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Home > My New Defender (L663) > 1st birthday today

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Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3750

1st birthday today Yes 12th June 2020 I collected my D240 Pangea Green First Edition 110 from the dealership after a hugely long 7 day wait from order to delivery! The car was bought from dealer group stock but wasn’t at the dealership I used to buy it. It had 49 miles on the odo on collection So what’s happened in those twelve months? Factory build on extras - advanced tow program with deployable tow hook and the advanced tracker system (any form of security system was an option when I bought the car, now you upgrade form the basic system to more am]nd more advanced systems) Mechanical Issues - not one Electronics Issues requiring more than a reboot - not one Bits fallen off - Nothing Bits removed - spare wheel cover and rear lashing down loop supplied by the factory Bits added - front bash plate, 2 rear recovery eyes, roof rails and cross bars, 5x 20” Duratrac tyres, Expel self-repairing paint protection film on front, bonnet and both sides up to the window line, converted Jeep rear door picnic table, full set Melville and Moon Canvas seat covers, 3DPrinting ipad mount Bits waiting to add - extended wheelarch set Fuel burned - I’ve added £1690 of mostly Sainsbury’s forecourt diesel Oil consumption - nil added but dipstick level has dropped from being on the max level on delivery to about ¾ full. Adblu - I’ve added 3.8ltr in 9590 miles - in that time the car has driven minimal city miles as I live out in the country and have 16 miles to the nearest supermarket on the outskirts of the nearest town. For some reason LR sells Adblu in weird measures - the screw on bottles contain 1.89ltrs - why not 2litrs? The car is going to be booked in for an oil change at 10,000 miles purely because I don’t think as a private owner intending to keep the car at least until the end of the warranty it is good for the oil life to go 2 years/ 19000 miles. I also wonder how efficient the oil filter is after that long in use. General Comments - 3 months into ownership I was getting demoralized with the car - a seemingly incurable water leak into the rear passenger area , rattles from A pillar trim, rattles from along the top of the windscreen above 60mph, rattles from all 4 doors in the top right corner and rattles from the B pillars. It took 5 visits to the dealership to cure everything - the water leak was traced back to the small section of the signature square on the rear offside passenger door that had been fitted without any seal……….. see the Powerfuluk video about removing the “squares”. Everything was put right by September 2020 - since when it’s been great. Mine is a very early build car (built in February/March 2020)and I appreciate that new models have teething problems but LR has been severely let down by it’s employees in Nitra trying to cut corners or simply not fitting parts properly. It sure was frustrating and ended up with me threatening to reject the car just to get rattles and leaks that the car shouldn’t have reached the end of the production line with fixed! Small niggles - the rheostat for the dash illumination is totally useless, it doesn’t seem to be connected to the lighting! Impressions of the D240 - I’ve read here and on other forums that people think the D240 lacks power/ torque. I would agree with the torque being a bit low but it doesn’t lack. My only real complaint about it is the mapping that caused it to Rev to 3000 revs (albeit very smoothly if not quietly) before it shifts up from 1st 2nd and 2nd to third - the other up shifts are fine and made at sensible rpm. I’m perfectly happy with the engine/ gearbox combo otherwise. Once moving the car is very quiet and refined- certainly way way better than the BMW powered L322 TD6 I ran years ago. I’m happy with fuel consumption having averaged 29.6mpg over the year, this includes what is a lot more time in low range than most owners will probably experience. I find it hard to drive off-road without paddle shifters -commandshift / sport mode by moving the shifter to the left and pulling the lever forwards to go down and back to go up isn’t intuitive, flicking a paddle is so much easier and doesn’t require hands to be taken off the steeringwheel off-road - this is a car for the 21st century not the 20th so how come no paddles? I have a small issue with the TR setting for Rockcrawl mode - if the gearbox is left in D in RockCrawl the revs go way way too high (like 3500- 4000 rpm high) before an automatic up shift happens. It sounds like the engine is screaming it’s nuts off. Peak torque is at 1400 rpm in the D240 (1250 in the 3.0ltr) so why make it rev so high? Off-road - I’m used to an old 90 and RRS off-road - L663 110’s are HUGE, wide and long, however the surround cam system is brilliant, the parking cam system could do with a software update to allow the Birdseye view to be used in the TR system - that would make an already brilliant cam package even better and really really useful for negotiating tight gates and narrow lanes/ bridges. So far there is only one of the TR programs I haven’t used - Sand mode, all the others have been utilised and sometime I’ve even used Auto and ATPC (which is immensely impressive but I prefer the pleasure of making my own decisions). The latest version of HDC is also brilliant and unlike the previous versions this one will hold the speed down to 2mph - having taught several other owners with no experience of Land Rovers off-road before this version of HDC is hugely confidence inspiring down at such slow speeds for beginners and with its very gradual activation, no more jerks as the brakes get applied. Outside of lock down times I don’t think there has been a week when my car hasn’t been on a field, Forest fire road, quarry or green lane - it is a very versatile vehicle. About the only thing I haven’t done with mine is tow anything other than to recover a previous generation Defender out of a mud bath on an off-road day from the safety of dry, mud free hard ground. So far I have not missed not having having the rear e-diff I so wanted, the car has done everything I have pointed it at with minimal wheel scrabble/ spinning / fuss. What would I change? Not much, it’s pretty dammed good as it is - paddle shifters would be nice but lots of owners will think them pointless, I would love the winch but have a dislike of recessed winches and £6500 for one is taking the p*ss even with a pedestrian friendly mounting plate. Yesterday I saw my first 110 Commercial/hard top hauling a triple axle livestock trailer to the local auction mart. The owner I know is new to LR as ever since I can remember his cherished number plate has been on a Mitsubishi pickup. It’s really hard to tell the commercial version 110 from the passenger version until you overtaken it and look back to see the tiny slot in the bulkhead letting light through ! I’m not even going to try to compare it to my 1996 TDi300 90 save to say in the last year the 90 has been driven less than 500 miles………… and has only done one off-road day in those 500 miles. Click image to enlarge Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! Last edited by Tim in Scotland on 12th Jun 2021 10:24am. Edited 2 times in total

