. Our LR failed due to bad Mech engineering. The car was great and comfortable, we got rid of it because it’s unreliable and depreciation value,AUD $110k vehicle new, sold 4years later $41k. No accident damage, serviced by LR, repairs by LR but depreciation is huge. We bought our Toyota and it’s gone up in value, has never broke down. I would buy a LR defender if it would stay on the road and LR corporate weren’t a bunch of pratts to deal with. Hence listening to this RU-vidr.

Sorry for the delay. It doesn't matter to us what others choose because people have to make decisions based on their own judgements and foibles. I'd rate the Defender over the 300. Saw a couple of them on tilt beds during our trip - so does that mean they are unreliable? Somebody else posted a comment saying they had a 300 and traded it for a Defender and listed several issues with the 300. We had a couple of issues but just posted the final wrap-up after 32,000 km of lap in the Defender. In the end the issues were fixed and the service was good (much better than the initial response). I expect there will be others like you who have built a view based on past ownership. I respect that, at least your decisions are based on that experience. It's fascinating though that Toyota produced the 300 without emissions reduction technology and it still has issues with DPF, so it is struggling with the new regulatory requirements. It's also of interest to me that they have brought out the 2.8l turbo automatic 70 series based on the Prado engine. Anyway, sorry for the delay in responding, I tight it was best in some cases to see how the car went on the rest of the trip. I appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment. Safe travels and all the best.

Hi - thanks for watching. Sorry - is that your experience with the Defender - rattles and noise? That hasn’t been the criticism issue for us - but let us know what happened with yours please ? cheers

And we still wouldn’t have it. Its only just rolling out here now. A car not available isn’t much chop 😉. And while I’m excited to see what Ineos and the Grenadier ultimately bring to the market, it’s a new brand, new car model, it doesn’t have an extensive service network in regional Australia. We don’t know how parts supply is going to be either. So how isn’t that a risk for the time being? Might be terrific, might a flash in the pan, might not end up being better at all. So no issue and had it been around at the time of course we would have looked at it, but had we put a deposit down our gap year would have been over before it came.

thanks for watching and commenting though. On a serious note it potentially adds choice into the market but I suspect the Prado move by Toyota is to counter aspiration by Ineos to eat into that customer base.

Very premature and immature / rude comment ! Refer my reply to the other guy who posted same comment… 🤷🏻‍♂️

You obviously lack a sense of humour did you not notice the lol at the end of the comment.@@StephenFogarty2023

Thanks for watching. It’s disappointing to have that issue. Not sure what you drive but other brands also do have things fail. What do you drive?

@@nextleveloz its far from disappointing just true. These massive defenders are leased in the Netherlands for city trips and rich mama taxis to schools. Its a fact. For real work its Toyota. I work 35 years plus in worldwidd oil/gas and geothermal drilling and without exception all Toyota Land Cruisers and Hilux as daily working 4x4's. Land en Range Rover stay in city for posing. If yoy rely on computers that advanced in a 4x4 just waiting to go bust its a nogo. Plus air suspension is cool till it says over and out. Modern big 4x4's are designed and sold for the upmarket customer towing big trailers or just driving in town. As a hobby i have a mint 1978 2 door range rover v-8 classic.

@@Coordinator61 I get the fact you don’t like the Defender. The RR hobby is cool . But I’m curious about what you drive?

@@nextleveloz Its not i do not like them but they put too much new tech in them so when they go wrong its over. And sorry so soon new turbo's, come on. I drive a Suzuki vitara from 2019 4wd in the Netherlands as we have so many people living in a small country. So big cars are difficult plus we do pay the highest road tax in the world.

@@Coordinator61 Thanks. It’s no issue to me what brand you drive. The Vitara was a sensible car for around town especially if you didn’t need to tow etc.

And a Toyota isn't over priced 😅😅

@@shreckm6470 Quite so - the Defender is in the detail a vastly more refined car than any Toyota offering plus alloy bodied. Costly to make even in Slovakia. The Toyota scores in that their simpler vehicle is composed of quality Denso kit screwed together by folk that still care. Basic well tried and reliable (I will exclude the trickery of the Landcruisers 4 cyl hybrid) versus JLR's stylish, complicated and to a large degree new and untested components - Ingeneum engines as a starter! Truth is Landrover have been getting way ahead of themselves for decades in term of tech - take apart a RR Classic and see just how absurdly random each layer of luxury was integrated into the wiring loom. I think there are at least 10 locations for relays dotted around the shell.

Hi sorry for the delay, missed this and saw the replies. I had a similar though re JLR service early. We've just posted our post Lap wrap up, after a 32,000km trip and can happily report the car overall did well and the service effort got a lot better including from our home dealer (who caused some lot the early problem). The dealer replaced the whole service team which says a lot and happily on our return the niggling issue off the 2WD warning got addressed. We aren't tribal on car brands so no issue if somebody chooses a different brand. on the over priced though - the 300 is significantly more expensive and even then requires upgrades to do some of the same stuff. Sadly for a couple of families we saw a couple of 300s on tilt beds on our trip - so it's a lot of money to spend isn't it? Thanks again, I was hearing you on the service stuff, but glad its worked out better. appreciate the comment. cheers