 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Converting to XS spec |
 
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| lakelander Member Since: 07 Jan 2017 Location: Cumbria Posts: 100   
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My advice is to decide which features are essential for you and find one with them.
There are plenty out there. Adding bits yourself will be expensive and you will not get your money back should you decide to sell. Some of the XS features are great, such as traction control , air con, heated screen, heated seats .Others are cosmetic such as half leather, leather gear gaiter, rear door net. I eventually bought a County with cold climate option. ( heated screen and seats, screen is superb on frosty mornings) which at the time was about £5000 cheaper than equivalent XS. Don't regret lack of aircon , fitted Climair deflectors and drive with window down which I do anyway for elbow room! Also think it looks better without the protruding rad. Regret lack of ABS/Traction. Didn't realise this was missing on the County. ( mine is early 2013 ). Perhaps I will fit Ashcroft diffs to help compensate on green laning. Given my time again I would probably hunt for an XS just for the ABS. Also depends what and how you will be using your truck. XS best to cope as a passable alternative for modern daily transport. Lesser specs fine for fine weather outings, occasional trips , green laning etc. Good luck whichever route you choose. |
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16th Jan 2022 10:38am |
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| thomson_adam Member Since: 07 Dec 2021 Location: Cleveland Posts: 151 |
Thanks for the reply
I guess you are right , I know it would be a lot of work. I would like all of the xs features , heated seats , windows etc. I just can’t justify the extra 12k when I’ll end up striping it to add sound proofing etc anyway |
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16th Jan 2022 1:56pm |
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| Race.it Member Since: 27 Aug 2019 Location: Algeciras Posts: 826  
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The aircon is the biggie I think, col1 retrofitted this to his recently.
Pace automotive do a overlay loom that gives the main harness for windows/ locking / heated seats and the heated windscreen. But you still need things like switches, window motors, the door lock solenoid's, the door wiring etc. I am retrofitting the electrics on mine slowly. So not a big hit, will you get the money back possibly no, but it may make it attractive to another buyer if you ever had to sell, it could sell easier. Searching for my first Defender...and started just as Covid hit, so talk about timing. 5 months after starting the search I found it, and here is the details |
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16th Jan 2022 4:48pm |
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| Co1 Member Since: 19 Aug 2018 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 3686 
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Your right, Air Con is a big job. It’s not super hard, but there is a good chunk of work involved, especially getting the dash out and in again. Your not a million miles away from me, if you wanted to come and have a look feel free to give me a shout and I’ll talk you through it. From memory, it was about £1800 for the kit.
The rest of what you want to do is straight forward enough. |
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16th Jan 2022 4:55pm |
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| CarMan Member Since: 29 Nov 2010 Location: Cotswolds Posts: 1874
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ABS & ETC (traction control) may or may not be on the base spec truck you are thinking about but is a biggy for me and I assume not something you can reasonably retro-fit Rob
1993 200tdi 90 hard-top 1998 300tdi 90 soft-top 2016 2.2 XS 90 hard-top (sold) |
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16th Jan 2022 5:08pm |
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| thomson_adam Member Since: 07 Dec 2021 Location: Cleveland Posts: 151 |
I didn’t think the switches would be hard to come by ? I would probably get an auto electrician to do the work to save my time etc. I didn’t know if it would be less expensive than paying the 12k difference , I would have thought I may not get all of the money back but if you have an official xs spec and one that has all the extras would they be that far off in price ? |
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16th Jan 2022 5:39pm |
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| thomson_adam Member Since: 07 Dec 2021 Location: Cleveland Posts: 151 |
Thanks, that would be great. Did you buy the kit then fit yourself ? |
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16th Jan 2022 5:40pm |
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| thomson_adam Member Since: 07 Dec 2021 Location: Cleveland Posts: 151 |
Excuse my stupidity here , it does have the button on the far left which looks like traction control. Is this right ? |
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16th Jan 2022 5:41pm |
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| Race.it Member Since: 27 Aug 2019 Location: Algeciras Posts: 826
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Lots of the switches are at present on back order with Landrover, the third party guys are starting to ramp up and produce them. I had same though about switches till I went to buy them. Searching for my first Defender...and started just as Covid hit, so talk about timing.
5 months after starting the search I found it, and here is the details |
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16th Jan 2022 6:00pm |
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| PCM Member Since: 25 Jan 2019 Location: North East Posts: 895
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I did a load of “pondering” about such a question..
Heated seats can easily be retrofitted with a loom with genuine switches. XS or better covers are available. Heated windows can be added too. The main difference is the aircon that is hard (expensive) to retrofit. But also the paperwork will never be XS. As such as an investment if you add the extra money into XS now you will eventually get it back. 🙈 |
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16th Jan 2022 6:16pm |
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| andy2111 Member Since: 17 Oct 2021 Location: Kent Posts: 368 
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My advice is not to underestimate the cost of retrofitting all the kit you need, unless you can fit it all yourself.
I have taken a TD5 hard top and converted to XS Puma spec with full Puma dashboard, air conditioning, electric everything, double din sat nav etc It is beyond expensive and if it wasn’t for the fact I love my truck and this is kind of my hobby then I couldn’t justify the cost at all. I am great at the design, but I have to pay for most of the work to be done by professionals. If it’s “just £12k” to get what you want then I’d say spend it on a truck that is an XS already because you could spend way more than that upgrading one thing at a time. Happy to share more if you’re interested! |
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16th Jan 2022 6:40pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17520 
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Two thoughts occur to me, firstly converting it to XS spec won't make it an XS so it will never have the value of an original XS, and secondly it is entirely possible to live happily without most of the XS spec features and take comfort from the fact that there is a lot less to go wrong, usually expensively.
The only "XS feature" I retrofitted to mine and wouldn't want to be without is the heated screen, all the rest I am glad not to have! I certainly don't want air conditioning since it makes so many maintenance tasks much more complex. I do however recognise that many people think that life without a/c is intolerable now!  |
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16th Jan 2022 6:49pm |
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| Race.it Member Since: 27 Aug 2019 Location: Algeciras Posts: 826
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In southern Spain it’s defo a need, one of the only things I actually wanted on mine when I was looking as I know the other stuff can be retrofitted but in 40-50 degrees it’s nice to have even the defender one. Searching for my first Defender...and started just as Covid hit, so talk about timing.
5 months after starting the search I found it, and here is the details |
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16th Jan 2022 8:31pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17520
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^^ That I happily accept. The UK is not (yet) in the same league, but give it a few years...
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16th Jan 2022 11:08pm |
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