How did our New Defender go on a 32,000km Lap of Australia? Mods & tips. Warts & all wrap up. 

Hallo. Thanks so much for watching and the kind words. We try to call it as it happened. And we get to send some money to charity while we enjoy life. Maybe one day we will get to South Africa, you guys enjoy a bit of overlanding and a good braai. Maybe if the Wallabies are a chance to beat the Boks?? 😂😉. All the best and thanks again. Totsiens, my vriend!

Thanks Paul for the kind comment. Glad the Disco(s) have gone well for you and yes hopefully we might see you out on the road some time. All the best and safe travels. David and Paula

Thank you and thanks particularly for helping us send some important extra change to a couple of great charities. It is a wonderful country and there have been any number of times we’ve been lucky enough to be there and take it in. cheers

Thanks for watching and great share thanks. Good to hear your feedback on your dealer. The more of that the better. And yes it tows very well.

Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed it. Great your Defender is going well. I get the appeal on the smaller van. We haven’t had too much drama towing the Zone but as we reflected in our van wrap up ideally we’d like to find something a touch smaller - not as small as yours - that retains some of the comfort of our current van. Not sure if our ideal van actually exists. But yes yours would be even easier than ours to tow. Thanks again for watching and the feedback and safe travels. cheers

Thanks for following. Your experience is regrettable and rein forces one of the things I think needs attention not juts by JLR but others, which is the timeliness of repair part supply. And the variability of the service experience. It's an excellent vehicle, hopefully the BiSG replacement is resolved soon ands all the best for your future travels. thanks again. David and Paula

Very true! The pennies fall where they fall, but for us it has to be based on actual evidence not claim. We aren’t rusted on LR owners, it’s about functionality and purpose with a good eye on value. No issue for us if people choose another product and if they are satisfied then well and good. It’s a car. The struggle for us is when people make claims like this brand doesn’t break down etc. Some things will come down to a particular brand and support, but we’ve pointed out elsewhere many components are common to brands. The ZF transmission for example. Turbo technology is dominated a few widespread brands so a fault is likely low incidence but can happen in any number of supplied makes. Safety, performance, comfort and reliability - for a given purpose for a given price. That’s roughly the equation isn’t it. And over that, some people will regard it as an emotional buy - sizzle or insurance. The fuel economy was great and it interesting to watch some rusted on 70series and 200 series content creators absolutely stumped by the fact the new 2.8litre turbo, 8 speed cars Toyota has juts brought out can do pretty much as much on less fuel. Same people who swore by old technology only a couple of years ago. Anyway. I knew this vid would do my head in! Cheers

So true. We’ve met so many people with varied rigs and they are mostly all having a ball doing their own way. It would be boring if there wasn’t a variety of preferences and views - all part of life’s colour. While there are bad things to do with vehicles and clearly some vehicles are unsuitable, as you say people make their own judgements on what they need or can afford. As we said, where we live most of the time has a bearing on the car options. I struggle with the brand tribal stuff . It’s worth noting that something like the 79 was never on our agenda for all sorts of reasons, but the new 70 series troopy might well have with certain mods if it could fit in our place . Completely different car to ours but shows that these things can and do evolve. I also think, cost aside, emissions standards is going to change the future vehicle lineup Thanks for watching and the feedback and input.cheers

Thank you so much. Too kind. We aren’t keen on the review type vids. We don’t aim to be tech experts, just user experiences and happy to share. It’s been a blast and given us a taste for more adventure. Safe travels to you and cheers

Thanks for following along. We know you have done so pretty much the whole time. Thank you. We had a ball in our car (a couple of well known moments aside) and were confident you will also. Safe travels.

