There is no shortage of information about what vehicle to drive around Australia and how to fit it out. Firstly, we were not interested in towing anything (boat, caravan etc.) as this would make it much harder to get to some places and means that there are more things that can break or get a flat tyre. And we are only camping when necessary.
We had previous experience with 4 wheel driving and had a 100 series LandCruiser for 10 years that was completely fitted out: bull bar, winch, roof cage, snorkel, rear wheel carrier (two spares), 2nd battery, air compressor, fridge, off-road tyres, the works. And that thing never stopped; it was the perfect car for us at the time: taking short trips with 4 kids. It was also an absolute beast: it wouldn't fit into many car parks, was about 5m long and the (albeit beautiful) 4.7 litre V8 petrol engine was an gas guzzler, getting around 18l/100km in the city. Here is a picture from nearly 20 years ago (before adding the rear wheel carrier):
For the last 7 years we have driven a Land Rover Discovery Sport (2015). It has only been off the street one for repairs (recently), which I think is not bad for a Land Rover. I always wanted an old-school Defender but when I sat in one of the last production ones in 2015 I thought: how can anyone take this long distance - they were so uncomfortable. When the new Defender came out a few years ago I thought they looked pretty cool, but they were as big as a LandCruiser and I didn't want a really big car again. When the "shorty" (Defender 90) came out I started watching the reviews as it looked like the perfect size. The reviews were very good regarding capability and ride comfort, so that sealed it. Some reviews awarded the Defender 4WD of the year, but in competitions where it lost out to the LandCruiser, it was not due to lack of off-road ability, it was due to lack of serviceability (complexity, parts, technicians etc.) in remote Australia.
The specs
The vehicle we bought is a 2023 Land Rover Defender 90, 3-door P300 (2.0L 4 cylinder) turbocharged engine, steel wheels, bull bar, air suspension (possibly less reliable but more comfortable and capable off-road), active rear differential, off road recovery hooks and roof rack. It looks like this one from their website:
I could get much better full consumption if I chose the turbo diesel option, but I figure I could buy a lot of petrol with the few thousand I saved by not getting the diesel engine. The 90l tank will get me 800 km easily and 1,000 km if I drove very carefully (I can get 9-10l/100km on the highway pretty consistently).
The Toyota v Land Rover issue
For anyone not from Australia, this might seem odd, but Australia is obsessed with the Toyota LandCruiser and it is considered the ONLY vehicle to take off road or in the outback. It has become a self fulfilling prophesy because Toyota LandCruisers are so common in the outback that it is very easy to get them repaired or get parts, making them the logical choice to take.
I should acknowledge first up that Toyotas ARE very reliable and capable and are probably the best choice to take around Australia.
Interestingly, LandCruisers are actually only sold in a few countries now and are probably on their way out. They are very popular in Australia, the Middle East and Russia (who knew?) but are not sold in nearly all of Europe and North America. Also, the newer versions lost some of their old-school off-road features and the current version (300 series) gets so-so reviews but they are probably still very capable and reliable. And they are still huge - there is no small option.
From what I can tell, the original (old boxy) Defender was very capable off road, but as uncomfortable as hell and about as reliable as any British car (i.e. not). But what Land Rover did a few years ago was completely redesign and modernise the crap out of it. The result is a car that is very capable off-road and luxurious to drive on-road. The downside is that it is now a computer on wheels, and it is still a Land Rover, which means you are probably stuck if it suddenly stops working in the middle of nowhere.
However, it comes with a 5 year warranty and road-side assistance. And most of the problems that occur off-road are simple things like getting bogged, flat batteries and flat tyres, as most modern cars just don't break down. A lot of attention is paid to rankings in rating like JD Power, which ranks brands by quality and dependability. Toyota ranks high; Land Rover low. But what is often overlooked is that there is a huge improvement in reliability of all cars, year on year, sometimes up to 10% in a single year. So a car made in 2022 will, on average, be a lot more reliable that a care made in, say, 2012.
