So I've been wanting a Defender for about 3 years now. The fever is getting ridiculous and I FINALLY have the opportunity to come across the pond and experience the UK for myself. I'm bringing my oldest 2 daughters (7&9) with me on my search to find a 110 we can send back home. We're staying in Oxford for a couple of weeks in July and venturing out from there. Best I can tell the US mark-up from dealers/importers is nuts. Would much rather cut out all the middle men and see the vehicle in person. If anyone knows of an individual or reputable dealer, please let me know. I am not trying to resell. This vehicle will be for me and my family. Thanks for the add and appreciate all the info on this site.
Hi.
I’m not actually too far from Oxford. If you are serious I might be able to put you in touch with someone.
Do you have an idea on budget or spec you are looking for? (message me, if you don’t want it on an open forum).
I have some friends that trade and deal in Land Rovers, including sending them to America. I’ve also been around Land Rover’s myself all my life having grown up with them on the farm and have been a Land Rover owner for the best part of the past 21 years.
However, all this aside. I’d perhaps say you are better off spending the money on a Jeep JK Unlimited. I know they are common in the USA. But tbh they are superior to a Defender in every measurable way and even those that you can’t measure.
Things to watch for:
-Defenders where only introduced around 1990 with the 90, 110 and 130 models. So early Defenders can now be imported to the USA (think there is a 25 year age limit). Earlier models are not actually called Defenders. They were called Ninety, One Ten and 127 and were introduced around 1983/4. They do look largely the same, but there are some differences. However for ease I’ll call all of them Defenders for now.
-All Defenders rust!!!!! The majority of the body work is usually fine as it’s aluminium (an alloy called Birmabright). However, the main bulkhead can rust badly below the windscreen (windshield) and the front footwells rot out. Inner lower door frames also rot. As does the chassis (frame). All bits can be replaced or repaired, but generally rot is the costliest and most time consuming of things to sort out.
-Engines……
You want a V8, Period.
Ninety/One Ten’s mostly used the 2.5 TD (turbo diesel) motor with about 90hp and no tuning scope. It’s actually a perfectly fine engine for rural England, but would be useless in the USA and high heat. “Defenders” are mostly fitted with the 200Tdi engine for early ones, 300Tdi’s came out around 1993/4, so unlikely to find many over the 25 year threshold. Although there are very few real world differences between a 200 and 300Tdi and they perform identically.
The Tdi is actually a superb engine, a development of the 2.5 TD with the same displacement, but a much better performer. 107bhp stock and more tunable. I have two of these. However you don’t want one in the USA! They will struggle on the hills and high altitude if you head out West/Mid West and won’t like cruising on the highway above 60-65mph. Tuned examples also run a lot hotter than stock ones and their mpg is only marginally better than a Rover V8. They are also noisy and unrefined.
For the United Kingdom with small winding country lanes and very expensive fuel prices, the diesel engine makes sense and works well. But if you have fuel prices like you do in the USA, then, there is no reason at all to go for a Tdi Land Rover.
e.g. I filled up the other day at £1.36/litre. That’s $6.82/US gallon!!!!
The latter Td5 diesel engine is very nice, but likely not eligible to import for you due to the age restrictions. However, at still only 2.5 litres it really is too small a displacement for US roads and 4wheeling trails. And will just feel slow compared to other traffic.
Sadly, the choice of V8 powered Defenders is likely limited, as fuel prices and tax incentives meant not so many were sold.
The Rover V8 is a fairly solid old engine (once a Buick 215cu). Its biggest attribute is being an alloy block and being quite lightweight, even compared to modern engines. They weigh less than a Tdi. Sadly, almost all V8’s fitted to Defenders are low compression 3.5 litre twin carb engines. These perform marginally better than the Tdi’s (137bhp), although also come with taller gearing from the factory which offsets this somewhat. Mpg is 12-19mpg (Imperial) vs 21-27mpg (Imperial) for a Tdi.
US gallons you’ll get lower numbers as an Imperial gallon is bigger (4.546 litre vs 3.79 litres).
However, Rover V8’s can be tuned and a fuel injected 3.9 Rover V8 will outperform the diesels with relative ease (stock 182bhp and an easy 200bhp with bolt on mods and a lot more torque). And should see 17-23mpg (Imperial), as well as being much more refined and quieter than the diesels.