Thanks for watching. Yes, as we pointed out, not having the GAP tool was a regret and it's now in the kit. Great story and glad the RR has treated you well. One of the common criticisms of the Defender and Land Rovers generally - and that's extending to other makes as they catch up on technology - is concern about the fact stuff and "sensors". I get the concern about complexity which I think is coming anyway. But the sensor one I've had a rethink on. Sensors can tell us if something is going wrong. it might be catastrophic but then that's not about the sensor, or it could be an early warning or tip. That's only a problem if you don't know what it is, but if you do AND can reset it if the circumstance warrants it, then it's not a problem. You get where you have to be then deal with it before catastrophic failure. Amazing the number of people who thought limp mode on ours was a failure. It was a real pain, but we reset it in that case and were able to get 280km safer before we had to send the car away. To my thinking, without the sensors and limp mode we would have kept driving until the thing did fail much worse. So never happy when these things happen but for some reason when a Cruiser or a Ford blows an engine because the intercoolers weren't good enough people juts say it's rare and accept a blown engine. When a Land Rover goes into limp mode and 3 weeks later we are heading to the Gibb River road towing 3.3 tonnes, everybody talks about unreliability. Anyway, too much. Great share, thanks again for watching and safe travels.

Enjoy the beer. So many things you can include and lots of questions asked. We’ve tried to cover as much as you can in one vid. cheers

Wow, Congrats and we’re sure you will really enjoy where this beast can take you. Hopefully you are on the New Defender Owners in Australia forum on FB also. There are some really helpful and experienced people on that forum. Thanks again and hope you have a ball. cheers

@@nextleveloz I don’t do FB. But thanks for the well wishes and also your opinion about South Brisbane JLR.

Sorry to hear that. We carry minimal gear in the car. The specs are constantly changing but yes, weigh up the best value for your needs. Some of the options are pretty expensive. All the best and glad the bid helped with your thought process. cheers

Thanks for the share. We’ve met quite a few Disco owners who say the same. There is a lot of ill informed commentary about reliability etc. No question there is a market perception, so it’s a real issue for JLR. If only there was some transparency about the actual incidence of major problems for different models. But the whole topic seems to attract such sting tribal views.

Thanks Michael. So many variables in the fuel economy outcome. We thought 17.2 was excellent given it was largely towing at 3.3t and a fair bit on rough stuff. Without the van it’s extremely economical. The set up of the rear axle is hotly debated. JLR say there are different components and nobody has had much luck getting a definitive answer that might allow a rerating for the 5 seater. In the GAP IID, I didn’t really look into it. I figured if there was an issue beyond the very basics we were recovery territory, but both the amber 2WD warning and the limp mode resetting with no other apparent signs reinforced the usefulness of detecting a code while the car is still running and the warning is a alight. So it’s now in the kit. Thanks for the feedback and watching and input. It’s been much appreciated. cheers

Thanks for watching.So much could be said. Maddening sometimes. We don’t gloss over the turbo issue. But keep in mind it’s a third party manufactured component, and that technology isn’t limited to LR and the car never stopped running. And if the purchase of a Toyota is an unloved “insurance” buy by many, good on Toyota’s brand presence. They pitch it as a safety play but charge a premium price. The best value tow car we looked at was the Patrol - but look at Nissan’s market position compared to 20 years ago. We had two decision points. the best car available to us then. We explained that. And now the relative utility and cost for a change now. We have the luxury of a couple more years of warranty to see if those things were rare or not and what’s that means relative to the driving joy this beast represents when it’s on song. Thanks for watching, we get it.

Thanks Steve, I'm still learning all the tool can do and it would have been very handy to identify those codes we got when they appeared and before being reset. Yes they get logged, but when you are deciding the best course of action when and if something pops up, its useful to be having the discussion with better knowledge of what's happening and of course codes on minor issues can be reset. cheers

Thank you Mick for your regular input and feedback. It’s really appreciated. It really is a stunning and diverse country. The Defender is very good. Not quite always to expectations to be fair, but it made a massive contribution to our lap. All the best.

Our pleasure! Enjoy your trip. cheers

Glad you enjoyed and thanks for following along. the car did much more than the knockers say it can. Yes we did share some down moments and that of course attracted a lot of comment, but it was important to provide the wrap up how it all worked out. All the best.

