Finally a new LR Defender!

corglass

BBC news are reporting Land Rover will produce a new Land Rover Defender by 2015.

Shock horror, they've removed the external hinges, and even made it less boxy.

I'd be interested to see what ye think of the direction they're taking on this time warp classic?

The new one:





The current one:


Dang . . . . . beaten to it by johnos1984!

Bumpstop

Well it held out longer than most before they turned it gay, ( Not that there is anything wrong with that). RIP defender.

andyseadog

it'l never be a hit like the old one.

Atlantic Dawn

Reminds me of the Toyota FJ.

njburke

I've been driving a defender for years and that new one has no appeal to me at all. I may not be alone.

MugMugs

Were'nt they due to lose that model come 2016 anyway ?

It's kind of a forced thing, isnt it ?

Tea 1000

Bit too Freelander in the styling, but I'm glad they updated it. The old one was kind of shocking by todays standards. Smaller panel gaps, nicer interior, comfortable seats, better aerodynamics... none of these things reduce reliability or off-road ability, yet the Defender refused them all!

Pique

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Bit too Freelander in the styling, but I'm glad they updated it. The old one was kind of shocking by todays standards. Smaller panel gaps, nicer interior, comfortable seats, better aerodynamics... none of these things reduce reliability or off-road ability, yet the Defender refused them all!

That's it. So long as it still kicks ass off-road and hasn't got stupid niggly flaws and is reliable and tough then people will quickly forget that it looks modern and not like something from the 60s and end up loving it.
Nostalgia is so passé.

L-M

I think it looks crap and they should call it something else rather than a Defender.

_Conrad_

Bumpstop wrote: »

Well it held out longer than most before they turned it gay, ( Not that there is anything wrong with that). RIP defender.

I agree with the RIP defender part entirely. Not the anti gay part, there are some pretty tough gay people. Someone being gay doesn't necessarily mean they're one of the popular stereotype flamboyant feminine gays that are in tv programs acting girly. And yes they exist too not saying they don't, in fact i know examples of both one being a bearded 18 stone guy into rugby and sinking pints, another flamboyant, calls people darling, into fashion, works in theater so kind of your stereotype image of a gay man. Both different but both nice people.

PaudyW

think it looks awful, wont be nearly as big a hit as the old one, beauty of the old was any farmer or off roader worker could take a hammer or welder to it, that looks more like a big handbag

Stevie Dakota

Tough car to replace, people buy it for what it is, an old school, honest 4WD workhorse that eschews contemporary fads and design trends. This concept is way to close to other RR's/Landcruisers and is a sorry attempt that misses the point entirely.

Back to the drawing board LR.

CiaranMT

This has been thrust upon them, but the Defender should have just been discontinued. It's a classic design.

That new thing doesn't deserve to be its successor.

Tea 1000

CiaranMT wrote: »

This has been thrust upon them, but the Defender should have just been discontinued. It's a classic design.

That new thing doesn't deserve to be its successor.

People said the same about the Mini/MINI!

bennyx_o

Looks similar to a Skoda Yeti in he first picture IMO.

smellslikeshoes

Tea 1000 wrote: »

People said the same about the Mini/MINI!

Yes maybe but it's very much a different target market. People who buy defender's do it because it's from the stone age, updating it might take away it's main selling point.

Anan1

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

Yes maybe but it's very much a different target market. People who buy defender's do it because it's from the stone age, updating it might take away it's main selling point.

For fashion victims yes, but the buyers who actually need the Defenders abilities should be pleased at the extra refinement.

smellslikeshoes

Anan1 wrote: »

For fashion victims yes, but the buyers who actually need the Defenders abilities should be pleased at the extra refinement.

Your post doesn't make any sense, for fashion victims? Where did I mention anything about fashion?


Refinement seriously? You really don't seem to get the point of the Defender. If you want something capable offroad with refinement you buy a Disco or a Rangerover. If you want a simple to repair robust old school bruiser of a 4x4 that won't let you down you buy the Defender.

