Landy Defender 110xs (2010)

Does anyone have any experience with the ‘new’ style Defenders? I used to own a Series 2 and that was my daily runner for a year, fun but impractical and now I have the opportunity to buy a new vehicle as a daily runner/load Lugger/bike carrier and my Landy Radar is pinging again. I was going to buy a VW T5 Kombi but foolishly looked at what else I could get for my budget (£18k).

Do I need my head checking?

As you say, impractical and I don’t think that’s changed much. Ignore your heart, it’s silly.

If I had the choice I’d jump on the T5 and get all inappropriate with it in a heart beat.

One of the estates I know has one and it is utter shite. It appears that the only thing better than the previous versions is the heater! Has spent more time in the stealer than working.
He’s had fun and games with the loan vehicles though, the Evoque was hopeless and wouldn’t even negotiate a slightly sloping grassy field, he was well impressed with where the Range Rover Vogue would go though, don’t think the stealer was when they saw the state of the thing after he’d finished with it!

New Defender? Off road and muddy? Na way-o!

Or are you talking about a proper square Defender?

Up your budget a tad & get this 110

well I bought one this year

110 xs utility (van back) (vat reclaimable)

been great 10k miles in no probs, but was aware of how they drive/behave, so wasn’t ecpecting saloon car luxury

I was in similar position to you, but with that money you have, get a price on a new one – rather than buy one for 18k out of warranty, with what 40-50k miles on?

if you can get the vat back mine was about £25k+vat
county models now have traction control and abs (only on xs last year)
also some earlier ones were £500 yr road tax, new ones are £210
so consider spending/financing the extra on a new one, you will also be getting one of the last ones, and speculation is they will be much sought after In years to come

slow depreciation on these make a new buy less stupid
go have a go in one, the 2.2 engine has been great with 6 speed box

This is the defender you want really! 😈

Tad over of budget though.

I’ve been running a 2010 XS 110 utility for 3 years now. I’ve done just coming up for 50k miles in that time with no major reliability issues. I find it very comfortable (I’m 5′ 11″)and can drive 350 plus miles a day in it to and from sites without any aches pains, etc. With the 6 speed you can cruise comfortably at 65 – 70 and you’ve got air con, heated seats, heated windscreen. No getting away from the fact that its got a thirst problem (think 375 miles for every £90 of diesel) but the non-existent depreciation more than cancels this out. The biggest smile factor is that you don’t feel the ‘pressure’ to drive quickly. Let the reps in the euro boxes battle it out, whilst you ‘trundle along’ minding your own business and getting there 2 minutes later.

All normal Landrover characteristics irrelevant as you know them anyway. 1 thing that was a negative was the dash design. The old one with great holes to lose cartridges and nails was much better and the new ones have no front vents. Otherwise fine. I would sap my Isuzu engine 110 for one.

A lot up our way are buying an old donor 110, and paying a garage for an every last nut n bolt rebuild, with galvanising and improved everything. Seems to work out a lot cheaper than new, and compared to new ones fewer bit to go wrong electrically as well as cheaper bits when it does go wrong. Lix toll seem to be churning out far more returns than new – and are not pushing sales of new ones. £18k gets a lot of refurb…

“New Defender? Off road and muddy? Na way-o!

Or are you talking about a proper square Defender? “

what are you smoking ?

wouldnt buy a puma engined one if you payed me.

rather have the td5 or even put the money into an 2.8TGV on a galvy chassis from a 300 tdi. would i spend 20-30k on a puma . not a chance.

puma engine is great I them, the reason I bought one, Ive got a transit running basically the same engine, hammered it now for 4 years, never had any probs, passed EVERY mot while ive had it

if you haven’t tried them offroad, low box, using the anti stall function you wont know,

this feature alone makes them better than the td5 offroad – ask any landrover insructor

If you’re over 5ft 8″ tall, think again, despite all the improvements in engine/brakes/gearbox/heater, the cabin is actually smaller than ever and the driving position terrible, the handbrake is still wedged down by your calf, the window winder sticks in your leg and anything more than 1/4 lock on the steering means smacking the window with your elbow.

I’d like one for the utility aspect, but drive one occasionally on girlfriend’s farm, and it reminds me very quickly why I shouldn’t get one.

