Thoughts and musings on the new defender

[TSD]

16 minutes ago, BogMonster said:

Initial thoughts reminded me of 200Tdi Discovery and old Daihatsu/L200 - as in a bit square and cheap looking, and the probably fake rivets/metalwork on the steering wheel are irritating.

If it had a 200 Discovery dashboard, I'd consider it a plus (as long as not made in blue!). It was simple, practical and pretty tough - the Defender should have got a similar design. A big single chunky of flexible plastic would have got rid of a lot of the rattles and squeeks and the vast number of fiddly little brackets and different scews of the standard dash of the time. (The photos of Tom Sheppards Defender in the VDEG book makes me suspect that LR did consider it.)

I had a hire car with a steering wheel like that, and I nearly broke a finger when reversing it

[=jon=]

32 minutes ago, BogMonster said:

It doesn't look to have nearly enough controls to be real/final so could be a concept model.

Everything will be driven from the ipad in front of the gearstick - because we all know touch screen controls are perfect for wet, muddy cold environments, work well with gloves, can be operated without having to look at a mixture of the screen and the instruction manual when on the motorway at 70 etc etc...  

[dailysleaze]

LR have already jumped in that it's an old concept setup. I tend to believe them as it's unlikely that the random dude who posted the photo would have anything to do with the final production version. The LR PR guy got very angry with him on Twitter before his account got nuked 🙄

https://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-new-land-rover-defender-dash-before-youre-s-1832627241

It may have similarities, but Stop and Go pedals don't scream "finished product".

[landroversforever]

It looks familiar like I’ve seen it before. It’s not out of the SVC concept or whatever the 90’s defender replacement concept was called? 

[HampshireHog]

Maybe the Stop- Go pedal thing was a Freudian slip by the young hip design  W ⚓'s  of the new Defender aimed fairly and squarely at the likes of us old died in the wool owners who've been airing our views   

[Happyoldgit]

Just look at that, how the hell are you supposed to know what that bloody great round thing does unless it's marked "steering" or "for going round corners"? 

[Mo Murphy]

Christ ! That makes the puma dash look like a masterpiece of modern automotive design !

Burn it !

Mo

[Escape]

Looks even more like a Transit than the Puma 😞

But still better than the new G-class, that's actually cramped and crowded inside despite the huge size.

[Snagger]

On 2/16/2019 at 4:43 AM, Jamie_grieve said:

 

Of course it could easily be a marketing stunt and nothing like the real thing. If it's real then I suppose it could have been a lot worse, it's hard to make utilitarian not look dated. The centre seat's interesting and I wonder if that's real as I could imagine that being difficult to get through crash testing.

 

 

 

Stitched leather encasing the dash as well as the seats, and you mention utilitarian?  This, and the automatic gearbox, show this will be no working vehicle.  But we know that already from the mooted price tag, suspension, ground clearance and ridiculous profile alloy wheels on test mules.  It's a posers car through and through.

Edited to add that the legal row could very likely be deliberate to gain attention, much like some actors giving supposed spoilers and being "fired" for doing so - Mark Ruffalo is a good example, where it's all planned by the studios.  So much in modern media is false or manipulated now that it's hard  to know what to believe, and difficult to believe certain sources at all anymore.

[Retroanaconda]

There are loads of working vehicles with automatic gearboxes.

[Snagger]

I know, but manual boxes are typically favoured for working vehicles in this category outside of the US.

[Ex Member]

23 hours ago, Happyoldgit said:

Just look at that, how the hell are you supposed to know what that bloody great round thing does unless it's marked "steering" or "for going round corners"? 

Really, it needs left and right arrows.

[Happyoldgit]

Fake news bollox.

Jeez just like the gazillion page threads in other forums based on nothing more than photoshopped images and the waffling of over paid but slightly thick journo's.

BTW some people actually have their defender dashboards covered in stitched leather with contrasting trim. Some of you people are just so yesterday 😉😉😉

 

[Ex Member]

2 hours ago, Snagger said:

I know, but manual boxes are typically favoured for working vehicles in this category outside of the US.

It won't have a manual.  Their plan is to have every electronic gizmo conceivable and they are too hard to integrate with a manual.  There will be no attempt to sell this as a working vehicle.