Mr.Boots

I own a current Defender.
The only extras i would want over what i have now are some safety fetures and better reliablility.
Ill wait to see the new Defender in better detail before passing judgement...its hard to tell from pictures.
The current defender is great in that it can tow 3.5ton, you can hose out the interior, its great off road, simple enough to work on, its versitle...you can have it as a passenger station wagon or a fire engine, there are no end to the amout of bits you can add on to it....and it looks good :cool:

101sean

Replacement of the Defender is being forced by EU crash and pedestrian protection legislation. Also Defender only sells 20,000 units or so pa and can't rely on the the military or utility market and a few die hard enthusiasts to keep going. It's also very labour intensive to build.

It's not been sold in US for over 10 years (and not seriously since the 1960s) and lost out in most other markets to better built Jap utilities when LR were starved of investment.

We're lucky it's being replaced at all, luxury 4x4s are now their core market.

Daniel S

I don't think I could fix one of them with a hammer/duck tape/swiss army knife/sheet metal anymore... :pac:

Anan1

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

Your post doesn't make any sense, for fashion victims? Where did I mention anything about fashion?


Refinement seriously? You really don't seem to get the point of the Defender. If you want something capable offroad with refinement you buy a Disco or a Rangerover. If you want a simple to repair robust old school bruiser of a 4x4 that won't let you down you buy the Defender.

IMO that's marketing speak. Many people buy Defenders because of their image, and these buyers will likely be slow to take to the new one. The old Defender was great offroad, but easy to repair, robust, and reliable? That's a Toyota. I'd expect the new version to have more ability but less charm. This will alienate the fashion victims, but will please buyers who needed Defenders but tired of their lack of refinement.

Wossack

sorry, whats the story with the 'thrust upon them' and 'lost that model in 2016' comments? EU law preventing some component of the current design or the like?

also thought skoda yeti from the photos


/edit thanks sean101, thought something of the sort alright

Tea 1000

Anan1 wrote: »

IMO that's marketing speak. Many people buy Defenders because of their image, and these buyers will likely be slow to take to the new one. The old Defender was great offroad, but easy to repair, robust, and reliable? That's a Toyota. I'd expect the new version to have more ability but less charm. This will alienate the fashion victims, but will please buyers who needed Defenders but tired of their lack of refinement.

I completely agree. It's a fashion statement, or if you prefer, an inverse fashion statement. It looks old school and anti-fashion, which is why you choose it, making it actually a fashion statement in an obscure way!
People who actually bought the Defender for it's off-road ability alone shouldn't care how the new one looks and will wait to judge it on ability alone before deciding!

L-M

Wossack wrote: »

sorry, whats the story with the 'thrust upon them' and 'lost that model in 2016' comments? EU law preventing some component of the current design or the like?

also thought skoda yeti from the photos


/edit thanks sean101, thought something of the sort alright

To be fair, I wouldn't like to get a slap of a Defender.... Very little chance of survival I'd imagine...

CiaranMT

Tea 1000 wrote: »

People said the same about the Mini/MINI!

I still do.

Both cars I want to own when I have the money, incidentally.

pajo1981

LR defender is a joke.

101sean

:rolleyes:

Mycroft H

Anan1 wrote: »

The old Defender was great offroad, but easy to repair, robust, and reliable? That's a Toyota. I'd expect the new version to have more ability but less charm. This will alienate the fashion victims, but will please buyers who needed Defenders but tired of their lack of refinement.

I'm sorry, have you ever owned one long term?

I've had two over the last 8 years, and not once did anything major go wrong. The biggest thing was a power steering pump that a recon unit that was cheap and easy to replace (I did it myself in a few hours, following the workshop manual). Even when it dropped to sixteen below zero last winter, it started on the button and got you to work with no fuss.

The beauty of the defender is that its so simple mechanically (well the older variants...) that any idiot with a haynes manual can do plenty of mechanical work that you would not attempt on a contemporary pajero/landcruiser.

The one thing it aint, is refined. Noisy, loud and a useless heater that wouldn't clear the ice building on the windscreen, but that is part of the charm of them.

Hiace.

Looks terrible, like an ultra version of the kia "soul".

