 | Home > General & Technical (L663) > 2020 Defender main discussion thread |
 
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018   
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I can see why he was dropped by the TV company ~ nothing really in that video other than lazy clichés and regurgitated PR notes. He used to be capable of so much more. |
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30th Nov 2020 7:55am |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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He apparently had some interesting things to say: "Richard believes the Defender is for “a brief escape into the great outdoors.” After that, you “scurry back to a life that thankfully can be more comfortable and more luxurious than anything that could’ve been imagined at the time of the Land Rover’s original launch.” "On an ending note, the part at 8:05 summarizes Richard’s feelings about the Defender perfectly. “Oh, and Land Rover, one final thing. Why didn’t you finish the job properly and put a Discovery badge on it?” When a guy as passionate about Land Rover as Hammond is criticizing the British automaker this way, you know that Land Rover has messed up badly." https://www.autoevolution.com/news/richard...52301.html |
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30th Nov 2020 8:10am |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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He's never short of an opinion or two and usually opines in an articulate and entertaining manner.
 Click image to enlarge "An off-road Rambo with mud in its veins Jeremy Clarkson Sunday November 29 2020, 12.01am, The Sunday Times Over the past six months this column has sometimes been about farming and sometimes about cars. And now it’s about both at the same time, because today I’m writing about the new Land Rover Defender. It has been designed by the company’s chief stylist, Gerry McGovern, to look like the old Defender, and I can’t see why. When Apple was designing its phone, it didn’t say: “It must be red and 8ft tall, and it must smell of urine and be full of ladies’ phone numbers.” It went ahead and did something different. But Gerry, a little man who hates me because I’m so much taller than him, may have been wise on this occasion, because he understands the British don’t like different. The last Defender was launched just after the Second World War, then not really altered at all for 67 years. And when the company did pull the plug, lots of Brexit-type people rushed about saying they would put it back into production themselves, so that proper British men — men, d’you hear — could continue to drive a car that smelt of damp dogs and was full of sharp edges. I was never a fan of the old Defender, and because the new one is so obviously designed to be a modern-day interpretation, and has been styled by a small man who hates me, I was determined to dislike it as well. Initially this was a struggle, because it does look good. I had the short-wheelbase Defender 90 model and there was definitely a Tonka-toyish charm allied to a hint of meat. The meat’s real too. This is a car that can wade through water nearly 3ft deep and is fitted with electrics so robust they can be submerged for an hour and still work. It is not, then, just a Range Rover with right angles. It’s been beefed up everywhere to cope with everything. And that was good news, because the day after it was delivered to my farm, men came with machines to resurface my drive. This meant that for a week the only way into the world would be via what we call the brown back passage. It is a very muddy track, and sometimes it’s very muddy without being a track at all. And I could not believe how well the Defender coped. Even my tractor slithers about in one notorious 200-yard slab of clay, but the little Land Rover kept on going. I didn’t even need to employ any of its “special programs”, which is a good thing, because to engage these you must first press a button on the dash and then use an iPad-style touchscreen thing to make your selection. That’s only going to work if you’re 12. Later that afternoon I heard gunfire on the other side of the farm, so, fearful that someone was shooting my deers, I set off up the brown back passage and into the woods, where the 90’s smallness meant I could zip about easily between the trees. It was also extremely comfortable, and although my test car had the 2-litre petrol engine, and not a torquey diesel, it was sprightly and gutsy too. Soon I forgot why I’d gone out, and was to be found trying to get it stuck in bogs and on muddy banks so I could be manly and use my tractor to pull it out. I was quite sad when I failed, but then happy the next day when someone borrowed it and called moments later to say that she was bogged down in some — not very — deep ruts. I won’t say who it was. Only that her name begins with an “L”. And ends with an “isa Hogan”. Even more impressive than the off-road comfort and ability was the interior. It’s not completely “wipe clean”, sadly, and I hated the tiny man’s faux and pointlessly visible screw heads, but there are so many cubbyholes and pockets for things, you could play kick the can in there and never find anyone. It looks good too, apart from the stupid fake screws, which I don’t think I’ve mentioned. I especially liked the folding canvas sunroof. It made me think of the Tudor Webasto on my grandad’s old Rover. After three days I was fairly confident that I would be buying a Defender soon, but then I checked the price and, er, I’m sorry. What? The car I’d had — the short-wheelbase model with the tiny engine — was more than £62,000 with the options factored in. Even if you take away all the extras that had been fitted, it’s still at least 50 grand and, excuse me, but if I want a vehicle to cart around bales of straw and sheep — and I do, by the way — why would I spend £50,000-plus on a Defender, when for much, much less I could do what all farmers do and get a pick-up? Certainly a pick-up would “bong” less. The Defender alerts you firmly and loudly when you open the door or don’t do up your seatbelt, and it becomes completely hysterical when you’re manoeuvring and nearing such terrors as blades of grass or a small shrub. This is all extremely annoying when you’re using the car as a tool. The problems continued the next day when I drove to London, because on the motorway there was quite a lot of wind noise and the sort of constant diagonal pitching motion most closely associated with cross-Channel ferries in the 1960s. Is this a consequence of the excellent off-road ability? Or has it been “engineered in” to give drivers a flavour of the old car? Rover did it with the styling, so who knows? In London it was the eve of lockdown 2.0 and absolutely everyone was squeezed into the tiny bit of the road network that hasn’t been turned into a cycle lane. It took three hours to get from the Strand to the River Café in Hammersmith and en route the Land Rover bonged at everything, convinced we were perpetually on the verge of a massive crash. But everyone was looking at it and everyone was giving it the thumbs-up. I admit that, thanks to some clever details and the silver paint with the optional satin film, it did look good. The tiny man who hates me has seen to that. His engineering department has done a bloody good job as well, because it’s not like those idiotic American backwoodsmen who dress up like Rambo and imagine they’re former Delta Force troops. This is the real deal. It’s a properly serious off-roader. I was determined to hate the new Defender, then, but I don’t. Despite the relentless bonging, it’s a fine and clever car. Sadly, however, I can’t see the point of it. For serious countrymen that price tag is too high, and for top-of-the-range models it goes higher still, to more than £80,000. I know there are “commercial” versions coming next year, and they’ll be less expensive, but for now I’m inclined to go for a cheaper, more tax-efficient and much more practical Ford Ranger Raptor. You, on the other hand? Well, if you are a hedge-fund manager and you commute every Friday night to your house in the country, where there are cattle grids and speed humps and sometimes a pheasant to steer round, be in no doubt: the new Defender will be not as good as the Range Rover you quite rightly have now." |
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30th Nov 2020 8:38am |
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| Philip Member Since: 09 Mar 2018 Location: England Posts: 510
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Do people still not realise an Amarok with a few trinkets is over £50k?
