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NMBRPL8



Member Since: 07 Jul 2015
Location: Australia
Posts: 144

Australia 
Mcgovern and cufflink enginering ethos
Post #643595 13th Aug 2017 10:34am
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ericvv



Member Since: 02 Jun 2011
Location: Near the Jet d'Eau
Posts: 5816

Switzerland 2009 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SVX Station Wagon Santorini Black
Think our existing Defenders are pretty stylish. More so than an Eewok or new Discovery. Whistle
And probably more so than the new still being designed Defender too. Rolling Eyes
Eric You never actually own a Defender. You merely look after it for the next generation.
http://youtu.be/yVRlSsJwD0o
https://youtu.be/vmPr3oTHndg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GtzTT9Pdl0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABqKPz28e6A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLZ49Jce_n0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvAsz_ilQYU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tMHiX9lSw
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwjPuHIV7I
https://vimeo.com/201482507
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSixqL0iyHw
Post #643596 13th Aug 2017 11:12am
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Ramajama



Member Since: 28 Jul 2016
Location: Heartland, ‘Murica
Posts: 109

United States 
Well they are no doubt stylish...to a certain few. While others may think they are simply "cool looking" ...Thats the issue.
This article made perfect sense. What LR is doing makes perfect sense. If LR wants to live on, then they've GOT to follow this path of appealing to a more mass market. Thats exactly what they are doing. The LR4 was awesome. But the new Discovery beats it on every single feature and spec. Not only beats it...kills it. The looks may not be the purist's cup o tea but a lot more people as a whole seem to like its looks better. Ive driven it and its a heap better than the outgoing LR4. Thats saying something for me to say that.

The new Defender is still a mystery shrouded in an enigma but Im hoping for the best. With it selling in the US, it can be a real boon for LR. Im still hopeful that it turns out great because we'd jump on one if they do it right.

One thing about the article that frustrates me...they say its two or three years away, McGovern says its "RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER".....so which is it? LOL!!
Post #643652 13th Aug 2017 5:01pm
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milesr3



Member Since: 12 Feb 2013
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 873

2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Keswick Green
You can't argue with the financial result of taking the Freelander2 and morphing it into the Evoque and Discover Sport. The FL2 was one of the best cars we owned. However the Evoque and DS were too impractical and too expensive for what they are.

I am impressed with the Discovery 5 though. It seems to be a cut-price and more practical Range Rover. I may well end up in one of these if the new Defender is too stylish for me.
Post #643803 14th Aug 2017 8:38am
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 16812

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
I think that the fact that someone even considers a Disco 5 as a replacement for a Defender is indicative of how far the Defender market has moved, and how far JLR has managed customer expectations already.

The (outgoing) Defender was a commerical vehicle, a working vehicle, which somehow "morphed" into a "lifestyle" vehicle. and its successor will almost inevitably be a "lifestyle" vehicle from the start.

As a person who uses his Defender for the purpose for which it was conceived, this to me is an absolute disaster. If, however, like so many later buyers of a Defender (and like many on this forum, and no criticism is intended) you bought it as a lifestyle choice, it is probably great news.

I suspect now that the one-time majority who bought the Defender because you can tow plant trailers, fit cherry-pickers, locust-suppression equipment, or snowploughs, carry tools to remote places, and so on, and now the tiny minority, and also that the limited and finicky market for such a vehicle makes it something in which JLR simply has no interest - it won't provide sufficient ROI.

McGovern is undoubtedly a brilliant asset for JLR and from the point of view of the company's owners/shreholders is doing all the right things, but I suspect that he is the death knell for the original Land-Rover concept.

It goes without saying that I hope to be proved wrong.
Post #643824 14th Aug 2017 10:31am
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Ramajama



Member Since: 28 Jul 2016
Location: Heartland, ‘Murica
Posts: 109

United States 
milesr3 wrote:
You can't argue with the financial result of taking the Freelander2 and morphing it into the Evoque and Discover Sport. The FL2 was one of the best cars we owned. However the Evoque and DS were too impractical and too expensive for what they are.

I am impressed with the Discovery 5 though. It seems to be a cut-price and more practical Range Rover. I may well end up in one of these if the new Defender is too stylish for me.


We have a little experience with the LR2 as we seriously considered one at one time. To each their own I guess but honestly, out of the 32-ish combined cars, trucks, SUVs and Jeeps my wife and I have owned between us over the past 25 years, the Discovery Sport is easily one of the top 2 most practical vehicles we've owned. Thats saying something....however it is also top 3 most expensive. All 3 being within a few thousand $ of each other.
Post #644058 15th Aug 2017 5:26am
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oneten110



Member Since: 02 Jul 2011
Location: Wish I was still in France
Posts: 741

United Kingdom 
Absolutely the greatest thing about the Land Rover and the Defender was that it was a genuinely universal vehicle which said little or nothing about the driver/owner. From queenie all the way to people like me, via the military, emergency services, the AA and numerous others.
I very much doubt the replacement will be anything like as broad in its appeal
Post #648761 7th Sep 2017 11:11am
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X4SKP



Member Since: 29 Nov 2013
Location: Berkshire
Posts: 2284

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Stornoway Grey
Hello oneten110

I absolutely agree...I remember reading somewhere that when you see a Defender you don't know whether
its driver owns the land, or works it...