Hi. Great to hear and thanks for watching. Yes we’ve had to replace a windscreen. We picked up a tiny stone on the M1 of all places and the subsequent crack was too big to repair. Replaced it under insurance with Obriens and it had to go to the dealership for calibration. That was before the Lap. We have a few stone chips from the Lap, the two slightly deeper ones were able to be repaired by us with a filler. Which reminds me, I might need to replace that kit in our spares box 🙏. Thanks again. Enjoy your Defender and safe travels.

Thank you for watching and the terrific comment. Much appreciated. We’ve learned heaps from other travelers, Defender owners and others and enjoyed sharing our adventures. Always more to come. Life is not a dress rehearsal. Thanks again. cheers

Glad you enjoyed it and yes, fixed. Just need to follow up insurance for the minor body damage from the the big roo near Borroloola now - again the bar helped heaps. thanks for watching. cheers

Thanks for watching and your thoughts on this. Some good perspective. I've said it elsewhere, I don't have an issue with Toyotas or other brands, it's just the tribal nonsense that sometimes comes without any balance. Toyota's do have issues, some of them well known and the Defender is an exceptional car out of the box and in my view best in class. Doesn't mean it's all beer and skittles of course. Never is with car ownership if you are driving outside of city limits. Your new Defender will eat up that job, it's capable of much more and you will enjoy driving it. cheers

Absolutely

Thanks for watching and the feedback. Review type vids aren’t our favourite, but happy to share the experience. This one was probably the hardest because there was so much to balance up and even more we could have included or commented on or expanded. So thank you.

Thank you. We aren’t brand tribal. Our previous cars have been quite varied. So we take the view of calling out what needs to be improved and credit where credit is due on our experiences. Glad you enjoyed the wrap up. Reviews aren’t our favourite videos because the aim of channel was to share our Lap. But totally can’t separate out your car and van for that can you? All the best and thanks again.

Thank you for the lovely feedback and thanks for watching. All the best.

Thanks for watching and the feedback. Much appreciated. Cheers

Thank you for such a kind comment. Bit bad for amateurs hey? All the best David and Paula

Thanks for watching and we love sharing. We’re sure you will some great adventure in your new Defender. Wow. Were feeling a bit jealous now. All the best and safe travels.

Thank you. The review stuff isn’t our fave l, but we aren’t paid etc so we get to call it as we see it and experience it, whatever comes. Hope it helps your friend. cheers

We don’t need an excuse for a decent red in the evening or a great coffee in the morning after. thanks for the feedback as always Peter.

Thanks for watching and the feedback. Love it 🙏. As you’ve seen we aren’t brand tribal so everyone has to work out the car that best suits them and their needs. Great that the 300 is going well. Yes the price of the 200s was just silly at the the time we were looking. A lot of people paid over the odds for old, expensive to run cars that will need a bit spent on them and the values will come back to normal. In our case - no question we bought an early production run mew model and everybody has a view but in our view it is a contributor to a couple of the things JLR have addressed 🤷‍♂️. But the important thing is where you’re going to head to and see and enjoy. There are some magic places we got to see and hopefully more to come. Enjoy your forthcoming trip 👍👍We’re sure you will have a ball and if our travels gave you some ideas that’s terrific. All the best, safe travels. David and Paula.

Thanks mate. And yes you’ve had some service issues as per your last note. The new Toyotas will be less like the old ones. The issues in my Defender are out there. Plenty of people reporting no issues also. Just be careful not to make make our issues look like a bigger list. The turbo issue and limp mode was one and the same and it’s a third party component by a brand used in many other cars also- not good but worth noting . It wasn’t the wake up that caused our battery issue - as much as i’d prefer a camp mode, it was a collapsed battery. Yep replaced the transfer case most likely because of a faulty sensor but yep. As best we can tell that was a very rare issue and it didn’t stop us thankfully. Suspension annoyed me because it looks like a quality control issue and that’s on JLR. Didn’t stop us. But yes that’s the frustration isn’t it? Toyotas won’t get less complex as we move forward and more people feel as you do. But the only thing we can do is share our experience and as far as we’re concerned people have to make their judgement. Was our Defender a rarity like you 79 issue? Who knows? Time will tell if there are recurring issues for sure. We didn’t like the 300 but it wasn’t going to be available for us when we bought the Defender. We know of several people who’ve been across the Simpson and we’d like to do that and maybe the Canning - news to put a platform on for that and can’t take the van of course. Thanks for the comment, it sums up the dilemma. All the best

You are in for a treat with this channel, they did an amazing trip and many hours of fabulous scenery... Enjoy.