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30th Nov 2020 11:58am |
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| AMBxx Member Since: 24 Jul 2016 Location: York Posts: 995 
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I think we're all guilty of not noticing how much car prices have gone up in recent years. Partly due to increased safety and partly to the extreme application of technology.
My wife's X1 was £25k when bought new 5.5 years ago. I just specced the current model - closer to £40k. Part of the problem is the way everything is now done in packages. I don't want Apple Car Play, but I do want whatever I selected that automatically added it. Likewise, I want heated front seats, but for some strange reason they're only available if you have anti-dazzle wing mirrors and extra interior lights. Very odd. |
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30th Nov 2020 12:14pm |
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| J77 Member Since: 04 Nov 2019 Location: Fife Posts: 3262 
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The Defender doesn’t need half the stuff buyers are adding.
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30th Nov 2020 8:56pm |
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| Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3753 
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LR needs to pair up these guys with Andrew St Pierre White - he says it’s not an overlander they say............
Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! |
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30th Nov 2020 9:00pm |
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| markb110 Member Since: 22 May 2010 Location: Guildford Posts: 2528  
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Also (in the UK at least) the consumer has moved more towards buying vehicles on PCP finance where as a starter they are only paying for half of the price of the car then part ex it for a newer model or take out a loan to pay for the other half when the PCP has come to the end. That 40k car is only 20k. Its all about the generation of new car sales, irrespective of all those 'new' cars sitting in fields and old runways for months on end. Manufactures could easily reduce prices, but unfortunately the bean counters have worked out is is more profitable to build 20 cars nobody wants for the 1 that has a customers name on it. The latter is pointless due to that fact the value of the car will be less than the secondary finance and interest rates on the loan (not to mention increased cost of servicing, tyres, and worn out parts). On another note, how many of you read the Jeremy Clarkson review in the voice of Jeremy Clarkson.....? |
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30th Nov 2020 9:36pm |
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| DSL Member Since: 20 Aug 2007 Location: Wandering the wasteland. Posts: 837
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Re voice: guilty!
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30th Nov 2020 10:07pm |
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| nowrxo Member Since: 10 Sep 2015 Location: None Posts: 79
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Blame WLTP. Options can have an impact on emissions (e.g. bigger wheels, sunroof), and manufacturers have to test the cars with the different options present. The fewer the combination of options, the less testing they have to do. https://autovistagroup.com/news-and-insigh...ct-options I've been looking at lots of different cars, including the new Defender, and Land Rover aren't that bad compared to the Germans. If you want a top of the range Audi Q5 ("Vorsprung"), you choose an engine and a colour and that's pretty much it. You get a sunroof, HUD, 360 cameras, running boards, whether you want them or not. However, this doesn't seem to apply to Porsche, whose list of options is about a mile long! |
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30th Nov 2020 10:17pm |
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| Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3753
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Guilty m’lud Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! |
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30th Nov 2020 10:48pm |
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| Dohfender Member Since: 21 Oct 2020 Location: Mid North Coast Posts: 39 
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 Guilty  MY21 110 D300SE DEFENDER
MY17 3.0D R-SPORT F-PACE |
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1st Dec 2020 12:27am |
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| zilch Member Since: 11 Sep 2019 Location: Whitsundays & Sydney Posts: 784
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oh look TFL are not exactly happy with their new truck
&feature=youtu.be yet another pommie bar steward down under MY20 110 P400 SE Defender MY10 3.0 RR Sport |
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1st Dec 2020 12:38am |
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| Dohfender Member Since: 21 Oct 2020 Location: Mid North Coast Posts: 39
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What is it with these reviewers? It took him 5min 40sec just to tell us how he bought a Raptor. Get to the point!
 MY21 110 D300SE DEFENDER
MY17 3.0D R-SPORT F-PACE |
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1st Dec 2020 12:57am |
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