The Best 4x4xFar - My Land Rover Defender 110

[adishell]

Hi all....on the request of the mods, here i am with the ownership interview of my Land Rover Defender 110.

She is a Defender 110 1985, 2.5 NA, its done 185000km+and still going strong as ever. My first impression when i saw the 110 and sat in the driver seat...man its built like a tank.

It does a top speed of about 110km/h, which isn't too fast,11km/l(city) 14km/l(highway) which is economical, wades through 0.75m of water easily,has a 2 speed gear box for both normal running and offroad with diffrential lock option.

Seats 7+1,no frills basic interior,ample space for luggage inside and on the roof rack,rear camera,sony xplod sound sys,75l tank capacity,can carry two spare wheels one on rear door and one on the bonnet(during long drives),i have Grandtrek 275/65/R16 on her,Body is made of aluminium so no rust at all,two fog lamps.
And Land Rovers can take very bad quality of Diesel which is available in remote areas.

Quirks of all Land Rovers...
leaks little amount of engine oil(like all British vehicles),a/c takes some time to be effective,noisy compared to present day vehicles,stereo volume has to be loud in order to be audible,has 3 diffrent keys for ignition,doors & bonnet,attractive to thieves,takes geting used to driving a LR one has to a be land Rover person to appreciate it.lol

Fun Things about LR...
"smooth sail' over rough roads,nice view from 'top' as LR is considerably taller than most suv's , fresh draught of air on the face through the characteristic front flaps,having other driver come upto u and ask how much i would sell it for(has happened couple of times with me)easy to fix, simple electronics,going up the parking lot in PVR in first gear with no accelerator pedal..does that in 2nd and 3rd gear too and basicaly go almost anywhere.

The best part about LR is one can do a lot of modification as they please....with ofcourse enough money
Here are a few i intend to do in the near future..
-fender winch,A bar with light force,roof tent,get a new set of tyres BFG 265/80/R16,put a snorkel,getting a 2"lift on the shock absorbers etc


Routine Maintainence involves..careful monitoring of the various lub oil levels and once in a while going under the vehicle to tighten lose nuts..Most of the spares are available in Bombay and Delhi,looks good dirty and muddy,dents and scratches are 'beauty spots'

Overall my experience of owning a Land Rover has been an awesome one so far...and going by the statistic "75% of the land Rovers ever produced around the world are still working" i sure will stick by that.
Any comments, queries, suggestions are welcome,Cheers.

[Dippy]

Wonderful review adi. You are very lucky to own that 110. I agree with every point you have put down. 185000 kms, how often do you get it serviced and from where? Please post more pictures of your car preferably in the daylight.

[evo]

Brilliant stuff adishell. Thats a hell lot of more character than most modern SUV`s

[aaggoswami]

0.75m water wading with ease !
The Landcruiser Prado sold presently in India have 700mm = 0.7m water wading capacity. I think your car can manage more.
This is one the real offroaders. If you want to offroad, LR, Landcuriser, Patrol and Pajero are the only surviving real offroaders.

A few more pictures will be welcome, specially shot alongside other mean suvs like Safari, Prado and Scorpio.

[vinod_nookala]

hey adishell,
You are one lucky man to have a defender 110. Looks good in the pic. Post more day light pics of the same. Its a treat to watch the beauty!

1. What is the horse power rating of this vehicle?
2. which engine does it have?
3. How much did you pick it for and from where?
4. How about spares issue?
5. did you install diff locks?
6.what are the problems you had other than the engine oil leak?

Defender is full of character. I donot know if it is as fun to drive. Do you think it is good offroad wtih such a heavy kerb weight?

[khan_sultan]

Adi, congrats buddy. A well written intro about the Landy. Now you need to get it dirty soon and need to join us bangalore off-roaders with your Landy. I am sure, more than you, we off-road enthusiasts would love it to see it in action and possibly learn a thing or two from it.

Cheersm

[adishell]

Originally Posted by Dippy

Wonderful review adi. You are very lucky to own that 110. I agree with every point you have put down. 185000 kms, how often do you get it serviced and from where? Please post more pictures of your car preferably in the daylight.

I do whatever maintainence i can by myself and take it to a friends Garage in Vasanthnagar, with the help of manuals and net. According to manual oil and filter change is to be done every 10000km but i do it at 7000km.Recently did the engine overhaul with new bearings,timing belt and piston rings..Still in the running-in period.