And reliability isn't everything, believe it or not. Or at least, it is relative. Many people drive older LandCruisers because they can easily fix broken fan belts, leaking differentials of whatever, and can't fix new cars when their computers malfunction. Well, I can't fix either. And you can at least prepare for a complete breakdown in the middle of nowhere. We will have plenty of supplies, tyre repair kits etc., and will have a sat phone and a dual battery system.
Also, there is no short version of the LandCruiser (no, a Prado is not shorter). The car I have chosen: a Land Rover Defender 90 is more than 1/2 metre shorter than a 'Cruiser, two-thirds the weight, and it has a 2 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine that gives almost exactly the same power and torque as my old 4.7 litre V8 but with 2/3 the fuel consumption. I used to think a 'Cruiser was necessary because of the massive fuel tanks, but the 90 litre tank in my 4 cylinder Defender will take us further than the 135 litre tank in our V8 'Cruiser would have, and a few hundred km further than the largest gap in petrol stations we will face (around 500km). And we will be carrying two 20l jerry cans just in case.
Interestingly, the Defender is also cheaper than a LandCruiser. The base model (for the short 90 or the long 110, they are both about the same price, weirdly) is around $100,000 whereas LandCruisers are over that for similar specs. Both vehicles are popular (Defender is now the most popular Land Rover, just squeezing out the Range Rover Evoque) and both have a 12-month wait. I ordered mine in April, and was lucky to have it in October 2022. Fitting out a Land Rover is not as easy as fitting out an LandCruiser (simply because the after-market accessory market is geared towards the most popular vehicles), but I managed to get a factory bull bar, under shield and recovery hooks, and after market roof racks and dual battery system.
Michele and I took it off road in the blue Mountains and we got a little lost in some fire trials and very difficult trails (steep, muddy, and rocky) - the most difficult I have ever attempted. We decided to push on and figured that we may as well test it out now, rather than on the trip. It was amazing, once the suspension was raised and low range engaged, the Defender glided smoothly over every obstacle and never lost traction and never bottomed out. We were both very impressed.
Summary
So there you have it: I (Michele didn't have much say in the choice of car) chose comfort, looks and inner-city practicability over reliability and serviceability, without sacrificing off-road ability. The reason we can do this is because we are not in a hurry. If it completely stops, I am happy to wait around while Land Rover fixes it. It is a price I am willing to pay to have a comfortable drive in a cool looking car that can get me anywhere I want to go, including parking spots.
Addit 27 June 2023: I cover aspects of the car in some of my posts as I go along, for example,
here,
here and
here.
Post-trip verdict
We learned a lot about what people drive, and spent a lot of time in the car. I should point out up front that I have not mentioned much about utes, mainly because I don't want one, but they are a great option for this kind of travelling as the back half can be converted to side-opening doors and you have plenty of accessible internal storage and roof and rear storage. At least half of all vehicles we saw were utes. Mainly Toyotas, but there are plenty to choose from like Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, Mitsubishi Triton, Isuzu D-Max etc but what surprised me was the number of Dodge RAMs. Given that the Ford F-150 will be arriving soon, and based not eh number of Ford Ranger and Dodges, I reckon they will be very popular.
I don't have a strong recommendation for a vehicle to take. If you don't want to take a camper van / RV, then anything will do the job, as long as it has enough ground clearance, wading depth, full 4WD and good tyres. The rest is equipment (power, bull bar etc.) and how you drive it. For parts, it would be easier to pick something popular, like Toyota, Ford etc. If you want a Land Rover, then pick a Defender as it will go anywhere that any of the other cars can go. The engine really doesn't matter, as they all have so much power and pulling force these days, but diesel fuel is easiest to find and most efficient (meaning no jerry cans are required) - it just costs more up front. I had no problem finding petrol, and even found premium nearly everywhere.
For me, I will keep the Defender I have and go on more trips. It is plenty big enough for us, light, nimble and will go anywhere, comfortably, and now that I have the fuel consumption sorted out, the range is good enough to get me anywhere without jerry cans (but I would still take them on the Tanami track, just in case).