Mmm fabulous choice Defender P400, I think I will get one too.. one day, when my Discovery 3 dies...

Thanks for watching and thanks for the question. How exciting, I’m sure you will love your new Defender. Look, the JLR experience is fickle. We are very pleased we’ve experienced the upside of it and TBH that’s the standard owners should press for for their big car investments (whatever the brand). If you aren’t towing, it’s a complete weapon. Long range, heavy towing represents an extra challenge for any car. It happens to be a good tow car out of the box but I meant it when I started the conversation with my view the Defender is the best in its class. We chose diesel intentionally. No reflecting on the other variants and Paula drives a ULP car when we aren’t traveling. But the D300 engine, the torque and the economy and range of the diesel variant was better for towing in our view. Remote travel also means you have to consider that as much as ULP is common, diesel is more available in the most remote places. Weights meant we could install an extended range fuel tank so range plus what was in jerrie’s on our van was better with diesel than petrol. If you aren’t towing you have heaps of payload to play with for options. Thanks for watching, much appreciated and that helps us send some money off to charity as well. All the best.

@@peterbullen3347 The scenery comes courtesy of a higher power. 😉. We are just lucky enough to capture it sometimes. cheers mate

Thanks as always Stephen. The car is most certainly not a mall crawler - even if there are a few buyers who do pimp them i’m that way. Let’s hope the early issues are few and far between and resolved as they become known. I’m not sure about the Octa TBA. And Od like to think JLR make their existing marques perfect before they keep stretching their resources. A petrol V8? It will be sexy, no question but we needed a car that crossed over between a town car and a worker on the backroads so no site it appeals being the initial wow factor. Let’s see. All the best and thank you again. Safe travels. D & P.

@@nextleveloz Thanks David I agree regarding Octa It will have a wow factor etc And some great new technology And the BMW V8 But Hugely expensive ! A real shame JLR are not trying to release less expensive versions of Defender, that from the showroom floor, suit people who want a vehicle ready to tackle the outback etc The workhorse vehicle ethos is what the Defender originally was, and its reputation was built upon that heritage… In today’s market, JLR are chasing big profit via fancy versions of Defender. And all of their vehicles continue to go more upmarket. Understandable, but a shame, as they are moving away from being a utilitarian and rugged vehicle, straight off the showroom floor. I suppose JLR are happy to leave that market to Ineos ? The Defender platform is rugged and utilitarian, but ( sadly ) the JLR focus is on expensive versions of Defender, that most can’t afford, and 23” wheels etc, perpetuate the mall crawler image, as most are used by wealthy people as a city / suburban vehicle 🤷🏻‍♂️

@@StephenFogarty2023 The Ineos is still a work in progress. It’s more expensive than they originally suggested, more tech and perhaps not as customisable as “old” Defender enthusiasts might have wanted. I will keep watching it, but how the service coverage goes and parts delivery etc suggest it’s not as good as some might have hoped. Imperfect choices, but at least there are choices ATM albeit each with pros and cons. But the ability to woo well off city drivers and cash in on the premium they might pay for “Bond” cars is a concern for those of us that want the tourer/tower/ crossover. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️😂

@@nextleveloz Exactly 👍

Thanks for watching. That’s a great approach. It’s why we aren’t brand tribal. Not towing a van provides a good bit of leeway for choices and there are different ways to see the place. It comes down to your own preferences. No we didn’t change anything in that regard. Yes one of the nags in the back of the head is always the risk of poor fuel. I’m almost OCD about not running low on fuel so we carry an extra jerry or two on the van if we are going anywhere where the legs get close to the range of the car. Thanks again, much appreciated.