Unless you need the off road capability they are bloody awful to drive on a daily basis.
I loved and really miss the 110 van I had, but in practical terms, it was just stupid.

18k would buy a very nice vehicle – I’m not sure a T5 would be on my list though.

T5 4 motion and rasie suspension if you really want to be all ‘offroady’ 😉

Haters going to hate hard to hit your leg on window wipers in a car with electric windows.

Im 6ft 3 and get on with mine just fine. Use to drive 60 miles a fay. Got cobra buckets in mine and a small wheel though.

Mines is a 1987 model. Pumas are smaller. And the transit engines a joke.

I wouldnt like to commute a long way daily in mine again but as a tool for winter it does the job .

“if you haven’t tried them offroad, low box, using the anti stall function you wont know,”

Or any 4x4with a real transmission . My frontera goes anywhere my land rover goes…. Although it has bigger more mud orientated tires a suspension lift and a body lift to give it the clearance and articulation the landy has.

Despite all the haters the car is an icon for a reason!

There’s no sound deadening material – so it’s a bit noisy.

They are heavy and strong – so they’re slightly thirsty.

The driving position is cramped for a reason. It’s designed to put the driver as near to the front of the car, and the front wheel position in particular, to make it easier to see where the wheels are going during off-roading.

It’s basic but functional. Just under two years ago I spent a whole day driving off-road in a 110XS at Eastnor Castle and the car was faultless. I didn’t feel tired or fatigued and would happily drive one all day every day.

I’d love one and I’d have a 110XS in a heartbeat 🙂

PS; Cozz – lovely motor, nice colour too!

Big landy fan here but I’m not sure if I’d have a defender as an everyday car, I’d love to build one up in the future. I’d have a go in a discovery if I were you, still has that landrover feeling of sitting up there and not being in a rush, the 3 I have seems to have as much usable room as my mates 110 and the driving position is a lot better, at 6’2″ I always think a defender could use a few more inches leg and elbow room.

As for reliability, they are more complicated than a normal car, but the beauty of the marque is that there are so many forums out there that will help you fix a problem that they’re pretty easy to stay on top of.

I love Landys to bits, but would never own a Defender. Part of that is being 6′ 5″ and banging my knees on the corner of the dash every time I get into the damn thing (and having no leg or headroom either), but there is also the speed (slow), economy (poor), road noise (loud), handling (bad) and build quality (gappy) to consider.

My heart says yes, but my head wants to run a mile. For what I need, my Passat is far, far better. To be honest, even when I was spending two, three nights a week driving over fields shooting rabbits, my Frontera (leather seats, aircon, low ratio box) was adequate. That also went fast, was relatively quiet, had legroom and headroom, did 35+ to the gallon and a decent boot for the dogs.

If I had to get another 4×4, I’d be tempted by a late model Frontera with the V6 petrol in it, then convert it to LPG (so that I can afford to run it). At a push, I’d buy a Santana. My dad’s old tree surgeon pointed them out as license built Depender 110s built for the Spanish military. Apparently they are larger inside than normal 110s, so may fit me better. 55 plate examples are a lot cheaper than a comparable 110 and they are built by Iveco (I think).

Santana went bust didnt they ?

Which frontera did you have that did 35+ to the gallon.

Mines used to do 30 in its stock state with road tires.now its closer to 27 2.2dti

My 2.5td land rover was giving 28 mpg on my 60 mile commute

They stopped making the Landy-like at a 55 plate as I recall, I think when their license ran out.

I had 2.2DTi Limited that got used for a lot of long journeys. Most of the time it had heavily road biased tyres on and I tried to drive it at 65-70. I’ll admit that the economy used to drop off a lot over that or when I was towing.

The 3.2 V6 that my mate had was lucky to hit 27 mpg, but it was great fun. Reminded me of being in my old Omega MV6, but higher up off the ground. And on fields…

T5s are great

Land Rover is probably the most iconic car on the planet

license built Depender 110s built for the Spanish military

The Santana and then later Iveco Mastif had cart (leaf) springs with the associated ride, handing, and off road ability. It was more an updated Series Land Rover than a Defender. Coil springs was the single biggest advance in the life of the ‘real’ Land Rover, ie SI through to the latest Defenders.

Having ran TDI Defenders (90 and 110) as main drive for a number of years I’d have a new 110XS in a heartbeat if one was in my budget.