The real decider is what you plan to do, if you are thinking of swapping in a different engine once home, then engine choice may not matter. There are conversion kits to allow a Chevy LT or LS engine to fit.
To give you some comparisons. A 4 litre Jeep Cherokee XJ or Wrangler TJ will massively out perform all of the Land Rover engines and be much more speedy. A good 3.9 Rover V8 should be similar performance with a few mods. A Tdi Defender will be a lot slower than the 2.5 petrol (gas) engine fitted to the XJ and TJ Jeeps. Although should be a bit more grunty from low rpm.
-Let’s talk gearboxes/transmissions. There are no factory automatics to choose from, although some may have been converted using the ZF 4 speed box from a Range Rover/Discovery.
The 5 speed manual Rover boxes are fine, but are prone to needing a rebuild once in a while. The LT-77 or R380 found behind most diesels is quite a nice box to shift. But a 3.9 V8 is about its practical limit in power/torque terms.
V8’s normally use the Santana based LT-85 box. It’s stronger, although has a few pitfalls still, but is a lot less nice to shift.
I say this, because if you do plan on an engine swap, you’ll need to consider what you do gearbox wise.
The LT230 transfer box (found on all of them) is actually pretty strong and is a defining difference vs a Wrangler. Being it has a centre differential. And runs 4wd all the time.
-This moves us on to the axles. They hail from a pre WW2 Rover car. And aren’t the strongest. They are usually happy with 32-33” tyres (tires), but even a stock vehicle can break diffs. There are upgrades, but none of the options are cheap. Fully upgraded axles are good for 35-36” tyres. If you want bigger, then Rover axles aren’t the way to go.
The rear of a 110 uses a Salisbury axle. This has the diff centre based on a Dana 60, which might mean you can get some useful bits easily in the US. But the rest of the axle is casing is Land Rover. It’s a good axle, but not as good as most Dana 60’s you find on Fords, Chevy’s etc. And is really only good up to 35-36” tyres at most.
All Defenders come with open axles diffs too. If you want to go mudding or rock crawling (Moab), then you’ll probably want to look at some ATB’s, lockers or similar.
Of course, you may be looking at changing the axles. But I guess you might end up getting to a point where if you change the axles, engine, gearbox, etc etc you may end up with very little “Land Rover” left over. So a different vehicle might be a better bet anyway.
-Interiors are cramped and very low refinement. If you are ok with this, then no probs. But it is something worth knowing. I personally find the front seats very comfortable. Although the middle row of seats isn’t ideal for long journeys.
There is no air con option on Defenders of this age. You can retro fit it, but it will have a big impact on performance with the diesels. The V8 less so.
-Land Rovers also leak. They will leak water in and leak oil out. And tbh there is very little you can do to solve either.
-They do have a great sense of occasion to drive, which is certainly a large part of the appeal and the boxy looks are just right. But you are paying a big premium for this.
Just as a point of interest. The Discovery 1 was sold in the USA with the 3.9 EFI V8.
If you take the body off of the Discovery 1 it is around 90% the same as a Defender under the body.
A Discovery 1 uses the same axles, suspension, steering, transfer boxes, gearboxes and engines ranges as a Defender and has the same amount of suspension travel.
The only real differences are, the Defender has a slightly heavier duty chassis between the axles, a different wheelbase and then the body on top.
It’s the body of the Discovery that makes the most difference, it is a little bulkier than a Defender, but it addresses all of the comfort and NVH issues with the Defender. A classic Range Rover is the same as a Discovery.
This means, if you can weld. You could look at taking a local Disco/RR and simply fitting a Defender style body to it.
I fully understand your desire to own something that is a bit different and not very common. I’m a Brit living in the UK and own two Fbody’s and would like to buy a Dodge Ram or similar at some point.
But buying a Defender and importing to the USA is just an expensive way to get a vehicle that is actually no better than its Jeep counterparts. And actually, worse in many areas.
Are you aware of the rules of importing Defenders as your country have some real stringent rules on originality. We've seen horror stories of Defenders and 110s being crushed as soon as they set foot. Worth checking the LRO or LRM magazines for the standard dealers who export. But feel free to spends some Pounds not Euros.
