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Worst Piece Of LR Design


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Second the door catches on a Defender or does that only apply to us more generously proportioned types?

The shape of the Defender bonnet - after going through fords or when its raining it gets water on the top that sits between the side ridges in a sort of puddle, when slowing down it moves forward and then gets blown up onto the windscreen - usually just after switching the wipers off.

D1 - that plastic cover/trim panel on the rear bumper that rubs the black paint away and then goes rusty.

D1 again - those nasty slider switches for the heater/aircon fan.

All adds character, I could go on, but lunch isn't that long where I work.........

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The water on the bonnet happens with the new freelander 2 aswell. Funny to watch the water movibng up the bonnet as the car moves along the road.

Instead of a spare wheel for the freelander you now get a can of gel and a mini compressor that has the worst instructions ever.

Agree with the discovery 1 rear lights.

Seatbelts getting caught in the door of my D1 when you try to close it.

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Defender: I'll ignore the 'ergonomic' issues (nowhere to put your right/left arm) as these are hangups from the original series vehicles...

Worst piece of LR Design has to be the 'value engineering' (AKA knowing the cost of everything but the value of nothing):

  • Gear box filler plugs, deletion of
  • Mixing of metals and omission of galvanic isolation/protection
  • Varying trim levels (ok) but no noise insulation on base spec (not ok).
  • Lack of difflock (on Disco 2s)

But worst culprit of all has to be:

Value-engineered wiring and connectors!

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I saw a black Defender being assembled at Solihull and it looked like it needed ironing!!!! :rolleyes::huh:

you have been there?? do you now what the cause of it is? c**p machinery and/or materials? i would lover to know why is got worst over the years, ive seen quite a few OLD 110 vans lookin' sweeet, :wub:

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The shape of the Defender bonnet - after going through fords or when its raining it gets water on the top that sits between the side ridges in a sort of puddle, when slowing down it moves forward and then gets blown up onto the windscreen - usually just after switching the wipers off.

If it's raining just enough and you get your speed just right you can create a sort of mini bow wave on the leading edge of your bonnet.

Try it, it keeps your mind off the fact that your right knee, seat, carpets etc are getting wet from all the water coming in through various other gaps in the panels

Rick

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you have been there?? do you now what the cause of it is? c**p machinery and/or materials? i would lover to know why is got worst over the years, ive seen quite a few OLD 110 vans lookin' sweeet, :wub:

Might be something to do with the fact that the ally panels are a lot thinner than they used to be!

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The 'kin door catches on my defender that keep catching my trousers when i exit the thing :blink:

You know you can fix that by sanding off the edge that catches?

Also, the seatbelt catching in the door can be fixed by tying a loop of elastic round the belt and the metal bracket that supports the seat back. It doesn't affect the belt operation but pulls the belt inside when you release it.

Si

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air springs, steel bulkheads, door hinges, anything that has been replaced with britpart, the bit of the loom on a TD5 that oil travels up, the weak diffs, the old non anti burst door latches.... need i go on. but i love em all.

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It's a funny thing, I used to have a S3 SW which I put a lot of heart and soul into and loved dearly, eventually the rust caught up with it and a succession of classic RRs followed. I LOVED my RRs, comfy, laid back and fun to own, if juicy.

This year I drove a certain blue 110 to Billing. By the time I got to the end of our road I realised that:-

- The steering is vague.

- The clutch is REALLY heavy.

- The drivers door is HARD! on my elbow.

- The seat is too close to everything.

- The hand brake lever wears a hole in my leg.

- The mirrors vibrate.

- Who the hell thought the heater controls were a good idea?!

I could go on.......

However, by the time I got to Billing I had realised that I NEED another proper Land Rover.

How do they do that?

I should probably point out that on the plus side, traveling loaded (with over half a ton of stock and 3 people with a weekends kit), body roll was much less than I recall. Must be the anti-roll bar. :P

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you have been there?? do you now what the cause of it is? c**p machinery and/or materials? i would lover to know why is got worst over the years, ive seen quite a few OLD 110 vans lookin' sweeet, :wub:

The machinery (particularly the press) looks good, so I guess its down to the spot welds putting stress in the panels.

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Owners of more modern Defenders will undoubtedly be impressed with the range of the central locking remote that can (sometimes) lock/unlock the car from an incredible distance of 2 feet!

The central locking is decidedly temperamental and sometimes decides not to let you in at all for a few minutes (normally this is when it is pi**ing down with rain)!!!! :( :(

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May I add the access to the bleed nipple on the 200 defender clutch, the ridiculous bumper 'captive' nuts, the vent 'seals', the axles that arent up to the job, the lack of a decently powerful diesel engine...

Apart from that, and the above, they're boss!

Mike

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