Not particularly keen on it.

Landrover obviously making plenty of money and it seems that their target market has changed.

The cars are still very capable, my Discovery 3 will perform better than my old Defender on certain terrain due to the electronic gadgetry. I think part of the appeal is what the cars are capable of even if 99% of it never gets used, if they started bringing out models which were not capable off road they may loose customers.

Don’t think any models have used the Sherpa and Marina parts for some time.

Earlier post about something that can tow a digger during the week and be posh enough to go out for dinner at the weekend has to be a big thing. Must be plenty of folk needing this whether its work related or towing boats/horse boxes etc. I have an 8 year old Discovery 3. It has towed caravans and trailers with 3-4 ton of stone in it. Towed trailers of topsoil across our building site of a garden and mini diggers to play with! Seats 7 folk in reasonable comfort and when cleaned up has been used as a wedding car. Oh and great for throwing bikes in the back of!

matt_outandabout – Member

The new Defender:

A Lada Niva:

I would have the Lada Niva in an instant over Land Rover any day if they produce right hand drive version. 😀 I like simple industrial 4×4.

We ‘sunk’ a Niva in Ullswater, up to the roof. It was dragged out by tractor, we drilled a couple of holes in the footwell to drain the last few puddles, removed the air filter – and then drove it home that evening!

I am waiting for the new Defender – they are talking about making a pickup version which is going to be more competitive with the big Japanese vehicles… could tempt me (and I am starting to really dislike the L200 at the moment).

The Disco is not going to be an option for me though.

matt_outandabout – Member

We ‘sunk’ a Niva in Ullswater, up to the roof. It was dragged out by tractor, we drilled a couple of holes in the footwell to drain the last few puddles, removed the air filter – and then drove it home that evening!

There you go. Simple brute force will get it to work again. No computer needed. I like.

Capt. Kronos – Member

I am waiting for the new Defender – they are talking about making a pickup version which is going to be more competitive with the big Japanese vehicles

I don’t think that will happen because they are in the “luxury” segment of the market, while most Japs 4×4 got their concept right from the start by making it truly utility. Then buyers of Japs 4×4 “upgrade” (modification) it to make it luxury. The Japs models are also more reliable.

Not nice. It looks like a sucked Locket.

I’m sure it’ll change quite a bit for production, there’s too much metal above the rear wheel and to my eyes it just doesn’t have enough utility in it’s design/ I also like the 4 round lights at night on the current discos, and thought it was a signature, but clearly not!

It’s probably on 36″ wheels(or something slightly smaller maybe)for the concept as well

It looks precisely like a cheap Australian Ford SUV:

But, I’ll reserve judgement on its off road capability until the real one arrives and I’ve driven it. Our lowly Freelander has rescued both a Nissan Patrol and a Toyota Prado, and behaved much better than several other ‘real’ 4wds thanks to its electronic trickery on our travels to the less-visited parts of Australia.

Lasers?

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

Grill / front of the new Defender inspired by recent insurance company advertising?

Ah the soon to be not australian cheap ford 🙂

Our lowly Freelander has rescued both a Nissan Patrol and a Toyota Prado, and behaved much better than several other ‘real’ 4wds thanks to its electronic trickery on our travels to the less-visited parts of Australia.

This is exactly the sort of thing the new one is not for, you’d have to spend ages washing it afterwards. Though looking at the tyres they specced it could be a handful in a wet carpark.

This is exactly the sort of thing the new one is not for, you’d have to spend ages washing it afterwards.

I like getting the Freelander serviced – it gets a wash then 😀 I very much doubt the D4 I’ll hopefully replace it with will get any better treatment. Pretty much like my bikes, actually. Life’s too short to clean something you’re going to immediately get dirty again*

Pretty much all the body damage it’s had has been sustained whilst unattended in car parks – I’ve pretty much given up caring now 🙁

*With the exception of driving in / near salt water – it gets washed to an anal level of detail then – Land Rovers rust enough as it is!