We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as sort-of-executive officer for the week -- But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting-- By a simple majority, in the case of purely internal affairs-- But by a two thirds majority, in the case of more major...
He just bought a new Defender 90...
I let him drive my 110 a few times and apparently he absolutely loved it to the point that when he was in the market for a new vehicle, he decided to get the 90.
Hi, I'm @Bloody-the-resident-shitposting-saffer and I apparently influence people to make bad choices. heh.
I'm definitely going to be taking many pics of our trucks together.
2021 Land Rover Defender. Yeah, it's pretty fucking awesome. !
What it came with:
Winter Package:
Heated 1st, 2nd and 3rd row seats; heated Windshield and mirrors; Headlight washers
Towing Package:
Tow hitch, tow camera, advanced (programable) off road traction control.
Off Road Package:
32 inch Goodyear Wrangler A/T's
Rear electronic limited slip differential.
110v AC outlet in the back.
I should probably read up what you can and can't run on that outlet, don't want my hairdryer to short out the truck lol.
I'll have more thoughts about what I like and what I don't like further down the line. I've only had the car for 72 hours heh.
Installed a fold down table on my Defenders back door.
Promptly setup my jetboil and made coffee.
Even went so far as to level out my truck using the rear "adjust suspension height" button. Air suspension is neat.
As part of my birthday week, my wife organized a half day at the Land Rover experience at the Biltmore estate in Asheville NC with our friends.
There are a lot of videos to go through, and they're in portrait (not my fault I swear! I was just driving!)
When we booked the drive, we were originally getting a Range Rover Sport as the second vehicle but when they saw I was bringing my Defender, the instructors decided that the second vehicle needed to be more capable to keep up with the Defender so we got a big daddy Range Rover on mud terrains.
My friend enjoying her seat time in the Range Rover.
It. Was. So. Much. FUN.
I got a very friendly instructor to help me unlearn some bad habits I've picked up over the years. Apparently "When in doubt, flat out" isn't always the answer (kind of like how Miata isn't always the answer, fight me) and I need to trust the traction control to do its thing. Oh and that traction control? God damn voodoo, and with the rear ELSD it just works. You can just let the truck figure things out and it will pull it's way through.
I got the truck to 29° before I chickened out on the lean test
I got a run down of how all the different terrain response configurations adjust the throttle, suspension and wheel spin. For example when in Mud and Ruts mode the throttle is not as responsive and the suspension is harder than when you're in Rock Crawl mode (which has a way more responsive throttle for better precision and the suspension will soften to reduce any bouncing on the rocks, just crazy). You'll notice I haven't aired down due to the fact I didn't bring my air compressor thinking that they had compressors on site. They didn't, womp womp.
I also got to play around with the terrain progress control which honestly is cheat mode because you just set the speed, take your foot off the gas and just steer with the truck doing the rest.
Here is the Range Rover (no locker just traction control) doing the teeter totter.
And here I am rolling through, you can see how much of a difference a rear ELSD differential makes.
And here we are playing in the water.
More comparison of just traction control vs traction control + ELSD.
Range Rover:
Defender:
How it started:
How it ended:
The whole thing was awesome, my wife is amazing and I'm a lucky man.
So concludes my average travels.
For Christmas one of my gifts was the light kit for the Lego Defender. It's neat.
I guess next is the motorized kit to turn it into an RC car.
Right, well I know a few people have been wanting an update and I've finally gotten some time to sit down a write one (also it is dark and I have no where to drive tonight or at least no good excuse to drive tonight). So here goes.
On January 23rd I took delivery of my 2021 Land Rover and man was I psyched. Seeing as I've never bought a car new in my life this has some additional special meaning to me.