@@nextleveloz David, did you have a long range installed? I didn't see anything pop up on your background text comments saying you did. I am trying to figure out fuel and water carrying for shorter trips with no van but also thinking ahead to longer trips with a van! Thanks

Thanks for watching and good question. We try to do the routine service every 15k including engine oil and filter. We were considering the transfer case pending the outcome of the 2WD light issue - but they’ve replaced the transfer box. The transmission is conditions based servicing also and we haven’t done anything extra there but we are discussing the options with the dealer. Transmission has been good - but yes it’s worth keeping all that in mind given our usage will make it prudent to reduce intervals as we have with the engine oil.

Yes. I’m not sure why TBH. They still seem to have the D250 in the mix but moved from D300 to D350. Same displacement. About kw extra on power and a bit more torque. We found the power and torque great for towing and off road in our experience and good fuel economy and don’t need any extra acceleration. But not sure what else on the drivetrain has changed if needed. Anyway who knows. D250 and D300 was essentially the same engine setup except tune so I’m not sure if the D350 is the same power plant tuned better. I’m sure we will find out at some stage but doesn’t really affect us unless parts are changing and that affects ability. For now the D300 does our job well. 🤔🤷‍♂️

She is so bad at keeping secrets. But no not NZ. But not a bad idea.

David, You aren’t letting go are you? 😉😂. Having spent a large part of my life driving in Series 3s and Perenties I have a view. But we spent a lot of time waiting for MkIIIs getting fuel vapour locks, the mogs were great new but on time for less reliable. I always wondered if the troopy was the internationally recognised reliable work horse, why the Army never made them a mainstay. All interesting except none one them were great military vehicles - just great runabout tractors if you had first line maintenance support. But now your on about the motors and i thought your issue was the fancy electronics? 😉. Have a good one. I knew there would be people who had strong views on this stuff and no issue.

Hi. The problem with reviews is they do tend to spend disproportionate time on problems, noting only one took us off the road and even then for a matter of less than 3 weeks total. Overall we had a great year as the rest of the video series shows. And all fixed. We saw different people with different cars have their trips ended and that wasn’t our experience, so we tried to give some perspective as well. But would have been equally wrong to try to gloss over a couple of the more important items also. It’s a tremendously capable car. People have to weigh their views though. Van and car contributed to a brilliant year and that’s the bottom line even if it wasn’t glitch free. But that’s also why I included the summary package of the overall trip and emphasized the fact the car out of the box was a very good tow car.

We enjoy his overland adventures, no issue. He has a view on the Defender that I feel he is predisposed to because it’s not the old Defender - but no issue, people have views. Just on that particular point it’s not correct. Not personal but if people want to know the pros and cons of the Defender let’s keep it real.

@@nextleveloz I remember watching that episode haha , in fact it was he last of his content I have watched .Agree with all you say , Just sold my Discovery after 27 years of service , had the odd problem but travelled all over Oz towing a van . Great vehicles .

Have a look at "Overlanding with Bruce". SAfrican guy overlanding in the current Defender. There's also people in the US overlanding them.

Thanks for watching. Too much to unpick in all that. I saw two 300 series on tilt bed. Does that mean the 300s are unreliable? Whatever went wrong there shouldn’t have gone wrong either. But I hope they get back on the road, repaired quickly. I’m curious about the fancy things argument though. Which bits? Our case also a good example. The turbo? Yep, bloody frustrating but which car are you going to buy that doesn’t increasingly rely on turbo chargers? In our case we kept driving but if course it had to be fixed. Terrain modes - they all have defaults. But the 300 relies on electronic terrain modes also. But these didn’t fail in our case. Sensors and microprocessors - all modern cars are loaded with them. Adaptive suspension - on our case it wasn’t the fancy electronics it was a mechanical nut. But on that note I’d point out that many toyota owner towers / off roaders don’t rely on their stock shock absorbers, they pay even more to upgrade them and sometimes even put in airbags. So - no issue, get the simplicity v complexity perspective, but new cars aren’t going to be simple and increasingly there will be software upgrades and in my view new cars will generally be more reliable and components swapped out than old cars ever were. Let’s hope Toyota gets a grip on DPFs and emissions compliance before too long besides that’s coming like a steam train across lots of its markets - and it’s a bit surprising they didn’t incorporate it in a new 300 model. Bottom line is if you want simplicity I don’t think it’s going to be available in the future. If the safety of brand is a key part of the decision, no issue from me. They are mostly functional cars. But there is a reason the latest troopy is a 2.8 litre turbo charged, auto. Great debate, appreciate it. We will keep our options wide open as technology changes. 😉

