Depending on your budget I would recommend a TD5 if your were planning on spending this amount of money, it is by far the most refined defender, body style is personal choice between CSW or hardtop.

I have previously owned a V8 and 200tdi 110s and now have a TD5 and would not go back again it is so much nicer to drive especially after having had the ECU tweaked.

Another reason for the TD5 is they are newer and by rights you should not have as many problems compared to buying an older TDI or V8 110, the youngest TDI will be an R reg and buy now most R regs will have quite a few miles on the clock, and the chances of running into reliability problems will be increased.

A newer TD5 defender on a trip like you are planning will not be any more unreliable than any other make of vehicle, there are a few known issues but most vehicles of any make have one or two issues as well.

Even the mightly toyotas have their problems as well, apart from the HZJ cruisers which are pretty well bullet proof, but ride like a pig on std suspension and drink like a fish compared to the defender, the non turbo versions are not particularly powerfull either, but with an after market turbo or the later turboed ones they are great engines but still drink like a fish.

The 80 series are good, but lack a decent engine, the 4.5 petrol 6 is nice but drinks to much fuel for use in Europe, the 80 series are also getting on a bit as well so some age related problems are staring to come their way, 100 series are very nice to drive but are still not anywhere near as strong as their reputation or the 80/105 series, the IFS has problems when used hard and gearboxs problems with both autos and manual crop up from time to time as well.

My pick for a jap vehicle would be a HZJ 79 or a Nissan Patrol, the Patrol is no where near as refined as the 100 series but it is dam near bullet proof and rides on coils unlke the rear end of the HZJ cruiser so still gives a nice ride, the 3.0lt diesel is OK on fuel but its bigger 4.8lt brother is nice big lazy engine, the 4.8 petrol is a power house but is incredably thirsty on fuel.

But at the end of the day if you want a defender buy one, they are not as bad as the doom mungers say for what you are planning, but in saying that if I was doing a trans africa I would also look long and hard at a HZJ 79 cruiser.

If you are planning a lot of sand driving on your trip you will really have to wring the neck out of a TDI especially when heavily loaded, the TD5 is much nicer in the sand, but still needs to be driven quite hard if you are getting serious in the dunes.

If it has to be a LR do yourself a favour and take a series II disco for a spin as well, the body style is not a mod friendly as the 110s and it does not have the defenders no sh1t looks, but they are a fantastic touring vehicle and with their 90lt fuel tank they also have a much better range than the defender does, remove the rear seats upgrade the suspension and fit a CDL and you will have a great vehicle for the trip you have planned. Getting out of a disco at the end of a long days driving will leave you more refreshed than getting out of the defender. I have a 2002 TD5 110 and my wife has a 2004 V8 disco and I am considering a trip to Jordan from Dubai in the next year or two and if I go I will take the disco as it is a much nicer cruising vehicle and still very capable off road. I just completed a 3700km trip around Oman in 11 days earlier this month in my defender as it was a very off road orientated trip and my 110 is better set up for the driving we were doing, on the offroad part of the trip is was a pleasure to drive but for the 1500 km drive home on the tar I would have killed for our disco, as the temp was in the mid 40s, the 110s A/C works as a chiller at best and will only bring the cab temp down to the low 30s at best where as the discos is very good, coupled with being able to sit on 120-140kph with the cruise control etc makes driving the long distance miles a pleasure. A trip from the UK to Egypt will involve a lot of road miles, thats why I would recommend seriously considering a TD5 series II disco.

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An aussie escaped from london, now in Dubai.