michaelroberts
New Member
...says my wife.
I currently have a Freelander TD4 which I share with my wife. I also have a Vespa which I use when she needs the car. However I want to sell the Vespa as it's becoming far too dangerous on a bike these days. My wife was overjoyed when I told her this until I said I want to buy a Defender 90 in it's place. She says it will cost too much to run such an old car. I have always wanted a Defender for years but due to my job I need something which looks new and very smart to meet clients in, hence the Freelander. For all other trips though, I would much rather something like a Defender TDI 200. Not bothered if it is 15 years old with some knocks here and there; that's part of the charm to me! I don't want to end up buying Citroen Saxo so please help me!!!!
So I wonder if you could help me by telling me what your experiences have been with a Defender. I know it will depend on what condition the car is in and how I drive it, and that every car is different but I just want to get an idea of how much the tank costs to fill up and how many miles it might do on a tankful on average for example.
Do they break down all the time or are they reliable? If they do break down, is it expensive to fix them? The parts for Defenders seem to be available quite cheap, but are they a nightmare to work on or would someone with a reasonable amount of common sense and a Haynes manual be able to carry out repairs?
I know this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type question but I would be very interested to hear about your experiences, which hopefully will give me an idea of what to expect.
Many thanks in advance.
Michael
I currently have a Freelander TD4 which I share with my wife. I also have a Vespa which I use when she needs the car. However I want to sell the Vespa as it's becoming far too dangerous on a bike these days. My wife was overjoyed when I told her this until I said I want to buy a Defender 90 in it's place. She says it will cost too much to run such an old car. I have always wanted a Defender for years but due to my job I need something which looks new and very smart to meet clients in, hence the Freelander. For all other trips though, I would much rather something like a Defender TDI 200. Not bothered if it is 15 years old with some knocks here and there; that's part of the charm to me! I don't want to end up buying Citroen Saxo so please help me!!!!
So I wonder if you could help me by telling me what your experiences have been with a Defender. I know it will depend on what condition the car is in and how I drive it, and that every car is different but I just want to get an idea of how much the tank costs to fill up and how many miles it might do on a tankful on average for example.
Do they break down all the time or are they reliable? If they do break down, is it expensive to fix them? The parts for Defenders seem to be available quite cheap, but are they a nightmare to work on or would someone with a reasonable amount of common sense and a Haynes manual be able to carry out repairs?
I know this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type question but I would be very interested to hear about your experiences, which hopefully will give me an idea of what to expect.
Many thanks in advance.
Michael