deep

LR are already on record as stating that the new Defender is heavier duty than the Discovery/Range Rover vehicles. The fact it will be available with coil suspension and steel wheels suggests a utility market is being targeted too. Other than the general shape of the people-carrying versions seen so far, it has nothing in common with the Freelander. I was also very negative when information started trickling in but that's changing as we learn more. It will easily be fit to wear the Defender name and I expect it to be better in nearly every way, except for that crucial aspect whereby I can take a welder and grinder to my 110 without qualms... Of course it will never look as good as an early 110 or Series Land Rover but it might be a bit prettier than some of the uglified Defenders you can see running around these days.

I had a drive in a Dodge Ram the other day. It was absolutely wonderful but I have no use for one. Back to the Bollinger - I feel a bit polarised by it. Good and bad everywhere. For example, I love the sliding windows but the some of those welds don't fill me with confidence. At that width, I'd far rather have a middle seat up front than be able to put a long pole down the middle of the car (maybe you can do both?). Overall, though, I love that very basic, direct and functional design. A lot! It would be a car that suited me very well - if it wasn't an electric car! The issues with lithium and the destruction that goes on to get power generation increased for electric cars spoil the alleged environmental benefits. Not to mention the puny range. One day, though, when every sun-facing roof is a solar panel and we have hydrogen technology sorted, electric vehicles will be great.

It's very unfortunate and misleading. The subtitles suggest the new car builds on the heritage of the others, when, in reality, it completely abandons every design feature of the old, bar the fact it has a four wheel drive system and possibly a Land Rover badge. I am generally positive about the new vehicle but hate bull droppings of this type! Not much ground clearance in this video either...

Years ago, I worked for a government department which used a lot of 4WD vehicles. Vehicles were procured via a Government Stores Board contract. When Toyota got that contract, we were getting their cars so cheap that we could use them for a year or two, then get more than we paid when we sold them on. I believe the legal people weren't happy and things eventually changed but it was clear the advertising value was worth more to Toyota than the loss on each unit. Those weren't good years for the staff. Those Hi Luxes were truly awful off-road and the budget versions we drove were excruciatingly uncomfortable! The day they drowned my Hi Lux and replaced it with a Nissan was a very happy one.

Remarkably similar...

No real surprise and not a bad thing, considering what they did to the Range Rover and Discovery. It could have been very much worse. (It also could have been much better for many of us who grew to love a family of vehicles which spanned two thirds of a century. That family was laid to rest over three years ago, sigh.) The thing with the DC100 was that it was a cool-looking vehicle in its own right but it just wasn't a "proper" Land Rover. Now that we have accepted the demise of an ancient but useful construction technique, the DC100 concept (or similar) is the best we can hope for in the current environment.

Phew.

Someone is living in the past! No worries, it's generally a better place to be...

They've done close to a million miles of testing, apparently. How much more would you like them to do before they actually put it on the market?

Even slightly sticky is enough to make them pull. Easy enough to check by taking the wheel off and using a bit of flat steel to see if you can move the pads in smoothly. Obviously the side it pulls towards is the good side - check the other side, back and front. Remember to prod the brakes a few times afterwards before using them at speed!

Aw, don't you enjoy the detective game? As I'm highly unlikely to buy one in the foreseeable future, I am thoroughly enjoying this process, probably more than I would enjoy the end result! Though, with a couple of camouflage-free piccies out there and some underbelly and interior shots as well, there is little left to guess in terms of styling. At least there are some pseudo off-road tyres on the latest one...

Because, in the eyes of someone who lives in a glass office, this genuinely is a 21st Century Defender.

Well, it might be a generic, over-complicated, modern "Land Rover" under the skin but, at least, the desire to sort-of look like a Defender has produced a cleaner and more European looking vehicle on the outside. I don't see it replacing my 110 but I do see how people would see it as desirable - especially given that laws, economics and the relentless desire of the modern consumer to be swamped in gadgets don't allow anything like an old-school Land Rover any more. Doesn't seem any doubt this photo is genuine.

I enjoyed the little reference to Series Land Rovers with the red/yellow knobby lever on the dash. Less so some vulnerable pipework under the diff on the coil-sprung pics. Presumably that will get tidied up. I wonder if this thing is being designed to allow a centre front seat, at least in more enlightened markets? If they really do produce a coil-sprung option, that will make a few people very happy, enough that they might even buy one! I must say, I have enjoyed the last five years or so of speculation, particularly the detective work over the last year. I might even be a bit sad when the new Defender actually gets released and I'll have to read something different over breakfast...

That actually looks more or less like a modern version of a proper Land Rover. Shock, horror, gasp etc.!