Why are these so expensive?

VolvoMan

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Land-Rover/Defender/110-Util/201110201563666/advert?channel=CARS

You would think that with them being in production for over sixty years that all the design/tooling would have long been paid off and, considering how simple they look, they shouldn't be that expensive to build either; yet somehow they cost the guts of forty grand.

I really don't get all the hype over them either. They are gruff, unrefined, extremely uncomfortable and you are hardly going to utilise their off road ability in this country. People go on saying how they are "amazing" and "unrivaled off-road", yet still for some reason you never see the UN or any of the peacekeeping authorities using them...

Guy:Incognito

VolvoMan wrote: »

you are hardly going to utilise their off road ability in this country.

Why not Do we have proportionally less hills, farms and fields etc than the UK?

VolvoMan wrote: »

yet still for some reason you never see the UN or any of the peacekeeping authorities using them...

http://www.travel-images.com/photo-ethiopia327.html

VolvoMan

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Why not Do we have proportionally less hills, farms and fields etc than the UK?

Well we're a much smaller country, so obviously yes?

http://www.travel-images.com/photo-ethiopia327.html

That's just one image. You will find many organisations who have long abandoned the Defender for other alternatives such as the Nissan Patrol and Mitsubishi Pajero, our own army being one of them.

My main point I suppose is that it's bloody expensive for such a crude, outdated piece of transport that is less comfortable and reliable than other Japanese offerings. I struggle to see how they can charge so much for it.

Guy:Incognito

VolvoMan wrote: »

Well we're a much smaller country, so obviously yes?.

Yes but I'd say we have similar amounts of countryside in proportion to our size, which is why I said proportionally.

VolvoMan wrote: »

Well we're a much smaller country, so obviously yes?.
That's just one image. You will find many organisations who have long abandoned the Defender for other alternatives such as the Nissan Patrol and Mitsubishi Pajero, our own army being one of them.

.

One image of the many that comes up when you google it. I was hardly going to link to every picture.

Nonoperational

Someone needs to look up proportionally in the dictionary...

Anan1

To answer the OPs question, price is determined by what the market will pay rather than what the car costs to produce. I'd imagine their relative unreliability goes against them for military use.

unkel

Anan1 wrote: »

I'd imagine their relative unreliability goes against them for military use.

That's exactly why they were being replaced by Mercedes G-wagens when I was in the army (not in this country)

And that was with all repairs done with slave labour (national service mechanics being paid less than the minimum wage)

That said, the LandRover won hands down on off road performance. I have first hand experience of this

unkel

Oh and you need to take the price in comparison. Dunno if the G-wagen is still sold here, but if it were, the cheapest version would likely cost more than double that of that Land Rover...

Mycroft H

Cheap parts, ease of working on, unrivalled off road, excellent tow vehicle and they take lots of abuse.

I could go on :pac:

robtri

one amazing motor, would love to get my hands on an old one for restoration ...

R.O.R

Passed an 11 reg SWB commercial on the motorway this morning! Having driven on (a new one in 05) on the same stretch, I just hope it's not the usual journey they have to do.

From talking to those who use them off road, there are times when only a Defender will do.

911s

Looking at the photos of Landrover there is no bulkhead between rear seats and load area. I thought you had to have a fixed steel bulkhead in a crew cab to avail of commercial rates. That was the ruling a few years ago when we an a crew cab VW.

guerito

A new Land Cruiser costs a smidge under 39K. And it hasn't got armour plating

VolvoMan

VolvoMan wrote: »

You would think that with them being in production for over sixty years that all the design/tooling would have long been paid off and.

If you consider that BMW sold Land Rover for £1800,000,000 the tooling and design being paid off years ago isn't much of a factor. Admittedly it has again changed hands since once or twice.

Anan1

guerito wrote: »

A new Land Cruiser costs a smidge under 39K. And it hasn't got armour plating

Yeah, but a Land Cruiser won't break down while you're being shot at..

VolvoMan

Anan1 wrote: »

Yeah, but a Land Cruiser won't break down while you're being shot at..

My point exactly.

I think there's too much British pride in the Defender and they therefore overlook its shortcomings. This has a knock-on effect on our nation due to the fact that most of the motoring media we read and watch comes from there. It's as if they claim to have invented the 4x4 with it.

In my opinion, the Brits have produced some fantastic cars. It's just a pity that they themselves sometimes don't know what cars those are.

zilog_jones

They are still mostly hand-built, so the cost of assembly is probably much higher than most other cars these days.

Solnskaya

back in the day when I was rich-ish-er, I bought a brand new swb petrol, and at the time, I loved it(despite the inability to drive in a straight line, the noise, the dash from a zetor, the fuel economy(ha) and the road manners of a Bulgarian cart), but then I bought a replacement, which was Japanese, and LR became a bad, distant memory. They had their time, but it's past. The one virtue was that the chassis was tough and dents just added to the charm. A more ruggedly bodied jap/korean jeep would be the dream.

YouTookMyName

Off the sales forecourts soon because on the EU and the shape of it's front.

Total replacement will be needed by 2015, when new regulations regarding crash safety for pedestrians will render the current design obsolete.

Wiki

L-M

Lol, IIRC correcltly it was around 25000 grand for a PU *probably more now with VRT changes) and you didn't get a radio, electric windows or central locking as standard... All the extra's are completely overpriced, they new ones aren't reliable and you have to have your hand out the window to drive one.

Also, they took out the third seat in the front and the bench seats in the back due to dam safety relugations, one of the only things that made them cool.