Next thing Nivea will be making cars for men with sensitive skin.

Hiace.

_Conrad_ wrote: »

I agree with the RIP defender part entirely. Not the anti gay part, there are some pretty tough gay people. Someone being gay doesn't necessarily mean they're one of the popular stereotype flamboyant feminine gays that are in tv programs acting girly. And yes they exist too not saying they don't, in fact i know examples of both one being a bearded 18 stone guy into rugby and sinking pints, another flamboyant, calls people darling, into fashion, works in theater so kind of your stereotype image of a gay man. Both different but both nice people.

Here, have a sneeky hug . . . .

The new LR is obviously aimed at the gay pound, bit like what jeep ended up doing with the wrangler.

paulbreen911

To be honest, I think it's god awful. I have a 110 van myself and bloody love it. Like someone else said, anyone can take a hammer or welding rod or anything to it and fix it. The new version looks like you couldnt do much work to it yourself. The whole thing, in my eyes anyway, aside from your ordinary joe soap, is the military. It's built to suit them. Can they bring that out onto the battle field like that? No, of course they can't. Their men cannot be expected to repair panels and parts and bits 'n bobs in the middle of a battle field while the enemy is rolling around laughing at your (and I'm not going into this ((no harm meant so on and so on)) as everyone else has already) pansy looking car. The US has Hummers, and the british military, a plasticky looking thingy that's all "Style and panache not seen since the era of the 50's" crap.

Look, it's nothing like the mini, or the beetle. Their new faces didn't hinder the purpose of the vehicle, just the style, and in fact they were vastly upgraded too. You are meant to be able to do almost anything to defenders and they will survive. I've done bucket loads to mine, with barely a scratch. Last winter I drove full on into a massive tree "for 5hits and giggles" to see if I could shake off some snow, and not a dent. This new one. Haha yeah right, looks like it would crap its plastic pants and run the other way.

This is not progression, this is softening for the market

thirtythirty

I actually think a high spec convertible one could look pretty good! Not necessarily being viewed as a Defender, just a new rover in it's own right.

The offroading system proposed is like something off a computer game though:

Cameras scan the terrain ahead, identify it, and adapt the electronics automatically – the system can also map the terrain in 3D, and present it on the display screen.
A sonar system helps with wading, and there are on-demand spiked tyres, which inflate when a secondary air chamber in the carcass is inflated, filling pods moulded into the tread which contain the spikes.

Imagine the below in deep black....still no!?










Source

Christ0pher

like we ever get the weather for that thing! If I lived in LA, maybe. It would make sense. But driving one of those in soggy old Oirland just shouts "I'm a W**KER" to me !

Hiace.

Christ0pher wrote: »

like we ever get the weather for that thing! If I lived in LA, maybe. It would make sense. But driving one of those in soggy old Oirland just shouts "I'm a W**KER" to me !

I know a lad that would love that car

Bumpstop

A good idea has been formed here, okay so we must have progress, and unfortunatley the old defender was never going to be progressed and keep it's, to me hard to explain beauty.

They should have dropped the name, let the Defender name rest in peace, in a god foresaken up to its axles in muck grave.

Like the Cortina when they er improved it. When it came time for the Cortina to dissapear into the dross of characterless boxes at least they changed the name.

You can't stop progress, but you can give the past respect.

ninty9er

Celebrations have begun at Toyota and Mitsubishi.

Bumpstop

_Conrad_ wrote: »

I agree with the RIP defender part entirely. Not the anti gay part, there are some pretty tough gay people. Someone being gay doesn't necessarily mean they're one of the popular stereotype flamboyant feminine gays that are in tv programs acting girly. And yes they exist too not saying they don't, in fact i know examples of both one being a bearded 18 stone guy into rugby and sinking pints, another flamboyant, calls people darling, into fashion, works in theater so kind of your stereotype image of a gay man. Both different but both nice people.

Apologies Conrad I wasn't being anti gay, it's a Seinfeld sketch (maybe in bad taste).
I am old enough, and have met enough people to know, stereotypes don't exist.