Regulars will know that last year I decided I was bored of our reliable but dull daily family workhorse, a Toyota Estima (Previa), and bought something I have always wanted since having an old series one in the family as a kid: A Land Rover Defender. The idea being it would serve a dual roll; family daily transport and an off-road toy at weekends. So despite the warnings that it would be 'horrible to drive', unreliable, noisy, drafty etc etc I bought this 1989 Defender 110 County Station Wagon, which had been professionally installed with a later Discovery 300Tdi engine, widely regarded as one of the best engines you can have in a Defender:
Didn't take long before the modifying bug took over, so almost a year on it now looks like this:
So what's it been like as a daily driver? Noisy, drafty, not particularly comfortable, and so far I've had to fit:
- New rear propshaft due to UJ failure.
- Water pump.
- Alternator.
- Aux belt tensioner bearing.
- Steering drop-arm.
- Probably some other things I'm forgetting.
Do I regret it? Not one little bit, the things above were mainly caused by me not being fastidious enough when it came to cleaning after wading through Salisbury Plain's notoriously harsh water, which is a known killer of bearings and the like. It's dead easy to work on and parts are cheap, so that doesn't really bother me. Other than that it's been extremely reliable, always starts on the button. It's so much fun off-road and still a real 'event' to drive, my kids love it, it turns heads and gets compliments, and people tend to get out of the way on the road
Would I recommend one as a daily? Well they certainly aren't for everyone, but if you aren't afraid of a spanner and don't mind something that doesn't exactly have many creature comforts then you'll be rewarded with a 'car' that has masses of character and is huge fun, and is totally usable as a daily, especially if you don't do big miles like me
Didn't take long before the modifying bug took over, so almost a year on it now looks like this:
So what's it been like as a daily driver? Noisy, drafty, not particularly comfortable, and so far I've had to fit:
- New rear propshaft due to UJ failure.
- Water pump.
- Alternator.
- Aux belt tensioner bearing.
- Steering drop-arm.
- Probably some other things I'm forgetting.
Do I regret it? Not one little bit, the things above were mainly caused by me not being fastidious enough when it came to cleaning after wading through Salisbury Plain's notoriously harsh water, which is a known killer of bearings and the like. It's dead easy to work on and parts are cheap, so that doesn't really bother me. Other than that it's been extremely reliable, always starts on the button. It's so much fun off-road and still a real 'event' to drive, my kids love it, it turns heads and gets compliments, and people tend to get out of the way on the road
Would I recommend one as a daily? Well they certainly aren't for everyone, but if you aren't afraid of a spanner and don't mind something that doesn't exactly have many creature comforts then you'll be rewarded with a 'car' that has masses of character and is huge fun, and is totally usable as a daily, especially if you don't do big miles like me
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