12th Jun 2021 9:55am

Ryderoo Member Since: 28 Aug 2015 Location: South Bucks Posts: 1655

Happy Birthday ! That’s a great account of your 1st year. I’m hoping to start my journey with a new defender in a couple of weeks, reading your post makes me want it now. 🎂 Cheers Simon I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you 2015 Urban Truck 90 XS Santorini Black Hard Top - Reluctantly gone 2020 Discovery 5 Eiger Grey 3.0 SE 2021 Defender S D250 Santorini Black 110 Hard Top on the drive

12th Jun 2021 10:17am

Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3750

Forgot to say in the added things i bought the rubber boot mat as the very nice looking but useless plastic chequerplate-a-like Finish is very slippery and my kit box of things that didn’t fit under the boot floor slid across the boot on every corner taken at more than 30mph! Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed!

12th Jun 2021 10:47am

steve E Member Since: 06 Mar 2011 Location: Tenby Posts: 2073	Happy Birthday Enjoyed your write up 👍
12th Jun 2021 11:54am

Hairy Dan Member Since: 25 Apr 2013 Location: NW Durham Posts: 1330

Happy Birthday Great write up of your 1st year with the car, I do agree about the missing paddles, with my Disco 4's I always used the paddles when off-road, I never used them on road at all. I also agree about the sequential gearbox shifting for me it is back to front and not intuitive. Can I ask how much you paid for your Expel self-repairing paint protection film? I will be getting mine ceramic coated as my present car has that and it has been brilliant at keeping it clean but you can't have too much protection on the paint as these newer paints do seem to scratch very easily  Cheers Ian -------------------- 22MY Defender 110 D200 SE, Fuji White. Kielder 4x4 Safari Instagram @defender_v8

12th Jun 2021 12:15pm

Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3750

Ian, initially I had the car treated at a specialist detailer with G-Techniq Ceramic serum which I had had on two previous cars and liked that it reduced washing and gave some protection but a jaunt over the Dunkeld Adventure Trek course put two full length, though the clearcoat/lacquer, scratches all along the near side and that persuaded me to go for the Expel Self repair film. The same guys who did the GTechniq application are accredited Expel fitters and usually do exotics like Porsches and MacLarens, mine was the first New Defender that they did! It cost me £1900 to have the front, bonnet and both sides up to the window line “wrapped” with their clear gloss (satin/matte isn’t to my taste I’m afraid - you can get the same look with one drive through a gorse bush…….. for a lot less money! ). That price included rectifying the scratches on the near side, touching up a large stone chip on the leading edge of the bonnet and fitting a new set of DEFENDER letters on top of the bonnet wrap. I opted for replacement letters as the detainers online patterns had the choice of full bonnet wrap or leaving a “window” around the logo. I didn’t want any obvious/visible gaps if possible. After the car was handed back I was asked why wrap over ceramic? The perceived wisdom is to ceramic over the wrap but it was the way fate worked for me, shutting the gate after the horse has bolted so to speak! The job took 7 days including time to allow the new lacquer to cure. Normally the guys I use would do it in 4 days. Getting a vial of touch up paint through the local LR dealership took 2 days of those 7. 9 months into fitting it I think it’s been money well spent - during lockdown from November to April I didn’t need to wash the cars once, rain and snow did it for me - the only bit I needed to hose off once was the tailgate that doesn’t have film on it but does have the ceramic coating Last weekend I went ‘laning with a couple of other 110 owners in the Lake District - the Expel had two tests - spending a night next to the resident colony of seagulls at the Carlisle Premier inn J44 M6 and driving some extremely narrow and heavily overgrown lanes. I’m pleased to say that the film has no damage to it and the seagull sh*t came off easily the next day with just a garden hose to soften it and what didn’t wash off came off easily with a microfibre sponge thing. I have posted some videos in my YouTube channel of the day out, including the really really scratchy lane we did but here is the PPF bit, best enjoyed with your player’s volume turned to max!  Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! Last edited by Tim in Scotland on 13th Jun 2021 10:18am. Edited 2 times in total