Originally Posted by evo

Brilliant stuff adishell. Thats a hell lot of more character than most modern SUV`s

Its way much more than suv, like they say abroad its not suv its a Land Rover.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

0.75m water wading with ease !
The Landcruiser Prado sold presently in India have 700mm = 0.7m water wading capacity. I think your car can manage more.
This is one the real offroaders. If you want to offroad, LR, Landcuriser, Patrol and Pajero are the only surviving real offroaders.

A few more pictures will be welcome, specially shot alongside other mean suvs like Safari, Prado and Scorpio.

yeah i have friends in UK who do a 'submarine' with a land rover,as completely submerged,so thats about in 2m of water,of course with the help of a snorkel.
I have no plans of doing that,lol.
i'll post pictures alongside those you mentioned when i get a chance.

Originally Posted by vinod_nookala

hey adishell,
You are one lucky man to have a defender 110. Looks good in the pic. Post more day light pics of the same. Its a treat to watch the beauty!

1. What is the horse power rating of this vehicle?
2. which engine does it have?
3. How much did you pick it for and from where?
4. How about spares issue?
5. did you install diff locks?
6.what are the problems you had other than the engine oil leak?

Defender is full of character. I donot know if it is as fun to drive. Do you think it is good offroad wtih such a heavy kerb weight?

thanks man.
1.its a 130bhp(I know LR's are famous for being underpowered,but its torquey alright,can tow a 2ton trailer with ease)
2.its has a land rover 2.5NA engine
3.Dad got it from Delhi.
4.Small spares can be got in Bangalore with a little searching, for major ones I get them from Bombay.
5.All Land Rovers Defender come with diffrential lock on both axles.
6.Other problems,mostly its electrical(i'll be changing the loom),faulty fuel gauge,Diff lock hand brake indicators not glowing,fuel tank had a leak, wobbly speedometer, wires all around the dash and the biggest parking problem.lol

Yes Defender is full of character, fun to drive too and i said one has to be a Land Rover kind of person to really appreciate and as for your question with its kerb weight affecting its offroad performance,all i can say its at home offroad.i hope you have heard of the Camel Trophy and G4 Challenge.
Cheers

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Adi, congrats buddy. A well written intro about the Landy. Now you need to get it dirty soon and need to join us bangalore off-roaders with your Landy. I am sure, more than you, we off-road enthusiasts would love it to see it in action and possibly learn a thing or two from it.

Cheersm

Thanks Sultan.And i am really not good at off roading, so guess i'll also will be learning from all you guys with 4x4's.
Cheers

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by adishell

...
Its way much more than suv, like they say abroad its not suv its a Land Rover.

True. I think that Landy owners would take that statement like blasphemy.

.. i am really not good at off roading, so guess i'll also will be learning from all you guys with 4x4's.
Cheers

Don't worry one bit -- does not matter at all. Just get your Landy and I am sure you will be surprised at what the Landy can do and I bet you will FORVER forget the 'PVR 1st floor going up without ABC ' part .

[sharanramesh]

there was a saying something like -" the first vehicle more than 40% of the world had seen (back in the 60s & 70s) was a land rover", they were by far the best off roaders and the defender was the most purest form of this vehicle. let me check into my hard disk as i have a review of Richard Hammonds (of TopGear fame) defender and how he would like to do it up.

great car and even i am curious where you got your hand on this and how much did u pay. LR are even selling a brand new defender in the indian market now - not sure of how much it costs though.

[adishell]

Originally Posted by sharanramesh

there was a saying something like -" the first vehicle more than 40% of the world had seen (back in the 60s & 70s) was a land rover", they were by far the best off roaders and the defender was the most purest form of this vehicle. let me check into my hard disk as i have a review of Richard Hammonds (of TopGear fame) defender and how he would like to do it up.

great car and even i am curious where you got your hand on this and how much did u pay. LR are even selling a brand new defender in the indian market now - not sure of how much it costs though.

yup that saying is true.
LR selling Defender in India, well i am not too sure about that, because the only authorised LR dealer in India is in Bombay, I had gone there asking if they had Spares for Defender, they said they dint, but would ship them over from UK for me on special order. They only kept Discovery,Freelander and Range Rovers.Hell Expensive as they were CBU's.

Besides LR plans to stop production of the Defender in 2010.

