Gilarion you are 'bang on the nail' with that one....

"Also I feel that any new replacement Defender will perhaps in essence be aimed at a Different market, a market that expects comfort packed with the latest car technology and a leak free vehicle.

The core customer base had already significantly evolved from straw sucking, Barbour Jacket, welly wearing farmers and workers to those (such as myself) that cossetted, nurtured and evolved their vehicles into what TJ so eloquently put it as 'Garage Queens.'

TJ101 wrote:

But at least I use mine as intended. Will be no garage queen

gilarion wrote:

Also I feel that any new replacement Defender will perhaps in essence be aimed at a Different market, a market that expects comfort packed with the latest car technology and a leak free vehicle.

In other words: value for money

As K9F has already alluded to, the Defender stopped, imho, being a vehicle which most owners could argue was good value based on quality, finish, construction methods, safety, reliability, economy or pretty much any other factor that is used to measure a modern vehicle, a long time ago. What it did/does have is bags of character and iconic status but for 95% of the buying public, that probably isn't enough to make them want to own one.

There will be people who argue that farmers still bought them and yes they did; however, the end of line models really illustrate (again, IMHO) what the vehicle and brand had really become - £60k luxury-esque Defenders, Adventure models that get used on the school run (I see two daily doing just that) and quite possibly never see more of an adventure than a commute and a vehicle which plundered the rich heritage the model had to offer but missed the mark by leaving out options the UK actually wanted.

I'm not having a pop at the Defender but I am saying that it is possible, even on this forum, to look at the model and see what it has become and why it appealed to the majority of current owners. There will still be those who use them as originally (pre-modern Defender) was intended - and hats off to them; however, I think the majority are now fashion icons... statements of how rugged the owner is. Again, each to their own and there is nothing wrong with that - we all, myself included, often purchase things because of what we believe it says about us (to ourselves and others) but that doesn't change the fact that an MSRP of £30k+ on a 90 SW Defender XS wasn't value vs quality, options, construction, reliability, etc.

I won't judge the new Defender until I can see it, drive it and understand the concept behind it. There is no doubt that LR (Tata) will play on the heritage to create a halo effect but I'd like to hope that they'll also fix all the weak points about the out-going Defender as well.

Ashbyandy wrote:

Hi all,

Hope you don't mind, but I feel I've got to add a picture of my Adventure edition being used for its proper purpose, to prove that they are not all used on the school run. This was taken in Iceland about 2 weeks ago. Can't wait for my next Adventure adventure,