Classless maybe, but because of that it has huge class, so often understated, its not trying too hard.

I loved the 1st comment at the end of the article...

''Great cars, very comfortable. But in a big country like Australia, its more important how reliable the thing is rather than how it looks. Its a long way between LR dealers once you get out of the capital cities''.

As the Aussies say if you want to go into the Bush take a Land Rover... but if you want to come out take a Land Cruiser.

The Article concludes...

'The take-out from this is that the next Defender will be stylish in ways that the original Land Rover never was… but it will still be ‘a Defender’'.

Oh dear... Shocked

I just hope that when the replacement Defender arrives it isn't trying too hard...just do the off-road, on-road thing really well, with up to date safety, and comfort, in a platform that allows the individualist / specialist (including Land Rover) to take this and tailor / customise the Defender to its wider market potential. There must be room in the LR line up for one vehicle to not be just a 'size clone' of those around it, a design 'trap' so many car manufactures fall into.

Am I day dreaming with false hope... Question SKIP
https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic83242.html


Last edited by X4SKP on 7th Sep 2017 2:16pm. Edited 1 time in total
Post #648769 7th Sep 2017 11:41am
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Huttopia



Member Since: 23 Feb 2016
Location: West Midlands
Posts: 1964

United Kingdom 
"Am I day dreaming with false hope... ?"

I think so. I can't reconcile modern cost efficient production methods and materials with building vehicles that can easily be varied to meet specific user needs. Big Cry
Post #648797 7th Sep 2017 2:06pm
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milesr3



Member Since: 12 Feb 2013
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 873

2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Keswick Green
https://www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/anything...tree-green

"The passing of Aintree Green marks the passing of my love for Land Rover. We have all lost an old friend, a gentleman in a brown warehouse coat that always knew where the half-inch brass screws were".
Post #715023 28th Jun 2018 4:21pm
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apt100



Member Since: 05 Mar 2015
Location: Derbyshire
Posts: 1547

United Kingdom 2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Aintree Green
^^ that link doesn't work - but this might https://www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/anything...tree-green

The article does say that although Aintree Green (any green) is no longer listed in the configurator, British Racing Green is available as an extra cost. Interestingly my Aintree Green is actually listed as BRG in Topix Thumbs Up
Post #715040 28th Jun 2018 7:07pm
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JeremyJ



Member Since: 16 Nov 2011
Location: Aylesbury
Posts: 1758

United Kingdom 
BRG is available but very long lead times (as with any SV paint) Big Cry
Post #715050 28th Jun 2018 7:34pm
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22900013A



Member Since: 23 Dec 2010
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 3139

United Kingdom 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Keswick Green
Sorry but I had to give up half way through. Army surplus paint? HUE is Keswick Green? Hand painted? Matt finish?...

Err....what? 2011 110 USW
1973 Series III 1-Ton
1972 Series III 1-Ton Cherrypicker
1969 IIA 1-Ton
1966 IIA 88"
Post #715100 29th Jun 2018 6:14am
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DSC-off



Member Since: 16 Oct 2014
Location: North East
Posts: 1343

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Aintree Green
Oliver Jerome has put into words what many have come to realise over recent years.
Landrover is not the same company, it doesn't build working vehicles, or cater for 'conservative tastes' and doesn't want to.
It doesn't even want to sell green colours, that are so significant to the company's past.
Time to move on. He and I will both be spending our money elsewhere.

It was worth reading through to the end:

"Aintree Green is grassroots. Aintree Green was the spirit of the company that gave us the 50th Anniversary Defender V8, the icon that burbled through my Park Lane test drive in 1998, available at an accessible price and accessible volumes. Twenty years on, in this post-green age, we’re given the same vehicle for £150k, to be sold only by appointment.

Green-era Land Rover would not have built the Velar, or the Evoque Cabriolet (imagine: would the farmer in Peter Rabbit be seen in such a thing?).

The passing of Aintree Green marks the passing of my love for Land Rover. We have all lost an old friend, a gentleman in a brown warehouse coat that always knew where the half-inch brass screws were.

After one Freelander, three proper Range Rovers, one Range Rover Sport, two Discovery 4s, three Defender 90s, two Defender 110s and even a Series 1 (yes, all green; the Series 1 even had paint left over from the war, you know…), I am done."
Post #715162 29th Jun 2018 2:33pm
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22900013A



Member Since: 23 Dec 2010
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 3139

United Kingdom 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Keswick Green
Would have been a nice article but for the sheer number of factual errors as I hinted at above. 2011 110 USW
1973 Series III 1-Ton
1972 Series III 1-Ton Cherrypicker
1969 IIA 1-Ton
1966 IIA 88"
Post #715169 29th Jun 2018 3:40pm
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