paime

i like it better in the flesh than in the CG images. That one wiper blade has it's work cut out, though!

@Chicken Drumstick fantastic review, thanks for posting. It's so rare to read an honest review about what a car is actually like to live with rather than journos waxing lyrical about how easy a car is to powerslide. The review itself sums up the problem i think a lot of us have with the new Defender - it looks nice enough, drives well and has plenty of places to plug your phone into but, fundamentally, it doesn't belong in the Defender family.

Can I borrow you for getting the axles on the trailer and off to the blasters please?! Hoping to get the rear axle off tomorrow then the chassis painting can begin.

I like the look of the superpro stuff and looking forward to seeing what a difference new bushes will make. I don't think I've ever driven a defender that doesn't have wobbly steering. A small update for today - managed to get the front axle off including radius arms and drive shaft. Also thinking about commissioning a study entitled "Nylocs - Friend or Foe?" after the amount of blood, sweat and tears its taken to get some of the nuts off. Ps how heavy are axles???

Looks like mild steel it is then! Is there any way i can stop the b*ggers rusting all over my beautiful new chassis? It's a programme called Reality Capture (https://www.capturingreality.com/). It's really easy to use and free to make the models but you get charged for file exports. The fee is usually pretty minimal (around $4) but if you don't get it right first time it can be frustrating! I think there are some apps for Android and iOS as well but i've never used them so not sure how good they are.

Thanks folks, i'll check those out. Would there be any issue in using stainless steel for those bolts? On another note, i was playing around with some photogrammetry over the weekend, mostly to remember how everything goes back together! I tried to embed the 3D model but couldn't get it working so the link is here: https://skfb.ly/6UtTq

This weekend's update: Got the truck up on stands and started to take off the panhard rods, radius arms etc. Every nut has been a challenge so far and the angle grinder has had a few outings! Does anyone know of bolt sets I could buy for all these bits and pieces? I think YRM do them but they're stainless steel and i would worry about strength.

That think looks like one of those TEMPSC lifeboats you get on oil rigs...but with wheels.

I saw one in my main stealers the other day when I was dropping off my RRS. I had a look inside and honestly couldn't work out how it costs so much. The interior is bare, not utilitarian, just bare.

It looks good with the cream paintwork. I think it would look odd otherwise but I'm in favour of this even though I've hidden the white writing on my own tyres.

"20. There is a strong second-hand market in the vehicles. There were around 20k second hand sales of Defender vehicles in each of the years between 2012 and 2016. In 2016, there were around 55k Land Rover Defenders on the road in the UK." If i'm reading that correctly, 36% of Defenders on the road were sold every year between 2012 and 2016. That probably speaks to a lot of people getting fed up being cold and wet and unable to have a conversation with their passengers and also a lot of people who miss being cold and wet and unable to have a conversation with their passengers. Somebody needs to do a study on the mindset of us defender and series owners!

Out of interest, what was the recognition number for the shape? Would be interesting to see how that pairs against minis and beetles etc.

I'm not sure that would be in the official road testing section of the Pretender design!

The label tells me it's 350kg and it felt every gram of it. I'm still in 2 minds about how to paint it but i'm in touch with the guys at Bilt Hamber so i'm sure they'll keep me right.

A small update - the chassis has arrived from Terrain Tech! The delivery man almost had a heart attack getting it out the back of the lorry but it's now safely tucked away in the garage. Painting starts this weekend with a bit of luck and then i can start on stripping the 90 down.

I feel like we need a group response to this question, maybe some kind of poll. Can't have people breaking the picket line and waving at pretender owners or, even worse, becoming friends with them.

I have electric seats in my RRS and i think they're great. Easy to get just the right driver's position without too much fannying around. I wouldn't have them in a working or expedition vehicle though - just another expensive thing to go wrong that i can't fix myself.

Ah I missed that bit. Still a silly place for a battery imho.

How do you jump start another vehicle with it? What do you do when you have a battery failure in the a*se end of nowhere and you can't move your electric seat back to swap your battery?

The description of the 90 on the JLR heritage website says its number 94 of 150. Not quite sure why it makes sense to name them all 1 of 150.

Because it was never built to go fast round a track!

Proof, if you ever need it, that this is as far removed from a real Defender that you can possibly get!

A bit off topic perhaps, but i've seen a few D4s and RRSs down your way, what happens when they go wrong i.e. how do you go about fixing them? I imagine spare parts aren't kept locally?

If i'm buying one it'll be for the business rather than for me personally (i've already got a TD5 so won't need anything else) which changes my requirements a little: 1 - a decent sized inverter for charging equipment, preferably from a dual battery system 2 - weatherproof and relatively comfortable for 7 hour+ trips 3 - wash down rear load area 4 - a rear spare wheel carrier that doesn't destroy the back door or make it heavy to open 5 - easy to work on - i don't want to have to plug it in to wind back calipers when replacing brake pads

i'm going by the philisophy that the more (correct) paint and protection i can apply, the more difficult it will be more corrosion to set in. I'm also conscious that she's lasted 20 years with her on-galv 2mm barely-coated LR chassis so a galv one will surely last double that at which point diesel will probably be illegal!