[4X4er]

Originally Posted by adishell

thanks man.
1.its a 130bhp(I know LR's are famous for being underpowered,but its torquey alright,can tow a 2ton trailer with ease)
2.its has a land rover 2.5NA engine
3.Dad got it from Delhi.
4.Small spares can be got in Bangalore with a little searching, for major ones I get them from Bombay.
5.All Land Rovers Defender come with diffrential lock on both axles.
6.Other problems,mostly its electrical(i'll be changing the loom),faulty fuel gauge,Diff lock hand brake indicators not glowing,fuel tank had a leak, wobbly speedometer, wires all around the dash and the biggest parking problem.lol

Yes Defender is full of character, fun to drive too and i said one has to be a Land Rover kind of person to really appreciate and as for your question with its kerb weight affecting its offroad performance,all i can say its at home offroad.i hope you have heard of the Camel Trophy and G4 Challenge.
Cheers


Thanks Sultan.And i am really not good at off roading, so guess i'll also will be learning from all you guys with 4x4's.
Cheers

Hey Adi Congrats, I am sure you are going to enjoy years of driving your Landy.

I would like to draw your attention to the Difflock feature, If you looked carefully you will see you have no controls for locking the diffs in your axle. however the difflock on your shift lever locks the center diff that locks the front and rear drives in the transfer case.

I am in the process of installing Air Operated locking differentials front and rear for my landy. I will post installation process on the forum.

Best Wishes and Happy driving. I am amongst those who are waiting to see more pics of your Landy./////////

[adishell]

Originally Posted by 4X4er

Hey Adi Congrats, I am sure you are going to enjoy years of driving your Landy.

I would like to draw your attention to the Difflock feature, If you looked carefully you will see you have no controls for locking the diffs in your axle. however the difflock on your shift lever locks the center diff that locks the front and rear drives in the transfer case.

I am in the process of installing Air Operated locking differentials front and rear for my landy. I will post installation process on the forum.

Best Wishes and Happy driving. I am amongst those who are waiting to see more pics of your Landy./////////

Yeah sorry its the central diff lock.Hey another landy in bangalore which one do u have?And where do u get yours serviced?

Air operated diff locks(front n rear), i remember seeing them in landcruiser, what other mods have u done to your landy?will put more pics up tonight and hope to see your landys too
Best wishes and Happy Driving to you too

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by adishell

She is a Defender 110 1985, 2.5 NA, its done 185000km+and still going strong as ever.

Another Defender on the forum and one that's been around for a while! Congrats.

Originally Posted by adishell

Air operated diff locks(front n rear), i remember seeing them in landcruiser

You get ARB Airlockers which are easy enough to install.

A small correction - I noticed that you've mentioned power output at 130bhp for the 2.5 NA (1985), this should be 83bhp. Even the current diesel Defenders put out only about 115 bhp. You know already that this baby is not about power!!!!

[sharanramesh]

Originally Posted by adishell

yup that saying is true.
LR selling Defender in India, well i am not too sure about that

if you check the car prices section of the topgear india magazine, under land rover you will see defender listed with the price specified as NA. that is why i think the defender is sold in india?

are u sure they are gonna discontinue it in 2010, highly unlikely. they probably will introduce a new version, but i dont think they will discontinue it.

[adishell]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Another Defender on the forum and one that's been around for a while! Congrats.




You get ARB Airlockers which are easy enough to install.

A small correction - I noticed that you've mentioned power output at 130bhp for the 2.5 NA (1985), this should be 83bhp. Even the current diesel Defenders put out only about 115 bhp. You know already that this baby is not about power!!!!

Thanks man, but I have had it for about 2 years now.Who else has a Defender on the forum?
o yeah sorry..i dont have the original manual, have a pdf from the net for a manual and there it was mentioned 130bhp(typo i guess), since you mentioned i checked around on the net through VIN(Vehicle Identification Number), its 85bhp to be precise.

As of now i am happy with Cent. Diff locks,ARB can wait till i have money to spare for those

Originally Posted by sharanramesh

if you check the car prices section of the topgear india magazine, under land rover you will see defender listed with the price specified as NA. that is why i think the defender is sold in india?

are u sure they are gonna discontinue it in 2010, highly unlikely. they probably will introduce a new version, but i dont think they will discontinue it.

Maybe the price was NA because,it works out very expensive because land Rovers come in India as CBU's and generally people prefer to go in for comfort as their top priority, hence i guess the price is on request types.

About discontinuing Defenders in 2010, i read it in Land Rover Owners(UK based Magzine), reason I dont remember, maybe its because a Defenders carbon footprint is very high(the Europeans are very much concerned about that).