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Thoughts and musings on the new defender


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They’re wade sensors on the mirrors next to the cameras I believe.

The parking sensors do work down the sides of the vehicle but I’m not sure if this is done by the sensors on the front/rear bumpers. Combined with the 360 overhead view it’s an incredibly useful feature when manoeuvring what is quite a big vehicle in tight spots.

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5 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

They’re wade sensors on the mirrors next to the cameras I believe.

 

Definitely wade sensors.  The "powerfuluk" video people have done a series of videos on them (and how they made them work again).  (I don't see the point in adding ludicrous complexity to a car if the additions aren't super reliable.  They just become expensive headaches.)

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8 hours ago, Snagger said:

On the plus side, they did have this, which did need some attention to the minor details, but would make a lovely car once the few defects from a disappointing restoration were rectified:

70F17CEA-2CBC-4233-A6E8-879DCC12764D.jpeg

It's wonderful to see how efficiently packaged cars used to be.  You can use nearly all the space in that old Range Rover (I know, I used to live in one!) and the visibility is magnificent.  I guess we can blame the orange jacket brigade for the loss of much of that.

On the other hand, it seems strange to think that Range Rover would have come out on 205x16 tyres and the skinny things in the photo are actually oversized. 

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20 hours ago, deep said:

It's wonderful to see how efficiently packaged cars used to be.  You can use nearly all the space in that old Range Rover (I know, I used to live in one!) and the visibility is magnificent.  I guess we can blame the orange jacket brigade for the loss of much of that.

On the other hand, it seems strange to think that Range Rover would have come out on 205x16 tyres and the skinny things in the photo are actually oversized. 

Yes, the tyres are too big, but with so many dune drivers here, it’s hardly surprising.  You should see most of the Jeeps, including the ones that never go off the tarmac!  The RR has some paint overspray on rubber seals, you can see the 4-door headlining has been adapted badly where it used to fit C-pillars, the leather (yep) is too dark and a there are some other niggles, but all fixable without getting silly.  Of all the new RRs, Velars, Discoverys and other models in the show room, this was the vehicle that I liked most.  Still, the Velar looks impressive from some angles.

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On 3/9/2021 at 7:34 PM, deep said:

It's wonderful to see how efficiently packaged cars used to be.  You can use nearly all the space in that old Range Rover (I know, I used to live in one!) and the visibility is magnificent.  I guess we can blame the orange jacket brigade for the loss of much of that.

Try getting a RRC through modern crash tests... Most of the additional bulk of modern cars is protecting you in an accident.

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5 hours ago, geoffbeaumont said:

Try getting a RRC through modern crash tests... Most of the additional bulk of modern cars is protecting you in an accident.

That was my reference to the orange jacket brigade.  I NEVER felt "unsafe" in my Range Rovers.  In fact, I had a head-on crash in one of them which wrote off the Mitsubishi ute I hit (it was an absolute mess).  I was fine and even gave the driver of the other vehicle a ride home afterwards.

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Just to clarify, we hit hard enough that it tore his engine off its mounts and pushed it into the bulkhead.  There was a crease across the wrecked panel work/radiator the shape of my Range Rover's bumper.  A real world crash test and the more modern vehicle failed it.

 

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10 hours ago, elbekko said:

So you mean you used the other vehicle as your crumple zone?

You've got it.  It was his responsibility to provide that, as he cut a blind corner on a narrow road.  

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On 3/11/2021 at 6:15 PM, geoffbeaumont said:

Try getting a RRC through modern crash tests... Most of the additional bulk of modern cars is protecting you in an accident.

The thing is, a lot of modern tests aren’t representative of real accidents.  Branson bought a fleet of RRCs for Virgin Atlantic First Class passengers after he rolled his and got out completely unscathed.  We often see accidents with RRCs or Defenders that look terrible but the occupants were fine, despite the lack of heavy screen and door pillars.  There is also a good argument that safer cars encourage more dangerous driving...

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20 hours ago, Naks said:

90 looks good off-road!
 

 

Thanks.

I think the biggest take from this is that the Terrain Response is unintuitive and difficult to use. And if you aren't an expert on how to set it up, you will get stuck. Conceptually Terrain Response is brilliant, but I thought the idea for it was to make it easier for people off road. It now seems to be the complete opposite and adds a huge layer of complexity.