Let's list the Specs:
P300 110 S
Ingenium 2.0 liter 4 cylinder Twin Turbo
Ebony Grained leather & Robust Woven Textile seat facings w/ Ebony interior
Three-zone Climate Control with Rear Cooling Assist
Digital Gauge Cluster
Air Quality Sensor
Cabin Air Ionisation
3D Surround Camera
All Terrain Progress Control (ATPC)
Auto-Dimming, Power Fold, Heated Door Mirrors with Approach Lights
3D Surround Camera
18" Full Size Spare Wheel
Tasman Blue body colour
White Contrast Roof
18" Style 5094, 5 spoke, Satin Dark Grey
Manual Third Row Seats - HEATED
60:40 load thru rear seats, manual slide & recline w/centre armrest, 7 seat configuration - HEATED
12-way heated semi-powered front seats
Front Fog Lights
S Badge
OFF-ROAD PACK
TOWING PACK
COLD CLIMATE PACK
Base Price $ 53,350.00
Options Price $ 9,475.00
Destination $ 1,350.00
Total Price $ 64,175.00
There are the specs, I spent some time in September looking at what was on the lot but (unsurprisingly) there wasn't a single P300 with a rear eLSD option so decided the best route would be for me to just custom order what I wanted. It's not TFL's (first) Land Rover but I think this is a pretty no nonsense build.
My previous ownership experiences with Land Rover have had their ups and downs:
The ups:
Fun downs:
Aaannndd the downs:
aaand the really bad downs:
So you're probably thinking to yourself, "Why the hell is he buying another Land Rover, is he an idiot?"
Probably, but then again I wouldn't be on Oppo if there wasn't something wrong with me.
Anywho, back to the Land Rover.
If I said that the whole saga TFL has gone through with their 3 attempts at owning a Land Rover have not been in the back of my mind nagging me, I'd be lying. I feel like I've been hyper sensitive to everything but so far the Landie has treated me well. Only issues I've encountered was the remote start on the app failing to work one morning and the two side view cameras not turning on (corrected by turning the car off and on again, it hasn't reoccured) one day I was backing out of my driveway. So far so good?
On to the size of the vehicle:
It's way bigger in person, and I'm starting to realize that the reason everyone thinks it so small is that 90% of stationary photos of the Land Rover is when it's in access mode (set by default). If you're wondering what access mode is, the Land Rover suspension can be set to three different modes (shown by a neat info graphic accessed via the PRIVI Pro system):
Access mode (for easy getting in and out of):
Normal Height:
And Off Road Height (extended mode also allows the truck to go higher if it senses that it's high centered)
For reference here is my truck (in access mode) sitting next to a Wrangler Unlimited Sahara.
Not exactly a tiny vehicle as a lot of people assume.
Now, you're also probably wondering why there are gratuitous videos and photos of me sinking this thing in mud holes and there are a few reasons for that;
1.) Covid, cuz yeah not comfortable with group gatherings just yet.
2.) 
Break in period... SIGH (also given everything I saw the what happened to TFL's first Land Rover, I'm being rather safe than sorry). So wheeling will have to wait but it won't be long at the rate I'm driving this.
3.) In order for me to get my beach buggy tags, I need a valid registration and temp tags don't count. I my registration just came in so I've sent in my beach buggy tag application and am waiting for them to send me my tags. So, soon.gif.
Given the setback regarding the off roading, I feel like mother nature decided to do me a solid and dumped more snow on us in the last month than what we've had in the previous 3 years combined and it was glorious. This trucks traction control system is second to none, I doubt there is any other manufacture that has a system that is comparable at the moment. While the Goodyears are better than most A/T's, I'm regretting not just paying the difference for a set of KO2's. Couple of drives were done on fresh powder on top of frozen snow and while I did feel a bit of sliding here and there I never felt like I was going to slide off the road. The TC kept the power on the wheels that had traction and it was pretty cool watching the centre and rear diffs on the 4x4i screen lock and unlock as needed. Also fun thing to note is that this screen can also be pulled up on the digital gauge cluster so all the info is right in front of you.
I'm very glad that I went for the Traction Control II system because I can manually lock center and rear without having to rely on the system to automatically do it in addition to letting me dictate how the system reacts with wheel spine, steering wheel and throttle response:
The system itself is actually super easy once you know what to do (a 5 minute "here, here and here" from the LR tech when I picked up the vehicle was all I needed)
Below you'll see all you need to do is press one button and then press the screen to select the mode you want.
More pictures of a Land Rover in the snow:
I certainly did not use the snow blower to build a pile of snow so that I could park on top of it, I most certainly did not do that... maybe. (This is the Land Rover in off road height)
Pictures of me driving
One of my neigbours out for a ride on her old school 4x4, must have been chilly.
