It’s not been too bad on the reliability front in general considering the horror stories that you do hear..

Recall – Braking Imbalance
Ref: R/2015/028

For those Defenders built around October – December 2014 (approx. 1200), a bad batch of hub bolts may have been fitted to them which, in extreme cases, could shear and then affect the stability of the car under braking.

Not great, but the dealership managed to pick the car up from work and deliver it back on the same day. Only the rear hubs were affected on ours.

Loose trim:

The large, single-mould dashboard doesn’t rattle and only creaks lower down when it’s cold (orange arrow),  such as, in the morning, but the main culprit has been the instrument binnacle which worked itself into a really annoying buzz.

Tried to tighten up all the screws but that hasn’t helped. The lower left screw(red arrow) behind the indicator stalk is to blame, and will only stop buzzing if you apply pressure to it. Again, its fine on the few hot days we get, but otherwise it’s really annoying!

Elsewhere, components that fell off were from a screw from a folding back seat and a spring clip for the headrest adjuster – so the Defender’s still got quirks!

Sun Visors

Not necessarily a fault, but we did receive notification from Land Rover asking if the sun visors squeaked upon operation. Since they didn’t for us, nothing developed further.

Gear Stick Vibration / Rattle

This didn’t happen to us but we kept an eye on it. The amount of vibration transmitted up the gearlever can work the weights loose at the base and cause them to rattle.

A solution can be found on the forum we used here.

Spec: 90 XS County Station Wagon 2015MY 
Engine: 2.2 TDCI Diesel, 122bhp, 266lb ft 
Transmission: 6 Speed Manual 
Mpg: Official: 27.3mpg Achieved: 23 - 26mpg 
Performance: 0-62mph: 15.5 Secs, 90mph (Ltd) 
Colour: Montalcino Red 
Running Period: Winter 2014 – Summer 2015, 6100 Miles 
Options: Tow ball + electrics