[deep]

Well, if it's real, the design not too bad and could have been much worse.  It does at least pretend to be neat and simple.  That will, however, be the problem with the whole vehicle.  It will pretend to be basic and utilitarian but, under the skin, two miles of wiring will connect every possible gimmick that nobody needs but which the folk with bulging wallets demand anyway.

The steering wheel isn't so flash.  It's a bit like my Mercedes - fine if you want your hands high and hopeless if you don't.

[HampshireHog]

At least Land Rover will make it as easy to steal as the outgoing Defender , all the local smack heads will have to do is buy a box of tricks from Ambay or Ezon to trick the electronics into unlocking and start it without getting their hands dirty 

[dailysleaze]

Well, air suspension is on the cards (assuming this is the new "Defender").

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwKSPVvnmNj/

 

[landrovermanuk]

Absolutely gutted, I can't really go into details but a representative from JLR came to my work with a large scale model of the new Defender.

Unfortunately as the only Land Rover fan working, I was on a break when he came in...🙁

[Ex Member]

On 4/12/2019 at 12:26 PM, dailysleaze said:

Well, air suspension is on the cards (assuming this is the new "Defender").

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwKSPVvnmNj/

 

In the other video from that sighting, the guys driving confirmed is was the new Defender.

[Jamie_grieve]

I was just gonna post the exact same pictures, you all beat me to it.
Can anybody confirm any differences in the defender replacement rear suspension pictures from Moab and the discovery 5? I'm not intimately familiar with the disco 5 but that looks pretty much identical to how I think they look. Are we actually being hoodwinked here? Are they testing the torsional stiffness of the new body perhaps with old disco running gear to keep the real thing under wraps?
I can't believe they'd launch the defender replacement with disco 5 suspension. Don't get me wrong, the disco 5 suspension is great and perfectly suited to a discovery which is on road 99% of the time or towing trailers but not for a Defender replacement. I also don't think it would have taken so long to develop and launch if it was just a reworked disco 5. I thought the Defender replacement was going to be on an all new platform anyway?
Also, the exhaust actually runs under the suspension and is the lowest point on the vehicle in an area very likely to contact the ground, there's no CTIS visible,  antiroll bar disconnects or any other modifications to make it more robust or improved for off road prowess, same tiny half shafts too. nah, I think this is another marketing stunt to try and generate interest like the ones to coincide with the Paris motor show. They just happened to park up and let a bunch of journalists take pictures next to two competitors vehicles? 

[BogMonster]

I've never been under a D5. Anybody got access to one to check it out?

The problem with those independent suspension arms is that the sort of clout on a rock which is easily done, and shrugged off by an axle, will result in either a 4 figure suspension realignment job or a new set of tyres every 5000 miles. I've seen it on the D3s.

I too am starting to wonder if it is all just a stunt to keep people guessing. I said for years that I didn't believe that it existed at all. Maybe it's actually something else? I look at this one and the way the wheels sit in the arches is either a complete cock up of styling or it's still a complete mule body - perhaps meaning that the real body still hasn't been fitted.

Hanging onto the Shogun for the moment till I see it, but sort of preparing to be disappointed...

[Snagger]

It does look like a mule, but Andrew StPierre-White was speculating on his youtube channel a couple of months ago that it may be a wind-up or deception of some kind using a D5.  But isn't everything meant to be migrating to a common platform, including the Defender and Discovery?

[Gazzar]

Do JLR have any interest in the serious off road utility market? It doesn't fit with their portfolio.

This may well be the new defender, with fancy suspension, aimed at the G Wagon market.

A high cost plastic shrouded Tonka toy-alike that wealthy self employed can buy, rather than a Merc pickup.

Core JLR values and market.

Nothing wrong with that. Not for me, but I'm odd, by most people's standards.

[Snagger]

2 hours ago, Gazzar said:

Do JLR have any interest in the serious off road utility market? It doesn't fit with their portfolio.

This may well be the new defender, with fancy suspension, aimed at the G Wagon market.

A high cost plastic shrouded Tonka toy-alike that wealthy self employed can buy, rather than a Merc pickup.

Core JLR values and market.

Nothing wrong with that. Not for me, but I'm odd, by most people's standards.

Yep.  This is the bulk of JLR's current woes - they're competing with their own models and not providing something markedly different.  Most of their range looks like Ford products now.

[Happyoldgit]