Naks

yep, he nailed it!

There's always been accountants, so what is your point? Hopefully it's not that because they're Indian they're cutting corners/quality? If LR was so good, how come it had to be rescued by the Germans in the 90s? And then they flogged it to the Yanks when they realised that a turd it was, and they in turn couldn't walk away fast enough. At least Tata gave LR a chance when no one would touch them, and it paid off, both for the latter and the former. Sure, there's a bit of a bad patch right now with the losses, but hopefully the booming sales of the new Defender will help to right the ship back to profitability again.

some under-the-skin photos:

the LT230 is generally good, but has a tendency to self-destruct under certain circumstances. it's more the rest of the car I was referring to: rubbish build quality, not surprising seeing that it was British hand-built. Brand new Puma in 2010 had a bent axle, for which I had to fight LR to get a replacement. Gearbox replaced after a year or so, ditto for rear diff. It's had a few clutches replaced, can't even remember if it was 3 or 4 times. For the past 2 years it's developed a drivetrain vibration that keeps loosening the prop bolts, and two of the best indies in CT haven't been able to sort it out, so haven't been able to use it for that time. so yeah, British hand-built? no thank you. btw, the new one has a low crawl ratio of 51.5:1 for diesel versions and 57.2:1 for the six-cylinder petrol.

Yes, and unlike the p.o.s British version, it will actually be a quality product. Simon, I saw a price of 159.99 pounds on a Facebook post earlier.

it's alive!!! 😛 The Lego was also launched yesterday: https://www.facebook.com/LEGOTechnic/videos/515831112323283/?t=32with AWD, a proper hi-low transfer case, IFS, working winch!!!SWAMBO is thrilled, can't wait to order it!

here's a link to the brochure, with all dimensions/capabilities, etc.: https://www.landrover.co.za/Images/Land-Rover-Defender-Brochure-1L6632000000BZAEN01P_tcm299-715173.pdf

Autocar detailed walk-around

now now, that thwack Gerry has to have his 60 minutes of waffling in the limelight 😂

Interior & testing details:

Lineup details:

Frankfurt reveal looks ready

new teaser video:

nice photo in the dunes

also bear in mind that new vehicle prices in ZA are about 15-30% more than in the UK.

Well, Gerry got what he wanted all along - a rehashed version of the DC100.

Another teaser: https://media.landrover.com/news/2019/09/new-land-rover-defender-expedition-001-100919 Interesting rear end (screen grab from the video):

coupe of new teasers:

from a JLR employee & Defender driver who got a preview today:

a slightly zoomed out photo was emailed to some people, found this on the Disco3 forum

Yeah, not a single one of these people look like Defender drivers. Most likely actors that LR hired as part of their marketing campaign #lol.

first official photo of the new Defender: from https://media.landrover.com/news/2019/08/new-land-rover-defender-expedition-001-centre-earth-its-world-premiere-frankfurt-motor Global debut: New Land Rover Defender will make its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show, at 09:00 BST (10:00 CEST) on Tuesday 10 September First glimpse: New Defender tackles remote Valley of the Castles, Kazakhstan, on its first expedition en route to Frankfurt, Germany Tested to extremes: Global development programme saw new Defender endure temperatures as low as -40 celsius and altitudes as high as 10,000ft Livestream: Watch the reveal of new Defender from 08:50 BST / 09:50 CEST on Land Rover’s YouTube and Facebook pages Open book: Order books for the unstoppable 4x4 will open at the world debut

after a few gym sessions #lol

looks set for the launch: