why ?

[les234]

Can some one please explain why..... if landrover spares are so cheep, so im always told & there basic mechanno engineering, simplicity at it worst, why are these dinosaur 4x4's landrovers so expensive??

I been watching several over the last 6+ weeks come & go, re-advertised & advertised again, with ludicrous price tags. I looked & tried 13 of the things.

tdi/td5 Defenders have in general have bad economy,poor ride, wrong gearing, turning circle of a oil tanker, rattle, shake, cramp cabins, what heater !! no door or any where pockets for bits & bats, rot like nothing else , almost 60 years of practice & they still cannot get them right...what is going for them ?? ok there short & a handy size, & ............. ??

£5k buys a mint low mileage Jeep,nissan, toyota or £5k shed patchwork chassis landy theres just no comparison , i must be missing something !!

[spannerman69]

the only thing you have over looked is that they are a british icon as such they hold their value

[scrunt]

Simples really,
If you want or need a Land Rover and particularly a Defender type then they are not built by Toyota, Nissan etc.

If you are happy with one of those and the price suits, best just buy one and forget about Land Rovers.

george

[les234]

[aogborn753]

I think you either love them are hate them don't think there is any in-between you defintly don't drive them if you are going to way up the pros are cons.

[lambert]

The problem here as well is comparing vehicles on price point. At 5k a land rover will be a mid to late 90's model where as a jap will likely be an early naughties model. As such it is unfair to compare cars that can be a much as 10 or more years different in age. By the same token though if Toyota did a direct competitor to defender but with all the Toyota reliability and finess land rovers sales would fall through the floor.

[Jimbee]

If their merits need explaining.......don't get one, you'll hate it.

[brava199]

there iconns that tke a hell of a beating and chep for parts i got a disco now also a series 3 with no heats and bumpy as hell but its a animal off road theres just somthing about drive the clasic that puts a smile on your face words dont describe the feeling

[jamie_grieve]

[jamie_grieve]

[lambert]

[psulli16]

Landies,,,,,,,, I know why you mean, noises, poor mpg , rattles the list is endless BUT once you have one you'll love it .


And they get you to some amazing places

[spannerman69]

as far as i`m aware the only thing that can legally tow a 3.5 tonne trailer , other than a big van /small truck ,is a 130 defender .

[teamidris]

Fixing our jeep cherokee is going to be finantially pointless. It's worth scrap money right now, even though it still drives about. The parts are mad for it!
But if it were a 1999 short wheel base landy we'd fix it easy. They are known to have a really long working life for this reason.

Even the Td5 D2 we run is repairable. It just seems a lot easier to fix than the jeep. (same age) Being really well built and good to drive isn't going to save jeepy

To be honest though, I thought the big Yota held a high price better than anything (rightly so)

[lambert]

[David_LLAMA4x4]

[jamie_grieve]

[lambert]

5k is not my budget.

[jamie_grieve]

[lambert]

Sorry. Mea culpa.

[Kpautos]

It's a peculiar thing, I now run a 110 landy, in comparison to my previous off roader.,, a Toyota hi lux surf, and a diahatsu plus I won't drive anything carwise that isn't German, it's,,, badly built, slow, inefficient, noisy,leaky, ect ect, but like most owners I LOVE it! Plus it's cheap and simple to keep on the road, parts are plentiful and available from literally hundreds of places, it's really just a matter of personal taste, no rights and no wrongs just differences !!

[Let Luce]

I love my landies, but Land Rover stoped making decent vehicles sometime in the 70's. I wouldn't go near a new one. If I was in the market for a newish 4x4 it'd probably be a toyota troupie, imported from Europe. As I'm not in the market, I'll stick with my '72 series three and my '77 101.

[les234]

[zng109]

[RichardD]

This is a subject that is done to death, however as the point seems need labouring here goes again.

Leaving the idea of vehicle character aside for the moment. My previous 110 was 5 years old had done over 100,000 miles and, thanks to LR warranty, had no rust. It drove almost like new (I know, I have a brand new one now) with only normal servicing, and if I needed spares they are easily found, cheap and relatively easy to fit at home.

Agreed, it is noisy, less than spacious inside for passengers but with a cubby box that can house a family of illegal immigrants and more inexpensive storage accessories than one can imagine, storing your bitsnpieces is hardly a problem. I often drive 300+ miles in a day and then jump in to run some messages without a twinge.

Again, after 5 years/100,000 miles it sold for £15,000 which is 55% residual value and when valeted and parked next to my brand new one it was difficult to tell the difference from more than 5' away.

Both cars, old and new, have been 100% reliable with any problems being caused either by me, aftermarket bits or dumb bad luck. There is not another vehicle like it available in the UK for ANY money. Those who speak darkly of unreliable Defenders are comparing cars that are sometimes decades older than the Jap cars. And if we're talking about rust ...... SJ's and Vitaras ... legendary rustbuckets.

The Defender is an icon, made in Britain irrespective of global company ownership, and is sought after because it is damn good vehicle. I looked at buying a new Jap 4x4 with the same spec level as my 110XS and the nearest equivalent was over £12,000 more, not vat recoverable and would have depreciated to 35% residual in 3 years/36k miles.

I challenge you to show me a vehicle available in the UK today that comes close in capacity, practicality, economy and value for money (and I mean ALL of them, not one at a time). And I mean like for like - don't point at a 2005 Yota and a 1995 300Tdi.

[RichardD]

As an aside, I recently had the AA attend my new 110 because of an electrical fault cause by my laziness (I'd not refitted the -ve terminal to battery properly ) and the AA man glanced at the car and decided the battery must be dead saying "if its the original battery it's not a surprise it's died - in a car of that age" The car and battery were (are) only 7 months old.

He'd looked at the B reg (private) and assumed it was a 1984 model. He then looked at the 2002 90 parked next to the 110 and got very confused as the 2 looked like new.

So .... Defenders are still considered 'new' if less then 15 years old. Run them for 10 or 20 years, change the chassis for £2500 and run for another 20 years. Keep it serviced and it'll be reliable. Roll it over in a 4' deep river and properly drown it yet a day's work and £500 (new screen, oil, fuel and filters) will see it back to work - just remember to take to dead trout out of the footwell.

Jap 4x4s, Discos and RRs are very nice but nothing matches the Defender!

[Wilbert Robinson]

Hear Hear, ^^^^ wot he said ^^^^

[lambert]

[TheClunk]

With the amount of spares available for a Land Rover, you could pretty much build one from scratch for less than a new one.

[RichardD]