Quote:

but in Dubai one appeal was the large number of other people who had them, who you could call on if/when something went wrong! ...sort of like the LR community in the UK

And of course, this isn't to be sneezed at over here. You can get a Defender repaired in any village garage, parts can be bought in most parts of the country either new or used. If you have one that's made in say the nineties, then even major parts are cheap (300tdi engine for £300 / £400 ?) The trick with a Defender is to buy with condition in mind and disregard the year of build. An early nineties 300 could be in far better condition than a 2000 model year, and therefore a higher price. But I know which one I would go for

northernmonkeyjones wrote:

Have a look at Autocar from a couple of weeks back, did a best off roader test, came out on top in the rough stuff, better even than the D5 through the mud and crud!

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industr...s-compared

Indeed  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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I drove my (modified) Jeep down to Bordeaux for the summer once - the FFRR was already there.

I couldn't face driving it back again, so I left it there until October half tern and in the interim bought an Ifor Williams trailer and took that down to retrieve it home again - and after that, it went on the trailer for long runs.

However, the OP is referring to a much newer and unmodified model, so would expect it to be more than capable of long runs.....