If you don't mind getting your hands dirty older land rovers are very cheap to run long term due to the ease of servicing and cheap parts. However they are not the most reliable of vehicles so you really need to want to own one.
Absolutely Hughesy – everything you’ve said there is spot on! But let me share a wee story with you that I think sums up everything you need to know about Defenders:
I had to drive to Stonehaven and back last night in our 90 to pick up a trailer full of furniture. On the way back down the dual carriageway, at 11pm, and in thick fog, I reached for the ‘cabin volume control’ (AKA the ventilation fan speed slider) to turn it down a bit. Unfortunately due to the crap layout of the dash, my sleeve caught the headlight switch, and bumped it upwards...... which somehow knackered the switch, resulting in the total, and seemingly permanent loss of all external lights!!
I managed to stick my hazards on, and ‘flash’ my main beams until I could get to a layby, and phoned the RAC. They didn’t have anything in the vicinity that could deal with a Landy plus trailer, so it was clear I was in for a looooong wait!
So...... necessity being the mother of invention, I found a pair of scissors in the boot, and used them to unscrew the plastic steering column covers (i.e. half the dash). After some pondering, I decided ‘what the hell’, and used the scissors to cut through the cables to the switch, stripped them back a bit and twisted the three wires together to bypass the faulty switch. Wahey!! Back in business and home in one piece (at 2am!!).
Anyhow, in a nutshell, this tells you everything you need to know about Landies:
1) On what other car could you dismantle half the dashboard, using only a pair of scissors?
2) On what other car could you figure out what was going on, easily enough to be able to be confident in doing makeshift electrical repairs in a dark layby somewhere near Forfar?
3) On which other car could you order the exact part off Ebay for a permanent repair, next day delivery, with a choice of 10 suppliers, and at a total cost of £12.80?
4) And lastly surely
only a Landy could possibly have developed such a pathetic random fault in the first place?!?!?
It seems it's true what they say: “Lucas Electrics: Home Before Dark!!”
HTH!!