 

As for the 90's off road prowess, there were some slippery bits in this video. But I'm pretty sure my old Impreza Turbo on the right tyres could have driven on it no probs. Not much in the way of testing things like the suspension flex or clearances. Not knocking the vid, it was still good. :)

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To be fair, he spent half the video talking about how the ‘traction control’ was cutting the power but only actually pressed the button to bypass the issue right at the end.

It’s actually the dynamic stability control which cuts the power on wheel spin, which is on by default as one would expect given the on-road safety/stability benefits. It’s a single button press to turn it off, and this has been the case on modern LRs for years. If he read the manual, as he admits he hasn’t, then he’d have known this - but then that wouldn’t have made for as much YouTube interest.

Overall more of a test of the tyres than the car though, as noted above. 

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5 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

To be fair, he spent half the video talking about how the ‘traction control’ was cutting the power but only actually pressed the button to bypass the issue right at the end.

It’s actually the dynamic stability control which cuts the power on wheel spin, which is on by default as one would expect given the on-road safety/stability benefits. It’s a single button press to turn it off, and this has been the case on modern LRs for years. If he read the manual, as he admits he hasn’t, then he’d have known this - but then that wouldn’t have made for as much YouTube interest.

Overall more of a test of the tyres than the car though, as noted above. 

You kind of have to know about the DSC. It isn’t that obvious. On face value you’d expect selecting Low Range and Mud & Ruts should be enough. My Jimny disables the DSC as soon as you select Low by comparison. 

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In most cases the TR will be enough, but the chaps video is a good example of one where good old fashioned momentum is the only way to overcome the lack of grip offered by the tyres. Yes you have to know about it, but the car’s manual tells you how to disable it if traction control systems aren’t helping, so everyone should be informed.

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8 minutes ago, Retroanaconda said:

In most cases the TR will be enough, but the chaps video is a good example of one where good old fashioned momentum is the only way to overcome the lack of grip offered by the tyres. Yes you have to know about it, but the car’s manual tells you how to disable it if traction control systems aren’t helping, so everyone should be informed.

I sort of agree. But it isn’t that straight cut. Personally I just wouldn’t expect Mud & Ruts to kill the power at any point. I don’t believe the Sand mode does. And the TR doesn’t make it obvious that you need to fiddle with other controls also. You’d kind of expect TR to control it all. 

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4 hours ago, landroversforever said:

I'd love to see what the opinions would be like if youtube wasn't monetised in the same way, fishing for more views etc.

I'm not even trying to find new Defender videos and yet even I have noticed a trend to highlight issues with the tech or reliability, and then draw out 'the saga' over as many videos as possible. One guy in particular who has a very (unintentionally) ironic YouTube channel name is certainly milking the ever living funk out of some issues with his wade sensors.

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12 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

In most cases the TR will be enough, but the chaps video is a good example of one where good old fashioned momentum is the only way to overcome the lack of grip offered by the tyres. Yes you have to know about it, but the car’s manual tells you how to disable it if traction control systems aren’t helping, so everyone should be informed.

Indeed. I expect this to be the new "are you sure it's in diff-lock?"

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19 hours ago, Chicken Drumstick said:

I think the biggest take from this is that the Terrain Response is unintuitive and difficult to use. And if you aren't an expert on how to set it up, you will get stuck. Conceptually Terrain Response is brilliant, but I thought the idea for it was to make it easier for people off road. It now seems to be the complete opposite and adds a huge layer of complexity.

The Terrain Response in the new Defender seems to be designed to operate in auto mode, and will cope with a lot you throw at it, offering better perfomance tractionwise than older LRs. So the average driver will get further with less effort.
Ulike previous generations of TR where you had an easy to find, clearly marked button to select the different programs and could get quite some benefit from selecting the right one. I find the controls in the new Defender fiddly and complex to use. And don't get me started on the touchscreen, that just doesn't work unless you come to a complete stop (which you'd want to do from a safety point of view anyway). It seems to be mostly for show, it takes a lot of effort to get maybe a bit more performance, but it will surely impress the hi-tech brigade as you have a more expensive, more complex systems with more buttons to push. Never mind that you're not really controlling anything (like turning a locker on or off), just nudging the built-in programming one way or the other (and hoping it does what you expect). 
I like driving and find there is very little reward to be had with modern cars, be it on or off road. Despite higher speeds and better performance. 

Filip

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