@@nextleveloz I guess that's why the older landcuisers that don't have fancy electronics are going up in value , end off the day you need a reliable 4x4 way out bush , computers , sensors and other stuff don't belong there

@@davidmilledge221 This is really good discussion point and more detailed than comments can really cope with. Some toyota models do hold their values well. It’s a function of demand as more disappear isn’t it? Supply and demand. Toyotas and parts were so ubiquitous (and cheap) and they did an excellent marketing job. Partly car and partly market perception. They did do simple pretty well. It’s a maddening thing, but there is an inherent contradiction - on one hand it’s said they are more reliable, but then everybody talks about the things they. had to fix out bush (so they did break) and then they talk about the dealer network smother could get help closer (so they did break and they did need dealer support). You won’t hear me knocking Toyotas generally at all. But they do break down, they had massive DPF issues as one example and even they are getting more complex. they aren’t increasing in value either. They do hold value better. But no question more recently there was a massive supply and demand spike due to pandemic and supply chain issues and frankly some of it was appalling profiteering. In our car there was no “technology” or fancy stuff failure that took us off the road. Ever. There was an electrical fault in a turbo and turbos increasingly are in all cars - and even that didn’t didn’t stop the car driving while we were remote. We drove another 280km towing. It went on a tilt bed to transport it to the dealer 700km away. A well known overlander influencer had a near new 79, and the low range selector rod failed. No low range in soft sand if i recall correctly. A $90 part ( and even then Toyota disputed the warranty claim). But no low range in an off-road car is pretty fundamental. And it was mechanical, not a sensor etc. We never lost low range or indeed any off road settings. not trying to convince you. Not bagging Toyotas - it’s not my thing. I get why they are popular. But I do get fascinated by perceptions based on comparing land cruisers of 20 years ago with range rovers of 20 years ago. Those who hope that cars are going to stay as simple, naturally asphyxiated boxes on wheels that they can completely rebuild up, are going to struggle for all sorts of reasons. Look at the Ineos Grenadier. It was going to be the old Defender. It isn’t that at all , because new models have to meet a modern market and regulatory obligations. So just as engine technology had to improve and cooling had to improve (remember the roads to summer time beach locations 40 years ago with all sorts pulled over taking the hot radiator caps off? That wasn’t reliable) the electronic systems will get more reliable, more modular, more plug in plug out. And of course if you even want an ICE engine in 10 years it’s going to have to have all sorts of things strapped to it to comply. Long and interesting. debate. But - the Defender is sophisticated. It’s also very good and maybe, maybe it’s another example of LR being a bit ahead of the curve. The bells and pings are bloody annoying at times. But I’d rather know well ahead of time something isn’t working as it should then find out because something has failed the hard way. We made some lovely friends on the Gibb, They had a Ranger and a. different make van. We had the Defender and a Zone. Couldn’t be more different but we both had a brilliant time. Different approaches. Sorry for the long note. I respect the thought and love the idea of building up an overlander from scratch etc, but it’s worth teasing some of this out.

Close but no cigar 😉. We went to Antarctica a few years ago. But you are warm. Or should I say cool? 🤔. Thank you though for the thought and for watching until the end! cheers David and Paula

@@nextleveloz I’m a bit sheepish now. lol. Something about white clouds then.

@@grahameroberts8109 😂. It was a cracking good guess. When we share you will surprised how close you were. cheers