OWNER: Greg Benjamin, Rushden
VEHICLE: 2004 Defender 110 TDCi 2.4
I paid £18,000 for my 2004 110 station wagon in 2017 and since then I’ve spent somewhere between £30,000 and £40,000 on it, including a new engine, turbo, gearbox, transfer box, rebuilt axles and propshafts.
It had 50,000 miles on the clock when I bought it. The engine blew up at 72,000. It turned out it had been badly remapped in the past and diesel had been flushing the cylinder bores, which meant no lubrication – and it had seized solid.
Some of the money I’ve spent wouldn’t be considered essential by some – like the new Exmoor Trim seats, galvanising and repainting, heated windows and mirrors, LED lights all round – but I’m a bit of a perfectionist and…
