BuzzLand

BuzzLand

Active Member
Just wondering if there's going to be a movement of us keeping our old defenders as long as possible.

Word is that Land Rover will keep the old defender model going as a commercial vehicle, that way they keep the farmer folk etc happy.

Maybe if the EU regulations are ignored for a change they'll go back to the old school defenders after a few years of low sales on the new ones??
 
I'm sure the thousands of people recently taken on by LR will appreciate your optimistic view.
 
Hanging on to mine................I don't hold with all this new fangled 'coil sprung' rubbish.

It'll never catch on :eek:;)
 
My old man's got a 130... Was talking to him about the new defender the other week and he said he liked it insofar as it'd help keep the Land Rover name alive, but he wouldn't sell his old workhorse for it. And I agree.

I've always wanted to buy a brand new defender... but not the new model!
 
LR abandoned the commercial market many years ago, the new one will have some commercial variants but this is just to keep the name alive, the rest will be "lifestyle" vehicles.
I'm afraid that Mr McGovern, while he has been good for the luxury end of the range doesnt seem to understand the keep it simple/keep it robust/keep it covered in **** end of the market, especially now the military has moved on from being based on landies for core transport there is no large easy market for the basic landy, Suzuki have it for the small vehicle and Toyota have it for the big stuff.
sad really
 
storm99 said:
I'm sure the thousands of people recently taken on by LR will appreciate your optimistic view.
Click to expand...

They certainly will, as it's much of a muchness if they are working on the new-new style or the old-school workhouse that get's the job done :)
 
BuzzLand said:
They certainly will, as it's much of a muchness if they are working on the new-new style or the old-school workhouse that get's the job done :)
Click to expand...

If there was still a strong market for the 'old' defender then im sure LR would have exploited it. Its a victim of its own strength..ie it goes on forever.
 
Problem with current defender, is that it is Hand built (badly) and makes virtuslly no profit. the gaylander & discoveries have kept it alive this far.

The noo one will be mass assembled on a automated production line. and hopefully start top make a profit for LR.
 
I'll probably hang onto a Defender, yes.

BUT, I'll also be quite interested in the replacement, providing it's a little more heritage than the DC100, which I don't wholly dislike.

I don't agree necessarily that LR has totally let go of the commercial market either.
 
Have a look at this: Land Rover Defender DC100 Press Conference 2011 - YouTube

I have a lot of confidence in Land Rover with regards to the new car. Yes its not going to be quite as easily fixed in the middle of a field but then again how easy is it to repair one of the brand new ones? Loads of electrics in it already... They're using modern technologies and materials to create a car which is completely fit for purpose (or so they say anyway). So long as they stay true to that (they would be very stupid not to especially now that they have said that that's what they're going to do) then i believe that the new defender is going to be a truely modern interpretation of the defender.
The DC100 is a concept car. Concept cars are very rarely what the production car actually ends up looking like. By the time they have taken away all of the flashy bits and made a few little alterations i think it will look great as well.
And look on the bright side - to prove to people like us that the car is a real defender they might do something like camel trophy... Would be a brilliant way of showing off how good it really is!
I'm now bracing myself for the slating I'm surely about to get... :p
 
Tom the young un said:
Have a look at this: Land Rover Defender DC100 Press Conference 2011 - YouTube

I have a lot of confidence in Land Rover with regards to the new car. Yes its not going to be quite as easily fixed in the middle of a field but then again how easy is it to repair one of the brand new ones? Loads of electrics in it already... They're using modern technologies and materials to create a car which is completely fit for purpose (or so they say anyway). So long as they stay true to that (they would be very stupid not to especially now that they have said that that's what they're going to do) then i believe that the new defender is going to be a truely modern interpretation of the defender.
The DC100 is a concept car. Concept cars are very rarely what the production car actually ends up looking like. By the time they have taken away all of the flashy bits and made a few little alterations i think it will look great as well.
And look on the bright side - to prove to people like us that the car is a real defender they might do something like camel trophy... Would be a brilliant way of showing off how good it really is!
I'm now bracing myself for the slating I'm surely about to get... :p
Click to expand...
Don't think you will get a slating.... your opinion is your opinion... however I do disagree.

The trend that LR is following to moving inexorably deeper into the "experts only" direction whereby repairing a dmaaged landy in the field is getting more and more difficult. LR vehicles are renowned for being serviceable anywhere and everywhere. When you are producung vehicles and labelling them as the best off road oand overland solution, equipping them with so much electronics that it takes a space shuttle engineer to change a bulb is, in my opinion, a move in the wrong direction.
 
Ryder said:
Don't think you will get a slating.... your opinion is your opinion... however I do disagree.