12th Jun 2021 12:39pm

Hairy Dan Member Since: 25 Apr 2013 Location: NW Durham Posts: 1330

Thanks for that Tim, just watched your Youtube videos It's mainly for protection when out greenlanning and also some of the tracks we use in Kielder aren't used by anybody else so they sometimes get a bit overgrown. I've just done a search and there is a company not too far from here that is a Expel Self repair film dealer so will call in and see him when I get a chance  Cheers Ian -------------------- 22MY Defender 110 D200 SE, Fuji White. Kielder 4x4 Safari Instagram @defender_v8

12th Jun 2021 1:30pm

Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3750

Unlike the JLR optional satin wrap that is also expel’s film you get a much longer guarantee from 3rd party fitters too. Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed!

12th Jun 2021 1:40pm

Hairy Dan Member Since: 25 Apr 2013 Location: NW Durham Posts: 1330	Yes I noticed on the fitters website that it has a 10-year warranty, I, like you aren't a fan of matt or satin finishes so the gloss finish works for me  Cheers Ian -------------------- 22MY Defender 110 D200 SE, Fuji White. Kielder 4x4 Safari Instagram @defender_v8
12th Jun 2021 1:47pm

jim4244 Member Since: 13 Apr 2014 Location: Bedfordshire Posts: 624	Great write up Tim 👍 Jim
13th Jun 2021 10:03am

J77 Member Since: 04 Nov 2019 Location: Fife Posts: 3245

Nice write up Tim I think my 90 has benefited from being a later model year. So far no real issues other than the heat shield fouling the prop and a software glitch that shows the diff constantly opening and locking. My only gripes are the gear selector, I think it just gets in the way. I would’ve preferred the rotary shifter with the paddles on the steering wheel. TR defaulting back to comfort after the cars been switched off 24MY 90 D250 HSE, Tasman Blue

13th Jun 2021 3:20pm

Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3750

J, yes that default back to Comfort is a bit of a problem off-road if you are used to previous s generations of TR, although if you are in Rock Crawl it doesn’t revert to Comfort in mine! I’ve also noticed that previously I had to manually inhibit the parking sensors off road but with one of the recent updates now it automatically switches them off in any of the TR settings with the Off-road screen for the cams displaying. Another thing I’m now used to is in GGS on the flat the brake hold function is inhibited but with even a tiny bit of slope either way it will automatically engage. Now I try to stop at off-road lunch stops with the car on a slight slope so no need to figure out whether to press or pull the parking brake switch…….. Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed!

13th Jun 2021 4:06pm

Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3750

Never imagined I would rack up this number of miles in just over a year (1 year and 12 days) ………… a year with many lock down months, travel restrictions and I’m retired now too so no work miles at all. The car was handed over with 49 miles on the odo so not all my miles……. I must be enjoying the car too much as it just eats up the miles so easily, even in D240 form it is smooth and very quiet. Click image to enlarge Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed!

24th Jun 2021 4:41pm

DSL Member Since: 20 Aug 2007 Location: Wandering the wasteland. Posts: 837	Missed this thread so: Click image to enlarge
24th Jun 2021 5:27pm

Kubrick1978 Member Since: 01 May 2021 Location: Midlands Posts: 101	Fantastic account of your first year, Tim! Really great read. Thanks for that. I'm pleased you are enjoying the car so much despite the first few months of annoyances. I look forward to reading about your 2nd birthday!
24th Jun 2021 8:22pm

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