Rovid's Trial Run

[merrion13]

Just finished a 350 mile shakeout in our new 110 and have some first impressions. We bought the new Defender with the following primary need: has to serve as a daily driver on the weekdays (often with clients in the car), and be able to hang for our weekend lifestyle which is a lot of hiking, trail running, climbing and backcountry skiing. Living in CO, like most places, any car on trail is probably spending 90% of the trip on highway to get to the trailhead. Other car in our stable is a 5th Gen 4Runner TRD Off Road that does incredibly well on trail but leaves a little to be desired in the refinement/comfort category. Previously had a '99 and '00 Disco 2, an '08LR3, and dad growing up had a '93 RRC and a '94 D90. Haven't owned a Rover in about 5 years and have been missing them, so put a deposit down with the dealer in April of 2019 and through a lot of surprises, our order arrived well ahead of schedule during the pandemic, hence the name Rovid...

On Friday put 275/55/20 Toyo AT3s on. I am not a fan of the Wrangler tire option from LR, and the Duratracs are old technology and noiser/meatier than what we need. Yesterday, drove Rovid from Denver up the Mount Antero/Baldwin trail, slept around 11,000 feet (it's great to sleep in!) and then hiked a peak first thing this morning. Quick review: car is unbelievably comfortable on the highway and performed very well on the trail. Anyone who has spent time behind the wheel of Rovers knows that they just do a really good job with sight lines out of the vehicle (ahem, Toyota) and the 4WD system performed very well. I was also very impressed so far with the Toyos. No rubbing in this size, and having seen that even a 33" tire is going to be a challenge, I'm pleased with this choice but obviously need to use them a lot more to give a long term opinion.

Some pics:

 

[nwoods]

For informational purposes, how tall are you and your plus one? Love that shot of the bags laid out, but wondering if that would be the same for me (as a tall person)

 

[merrion13]

I'm 6', she's 5/7. The way the bottom seat cushions flip up would not fit a person my height totally flat. Same issue we have in our 4Runner (in that car we removed the seat bottoms to create more height). The mattress we use is an Exped Duo SIM 7.5 which is unbelievably comfortable and actually fits really well over the the seat bottoms and acts almost like a pillow. We both slept really well, definitely will use it in the future!

 

[Victory_Overland]

Annnnnnnddddddddddd so it begins; real world reviews hitting the trails from real world users!

Helllllllllllllzzzzzz yeah; congrats @merrion13, I'm following and looking forward to the short and long term reviews.

 

[tbisaacs]

So excited to see non-press photos!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Good Job! Glad to see one out on the dirt! ... think I'll stick with the old 110 for now though ... I don't have any pesky clients to transport

 

[merrion13]

Now about 800 miles on the clock, and just came back from another short jaunt off trail in Rovid. Impressions thus far:

-The combination of capability and comfort is supreme. This morning drove 80mph up I-70 for an hour before then spending 45 minutes off trail, and love the Range Rover feel on the road and the Defender capability off road. One part of the trail still had a real large snowbank on one half (at 11,500 feet) and a tight gap to some boulders on the right so involved some nice off-camber narrow maneuvering and Rovid handled like a champ.
-The ghosts of build quality...having a vibration sound in the passenger side lower windscreen/firewall area. Talked to dealer and sounds like there is already a TSB out on this so my guess is something on the quality control assembly line not getting done properly
-Been stopped numerous times with people who want to talk about the car, including Jeep and Toyota owners. That part is fun and everyone says (myself included) that it just looks so much better and proportionate in person than photos.

 

[merrion13]

Spent the weekend up in Steamboat, and explored the area around Hahn's Peak a bit. Mostly mellow roads, but now have almost 2,000 miles on the clock and starting to get to know Rovid better. Unfortunately, the lack of quality control is getting really annoying. In addition to the known windshield noise I've been having since Day 1 at highway speeds (and with a TSB, but no fix from dealer yet), it has also developed a rattling sound right near my ear in the driver's side B pillar, which has been documented on Defender2 forum. And over the weekend, the passenger's side C pillar interior trim has developed a loud squeak that occurs over any type of washboarded road or even patchy highway.

I continue to be very impressed with the ride quality, the sight lines off trail and the capability, and I know the issues I'm having aren't mechanical, but damn if these QC issues aren't really frustrating and annoying, and does nothing for LR to help dispel the notions of the quality of their product. Going to have a nice conversation tomorrow morning with the service team...

 

[Corgi_express]

Great reports! I’m curious, since you switched the tires out - which did you have from the factory?

 

[gatorgrizz27]

Good to see one on the wild! Interesting to hear about the body panel noises, I’ve found LR’s fastening systems with the ribbed push pins to be the most secure out there. They also seem to pad electrical connectors with foam, zip tie harnesses in place, etc. Hopefully it’s a quick fix.

 

[merrion13]

Great reports! I’m curious, since you switched the tires out - which did you have from the factory?

I had the stock street tires. Even though you can upgrade direct from factory, I just don't like their options and needed something more robust than the Wrangler Adventure and smoother/newer than the Duratracs. Have really enjoyed the Toyo AT3s so far. I also shopped the Grabber ATX tire (we have those on the 4Runner and really like them) but they were about 10lbs heavier per tire than the Toyos so that sealed the decision!

 

[DieselRanger]

-Been stopped numerous times with people who want to talk about the car, including Jeep and Toyota owners. That part is fun and everyone says (myself included) that it just looks so much better and proportionate in person than photos.

Agree wholeheartedly with this. When I saw the first two in person (one silver FE like yours, one Gondwana Stone with a black roof) I was absolutely floored by how great they look in person. Smartphone photos that aren't corrected via Lightroom or similar distort the proportions - even the configurator doesn't to it justice.

Great to see you out on the trails. DM me - I'm in COS and would love to get a side-by-side comparo with my D5 some time on a day trip or meet you somewhere on the weekend for a run.

 

[DieselRanger]

Spent the weekend up in Steamboat, and explored the area around Hahn's Peak a bit. Mostly mellow roads, but now have almost 2,000 miles on the clock and starting to get to know Rovid better. Unfortunately, the lack of quality control is getting really annoying. In addition to the known windshield noise I've been having since Day 1 at highway speeds (and with a TSB, but no fix from dealer yet), it has also developed a rattling sound right near my ear in the driver's side B pillar, which has been documented on Defender2 forum. And over the weekend, the passenger's side C pillar interior trim has developed a loud squeak that occurs over any type of washboarded road or even patchy highway.

I continue to be very impressed with the ride quality, the sight lines off trail and the capability, and I know the issues I'm having aren't mechanical, but damn if these QC issues aren't really frustrating and annoying, and does nothing for LR to help dispel the notions of the quality of their product. Going to have a nice conversation tomorrow morning with the service team...

View attachment 602771

Looks fantastic. If you get back up to Steamboat, take the drive up Rabbit Ears - all the way to the rocks. The D5 walked up the last pitch in low range with the diesel.

Disappointing on the squeaks and rattles. Hoping these are early production run niggles that get worked out - good to hear there are already TSBs and LR is working on addressing them, but can totally understand the frustration with waiting for a fix to become available. Have seen JLR pressers that they are putting extra effort to addressing initial build quality issues proactively through test fleets in final build configuration. My D5's issues were software related aside from the preventive EAS valve replacement TSB and fixed quickly.

I wonder if Jeep owners can even hear their squeaks and rattles over the drone and whine of tire and wind noise around their vehicles? That's rhetorical, I know the answer is "WHAT DID YOU SAY? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE WIND AND TIRE NOISE".