 | Home > General & Technical (L663) > Lower forum activity? |
 
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| Ianh Member Since: 17 Sep 2018 Location: Essex Posts: 2457  
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The people who buy and own the new defenders and classic defenders (inc landrovers and series) tend to be very different.
The owners of the classic defenders, land rovers and series very much tend to work on their vehicles themselves. This ranges from basic servicing to full restorations. They tend to hold on to their vehicles for many years. The owners of the new defenders tend to have all their servicing and repairs done by dealers and some by independents. Most don’t intend to hold on to their vehicles for more than a few years. Therefore after a few discussions on how much they enjoy their vehicles and how to make use of all the bells and whistles the conversations tend to dry up. Also the new defender owners don’t tend to be that fixated with the defender, so are more likely to move onto another manufacturer or say a Range Rover form JLR after 3 plus years. Hence after a few years the forum conversations diminish. The classic Defender , Landrover and series owners have endless conversations on how to service, maintain, enhance, modify, rebuild and fix their vehicles. New members join to enjoy a classic defender and more conversations ensue. Hence the conversations on the forums continue. |
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31st Jul 2025 12:14pm |
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| XplusYplusZ Member Since: 16 Aug 2021 Location: UK Posts: 545 |
A LOT of bugs have been fixed, a lot of questions have been answered in this forum, and it seems these vehicles are a lot more reliable than LRs of old (and complicated EVs of the future - I'm looking at you Polestar!).
I'd agree with the above though, many L663 owners aren't spannering on their vehicles themselves yet - since most are still under warranty (imagine that old defender owners, a warranty!). I'd also agree that many owners will be moving on to newer vehicles once the lease/finance/warranty runs out. Many will pick up another new L663 because it's really hard to beat. The 5+ year old vehicles will of course start to filter onto the secondary market. And as they age, depreciate and fall out of warranty, I imagine similar levels of DIY mechanics will begin. Conversations and forum activity will pop up as with all other car forums. |
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31st Jul 2025 12:42pm |
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| H1Tad Member Since: 20 Jul 2024 Location: Maine Posts: 161 
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It's not just Defender forums. All automotive forums are slowly dying due to social media. Which is terrible. Social media has no built up "knowledge base" that becomes a searchable database of accumulated knowledge like forums. Social media platforms want constant new content being posted so they purposely hamstring their search features.
I run the longest-running forum for the Hummer (hummernetworkforums.com) - it's been in operation since 1996 when it was simply an email list. We've had a dramatic drop in activity over the past two years since we migrated from an ancient version of phpbb2 to Xenforo.  Click image to enlarge My hobby project at the moment is trying to take all of the posts in my forum - going back to 1996, and training an AI Chatbot to coexist in the search function. This might actually kill the forum eventually but it will be so incredibly useful. This is what I do at my 9 to 5 so all I really need is a nor'easter to blow in this winter and lock me in my house for 2 days to get it done. 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package 2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser |
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31st Jul 2025 1:19pm |
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| rustandoil Member Since: 08 Sep 2012 Location: Cotswolds Posts: 864  
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Ask a younger person, (say 30ish) what a forum is and they'll likely tell you it's a group on Facebook.... A structured forum beats a series of posts on Facebook any day of the week!
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31st Jul 2025 1:27pm |
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| mini Anaconda Member Since: 23 Aug 2016 Location: Thames Valley Posts: 832
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Despite being under 30 and a teenager when I joined this forum, I 100% agree that a forum beats Facebook. BORG - Bucks & Oxon 4x4 Response Group
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31st Jul 2025 2:15pm |
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 4316 
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Facebook is really for the 40 to 60 generation now isn't it. My 75 year old Mum post more on Facebook than any of her grand kids. The youngsters have moved on to other things. Tiktok, Instagram, who-knows-what.?
I keep meaning to get more into Reddit, there seems to be really good knowledge on many subjects on there. Definitely some Landy stuff on ther:e. https://www.reddit.com/r/LandroverDefender/ I need to put some effort into seeing how it works. I like a good old Forum like this one because the knowledge doesn't evaporate. Trying to find an old post on FB for example is nearly impossible, they want you to keep churning new stuff. 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS |
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31st Jul 2025 2:39pm |
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| rustandoil Member Since: 08 Sep 2012 Location: Cotswolds Posts: 864
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... I was trying to generalise on a younger person's perception of what a forum was ☺️
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31st Jul 2025 2:49pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 20937
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I think most people are still around, myself included, just haven’t got much to say or post about really for a while, and there is a lot of people who are very busy.
Most of us come on quite often. Now there is the split with the different Defender generations as well, some convocation is engaged with TD5 and earlier, Puma & then L663 new. So those subsections are split, always were really but with the influx of the L633 it tends to be some threads that prevail on that subject. So it can be a bit quieter as some of us naturally engage with threads with the generation that we own. You don’t get any depth of convocation and intricate detail on social as to what you get on here. Plus on that, on social, you have to be careful with what you post etc anyway with security in mind etc.  ____\We|Will|Win/___
____/🇬🇧🇺🇸\____ _//*⛽️🛢️⚙️🧰*\\_ |
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31st Jul 2025 6:52pm |
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| lightning Member Since: 23 Apr 2009 Location: High Peak, Derbyshire Posts: 3314
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As above really.
Also a lot of new Defenders (90% according to my local dealer) are bought on PCP. So they're moved on before they get out of warranty and need repairs that the owner has to do. The old Defenders need constant maintenance and people tend to own them for a lot longer. |
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31st Jul 2025 9:05pm |
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| WizzardPrang Member Since: 05 Nov 2020 Location: Hertfordshire Posts: 178
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I joined in 2019 when I had my 200Tdi. Once I'd moved to my L663 in 2020 I found the Faults & Mods topics very interesting and useful. Over time a lot of the mods seem to have centred around the ID tool which is something I've not found a need for. Hence I'm mostly lurking
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I ditched Facebook years ago and doubt it has got any better. My view: there's no substitute for an active forum for tech tips and advice. So,  Current vehicle: 2020 Defender 110S
Gone: Defender 90 HT 200Tdi, Discovery Sport, Freelander 2 Insta: wizzardprang |
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31st Jul 2025 10:24pm |
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| Crazymind Member Since: 11 Jun 2024 Location: Glasgow Posts: 305
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This forum will be jumping when second hand prices will drop below 30k.
High reliability so far has not helped the forum |
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1st Aug 2025 8:13am |
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| A1C6 Member Since: 15 Oct 2024 Location: Australia Posts: 71 
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Wouldn't bother with reddit mate! The people, especially in the L663 communities, are quite silly! There was a post with somebody worried about the colour of the plastics in their car not being black, and there were 10+ posts telling them to take it to the dealer and get a warranty claim. I instantly noticed they have the lighter plastic finish, and it was never black to begin with! Also thanks for your clarification guys. Current (LR): 2023 Defender 110 X D300 - Eiger Grey, Style 5094 20", Rhino Rack Roofrack <br> Former 2022 Defender 110 V8 P525 - Carpathian Grey 2021 Defender 90 XS Edition P400 - Formerly black, wrapped blue on sides w/ black bonnet |
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7th Aug 2025 3:32am |
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