"new" (2007) Defender First drive

I had a new Defender in today for some bits and bobs.

I had to collect and deliver to the main dealer and I must admit that it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.

It had noticeably more torque than a standard Td5 and not too far off my chipped 110. Even changing gear at 2,000 rpm in every gear it pulled well enough.

50Mph is about 1,700 Rpm in 6th

The dash is not as cheap as I had feared that it might be and the aircon actually did something .

They have done away with those waste of space sound deadening pans under the engine and transmission and the anti-roll bars that they stopped fitting in about 2003 have come back again.

Looking at the forward facing rear seats in the back, they will not be an easy fit to the earlier Defenders as the seat boxes are a different profile.

When it comes to the maintenance side of things, what they give you with one hand they takeaway with the other.

Very tempting !!! But as with all Landrovers it is best not to touch the first few years worth of production.

Reply to
Marc Draper
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On or around Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:15:08 +0100, Marc Draper enlightened us thusly:

I think the key is going to be how long the engine lasts. There have been stories that the duratorq in the carign hands of White Van Man isn't as durable as it's name implies. The figures on paper always did look good...

how slow does it go in first-low though? Can one do the all-important

1.5mph at idle for pissing off car drivers in traffic jams?

yeah. I was thinking of going over to Like's one day and seeing if they've got a demonstrator. Although if I were in the market for a new 110 I'd be very tempted by the Santana.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Yes first seamed lower than that of my Td5 and the anti-stall software works better

Wash your mouth out !!!!! I can understand that series 3 buffes might find the Santana attractive but if you have lived with a modern Defender (Post2002) then there is no competition.

Reply to
Marc Draper

On or around Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:31:36 +0100, Marc Draper enlightened us thusly:

I'm not convinced by the engines. I've nothing against the defender, and I was quite happy with the 1986 110, for that matter. It's just that the other improvements to the Santana make it very attractive, bearing in mind the lower cost. The Iveco engines are pretty well regarded, AFAIK and are used in motors up to about 6T GVW.

Personally, I reckon that LR would have done better to sort the body at the time they went to the wider track axles with the 90/110 - looking at the 110 the other day with the idea of modifying the back body to improve legroom in the back - the rear floor could be about 4" wider both sides before there's a risk of the wheels hitting the wheelboxes. 6" wider overall would be a doddle, and would allow for the door to be made wider. They could also have deleted the seatbox and put in a flat floor as they've done on the Santana. This would make the CSW a much more user-friendly vehicle - as it is, the setabox restricts the middle row foot room and if you fit forward-facing seats in the rear, they have to be close together in the middle to have anywhere to put your feet.

Overall, the Santana has a lot going for it, the only thing against it really is the leaf spring suspension which is probably a bit less comfortable, although the parabolic springs aren't too bad either.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Anyone know if the original problems with the first fly-by-wire TD5s were fixed, in that they couldn't handle water in the footwells due to the accelerator potentiometer not working when wet? I remember reading in one of the landy comics (when I still bought them) that they took them on an off-road challenge event but they all had to get out of a river using tickover only as they couldn't accelerate due to water in the footwells.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

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