The trend that LR is following to moving inexorably deeper into the "experts only" direction whereby repairing a dmaaged landy in the field is getting more and more difficult. LR vehicles are renowned for being serviceable anywhere and everywhere. When you are producung vehicles and labelling them as the best off road oand overland solution, equipping them with so much electronics that it takes a space shuttle engineer to change a bulb is, in my opinion, a move in the wrong direction.
Click to expand...

I completely agree that electronics are making it difficult to repair in the field or anywhere else for that matter but due to EU legislation, all cars have to meet certain CO2 emission levels and unfortunately the only way to do this is with electronics. It's impossible (as far as i know - presumably they would have done it if it wasn't...) to have an engine without electronic control producing the performance needed for a Defender to do what it does whilst still being within the regulations. If the defender doesn't meet these regulations then it can't exist so unfortunately its a necessary evil :/
 
Tom the young un said:
I completely agree that electronics are making it difficult to repair in the field or anywhere else for that matter but due to EU legislation, all cars have to meet certain CO2 emission levels and unfortunately the only way to do this is with electronics. It's impossible (as far as i know - presumably they would have done it if it wasn't...) to have an engine without electronic control producing the performance needed for a Defender whilst still being within the regulations. If the defender doesn't meet these regulations then it can't exist so unfortunately its a necessary evil :/
Click to expand...
Yes.... for systems that administrate emissions I can see that. But look at the vehicle and assess how many systems have nothing to do with emissions.

Each of these is subject to failure! and when it does... you are stranded....

Might not be too bothersome in central london... but I bet it would **** you off in the middle of morocco!
 
BuzzLand said:
Just wondering if there's going to be a movement of us keeping our old defenders as long as possible.

i only ever change vehicles when the old one has died terminally....if its cheaper to fix than get a replacement we fix.... with the 200 tdi disco , a mig and a ready supply of mechanical parts i cant really see terminal failure in the next few years..... even if the worst happened i dont forsee wot lr are making now being relevant to my purchasing decision for about 20 years.....by then the oil will have run out so wot theyre building now will have been scrapped and well all be in solar powered milk floats
Click to expand...
 
I would think that spares and aftermarket parts will be available for many years to come. The Defender has been an extremely popular vehicle over the years and the market won't die over night.

Look at the MGB: out of production for many years - you can get absolutely anything for them.
 
Mine ain't going to a new home anytime soon. There big enough money puts as they are never mind with all the gadgets and other crap they've put on
 
Thing is, for the price of a new one, why don't they supply full diagnostic stuff with one? A laptop these days costs £300 for a bloody good one, not high-end or cutting edge but still good enough! Electronic servicing in the field ... ;)

The servicing kit doesn't need to be as flashy as a laptop, a simple LED screen and buttons work well enough for most stuff, I can't understand why more car manufacturers don't do this for those of us who prefer to trust ourselves than trained and paid peanuts monkeys with wrenches ...
 
I'll be keeping my 110 thanks. Whilst i do agree the Defender needs a big update, I don't feel the DC100 is the right direction to take. I accept it will probably sell in big numbers, and might, just might do everything the current Defender does, but from my point of view the styling is just too bland and "modern". I also don't think we will see full-on utility spec versions like cherrypickers or trayback options.

That all said, every time I read a press piece on the "new Defender" its saying something different, so I really can't work out just what direction they will be taking.

I do however feel its rather sad that the utility and enthusiast sides of the market do apear to be being abandoned.
 
it'll never be the same again

''If this plan of making the new Defender in India gets the green light, the model is expected to share the chassis and suspension parts with the Tata Aria SUV''

Tata-Aria.jpg
 
I personally don't think Land Rover has made a vehicle,with the so called farmer mentality in mind for years.
They are only building modern,car like, dare I say it Gaylander type vehicles now, the days of needing a bare metal, hardly any safety, non green credential vehicle has totally gone.
Range Rover Sport, ''lowered and speeded up'',(what has that got to do with off roading) same for the Disco, bristling with up to date technology,and green credentials,because they have to.
They don't want to and are not interested in the slogan you can fix it on the field, why would they want to suggest it needs fixing at all.
Farmers I know all use Jap pickups, they don't break down to start with.
Don't get me wrong, I have 300 tdi Defender 110 and a Disco 1 and I love my Defender, but Land Rover DON'T' make anything out of me these days, the same as the vast majority on here I would imagine, so I understand for people such as us they could not give a toss, they are catering for your average premier ship footballer, yummy mummy, drug dealers, etc.
I did think at one point how long has the defender got, but I think it has years of life left as an old one, re constituted, but I would imagine the head boys minds are on the modern and the future,and the romantic notion of the landy in the farmers yard with chickens pecking at the ground by the front wheels is long gone...........
 
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