Now for the glamour shots:
I have found that a lot of the reviewers are missing a subtle design cue on the new Land Rover that hint of the heritage of the vehicle. The dash:
When I first sat in the Land Rover and looked at the dash, I immediately thought of the Series IIa dash:
That was deliberate.
Another neat thing I found about the dash is that when you leave your sunglasses in the car over night and it's super cold, you can put them on the dash in front of the vent and warm them up so they don't immediately fog up. Probably not intended but I've found a use for it non the less.
Let's swing around the back for a bit:
Cargo area is functional although due to the Land Rovers short overhang doesn't have as much room as it's sibling Discovery so you're not going to fit as much in the back, but all the seat backs are a hard durable plastic that won't scratch when you load your 5 or 6 sheep in the back (cuz apparently that's important to people who like to romanticize about the old Land Rover). However, unlike the old Land Rover this new Land Rovers air suspension allows you to press a button in the back and the vehicle will squat for you so you're not having to lift things (or sheep in this instance) as high to load them. Neat.
Also I have a 180W AC outlet in the back that will be the future home of a Jackery or similar so I'm able to run a fridge and/or compressor ect...
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, time for the hottest of takes. You'll notice that through out my post I have not mentioned the word "Defender" other than the title. That is intentional, and here is why:
When the Series 1 first debuted for the Rover company in 1948 Land Rover as a company didn't exist. It was a "Land Rover" the same way that the Jeep Wrangler is a "Wrangler", it is the name of the model so you had the
Land Rover Series 1
Land Rover Series II
Land Rover Series IIa
Land Rover Series II
Land Rover Stage One V8
Land Rover 110/90
Land Rover Defender 110/90
and in my humble opinion this vehicle is worthy of it's name and before the "oh well I can't fix this in the field with duct tape while scratching my balls with a screw driver" crowd lays into me, if that is how you feel then the Defender died in 1998 when the first ECU controlled TD5 rolled off the assembly line. At least now I just need to plug in a diagnostic computer and the vehicle will literally tell me what is wrong, you just need to update your tool box and learn a few new things (that happen to be way fucking easier than tuning/rebuilding a carb).
Regarding price? Yes it's more expensive than the old one, but only if you spec it that way and even then not as much as you realize. Example, one facebook commentator stated that he bought his new 1985 110 for 22000 Pula (Botswana), doing some rough math brings that to $54,420 in todays money (Pula was around 1:1 to the US dollar in 1985)
There you have it, my initial thoughts on this vehicle. Is it better than the old Defender? Stock and from the factory? Absolutely. Vs a modified Defender? Things start evening out but you'll still be dealing with a cramped driving position that SUCKs for long drives in the old Defender, I'll happily drive across the US in the new Defender. Not a stuff would I do it in the old one, I've spent more than enough time behind the wheel of Series and Defenders to know that my knees wouldn't last the journey.
Once I get my beach tags and get through the break in period I'll start posting more content of my adventures. Stay tuned! Or not, I'm not your supervisor.
Heh, "puddle light"
Found a dirt road I frequent that was not plowed. Fun ensued.
Also, the traction control is legit. Smashing on the gas peddle in snow mode in a iced over parking lot and it did it's job, truck didn't fishtail or crab at all.
@Britishvillaininatl Ah okay, not sure why you can get carplay in Disco 4's but not Jags of the same era. It's silly.
@Britishvillaininatl I have the same key fob, at this point Jags and Landies share so much that you can sit in either and know exactly where everything is. I got an XF P300 as a loaner and knew immediately where everything was.
Does your Jag have the privi pro interface? By the looks of the lights I'd say 2019.
@Britishvillaininatl I know with my Defender the battery sits under the passenger seat but there are positive and negative connections in the engine bay if I needed to hook up the battery so going under the seat isn't necessary. I'd hazard guess that the Jag is the same.
I know rimmerbros have a few diagnostic tools so might be worth checking with them on which is the right one for the Jag. iCarsoft is popular with the Land Rover crowd.
@PowderHound She turned me into a Newt!
@Arch-Duke-Maxyenko Congrats! You know what this means? New job, new toy!
Paging @HammerheadFistpunch, I have a friend who is heading out to Salt Lake City and is looking for fun day trips outdoors. He has one day of fly fishing set but is looking for other fun things to do that are off the beaten path.
Any suggestions?
