RIP The original Defender

[James467]

At 10 am this morning after 2,016,933 vehicles built the final Defender rolled off of the production line at Solihull.

It will soon to be replaced by a less utilitarian model which I suspect will be designed for the Chelsea 'I want to look cool country' crowd.

I personally feel it's a great shame but Land Rover have to keep up with the times to allow them to survive, something that I feel they are very good at. They invented the SUV movement with the Freelander and the luxury 4x4 with the Range Rover.

Good bye old friend!

[sprint95m]

Inevitably, all good things come to an end.

There was a piece in the media last week about Glencoe Mountain Rescue taking delivery of a replacement Defender because there is nothing they consider
to be a suitable alternative. It has to be said, however, they are very much in the minority. Once the number one choice for gamekeepers and farmers,
Land Rover has lost out to the new fangled 4 wheel drive, four door crew cab pick up trucks.
Having been a passenger in one of the latter, I can well understand why this is so.

Whilst it is personally sad to see the iconic Defender disappear, I do agree with Jaguar Land Rover's decision as the new model will hopefully help to grow their business.



Ian.

[Mahesh]

James, do not go out looking for one of the last 10 made!

You have your hands full already on a more worthy project

[James467]

Too late Mahesh!

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I love Land Rovers but we had a very sour experience with them, we tried to buy a Discovery in April last year, trading in a low mileage Audi A6.

Both my wife and I went to Hunters in Guildford and we had to fight to even get a test drive, at no point did the salesman take us seriously treating us like we were wasting his time. Then when we wanted to talk money he disappeared and left us for 20 minutes, when we asked where he was we were told that he'd gone off for his lunch! To be fair the sales manager did apologise and he was pretty annoyed with the bloke but then he said that they were more focused on 'prestige customers' here! My wife's reply was 'but we want to buy that Discovery (pointing to the HSE in the showroom that she really liked) are we not prestigious enough??' Then there was a lot of apologising and backtracking and lets talk finance which we entertained for a bit but unfortunately the damage had been done and we just left and eventually went to Skoda and saved ourselves a packet!

They also only offered us £500 for our 55000 mile A6, I sold it on Autotrader for £5250!

We thought that it was probably because we are both relatively young but my father had basically the same experience trying to buy a Discovery from there and he's 55!

[geeksteve]

Both my wife and I went to Hunters in Guildford and we had to fight to even get a test drive, at no point did the salesman take us seriously treating us like we were wasting his time. Then when we wanted to talk money he disappeared and left us for 20 minutes, when we asked where he was we were told that he'd gone off for his lunch! To be fair the sales manager did apologise and he was pretty annoyed with the bloke but then he said that they were more focused on 'prestige customers' here! My wife's reply was 'but we want to buy that Discovery (pointing to the HSE in the showroom that she really liked) are we not prestigious enough??' Then there was a lot of apologising and backtracking and lets talk finance which we entertained for a bit but unfortunately the damage had been done and we just left and eventually went to Skoda and saved ourselves a packet!

Most 'prestige' dealerships seem to be lacking when it comes to selling. My boss (female) went to Audi (Poole I think) to buy a Qsomething. She knows about vehicles and what she likes etc, but whenever she asked the salesman a question, he replied to her husband! She thought it was her imagination at first but it was repeatable, she appeared to be invisible. Didn't go down very well, she didn't end up buying an Audi.

Steve

[SprintMWU773V]

It's a shame they have stopped making them but frankly the last one I drove was just awful. Highly capable off road but on road it was horrible. The use of a Transit diesel engine and more creature comforts won't help reliability either. If I had to have one, and actually I quite fancy one I'd go for a simpler and earlier Defender or a nice S3.

[Mahesh]

I've always like the Defender, but never to sit in or drive, and definitly not to have an accident with.

[James467]

I have to say, I really liked them. I drove one from Fleet to Fort William once and really felt like I earnt that beer and whisky when I got there!!

They always had a certain charm to them. You wouldn't buy one just as a family car, there are better cars out there, they were bought for a purpose, as a workhorse. But Ian's right they were being overtaken by the likes of Isuzu and Mitsubishi who have just as good off road abilities but better emissions more comfortable and far better reliability.

The new one looks too 'Range Rovery', probably to match up with the “premium durability” tag which it is being pitched with.

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Expect to see one of these queueing up at the school gates soon.....

[trackerjack]

My daughters core business is her own car sales which she has built up over a few years and now has a fleet of Defenders which vary from a 110 long wheelbase to her own bespoke ones with black badges and various other cosmetic items.
However after driving one or two of them and being a passenger I think they are like VW Beetles, a vehicle which is crude and uncomfortable cobbled together that somehow works
I have to smile though when people look up at her in traffic as she wrestles with a trailer and race car on the back and they cannot help smiling and if they knew she raced what was on the trailer they would smile even more.
If I were buying one I would stop and buy a Toyota

[James467]

My wife's - cousin's - husband (shes european!!) once said, 'if you want a rugged reliable offroader just look at what the UN drive in warzones.'

Toyota Land Cruiser it is then!!

[Carledo]

My neighbour had a Defender County Station wagon, a 1990 H plater, 12 seats and 5 doors, quite a rare car, which one or two people accused of being a LR development car, it had a 200TDi from new. A couple of years ago and after 228,000 hard miles (a testimony to my maintainence) he rolled it on its side and the insurance called time on it. They paid out an astonishing £4800 on this high mile rusting wreck and sold it for salvage, the buyer has been in touch with my neighbour to catch up on the history of the car and it is currently being restored!
My neighbour now has a 1995 2.8TD SWB Pajero auto which came for £1800 complete with new winch, towbar, 5 new offroad tyres and a host of other goodies. It's twice as fast as the old Landy and about 5 times as comfortable, the only downside is a rather immoderate thirst!

Steve

Personally i've never understood the appeal of the Landrover, whether it be a series car or a Defender, fresh off the line. They are rough, slow, badly built, thirsty and they LEAK! And the myth of their immortality is just that! A Landy is immortal in the same way as my grandfathers axe, its had 5 new handles and 2 new heads, but it's my grandfathers axe! Yeah right!
I'm as patriotic as the next man and more than some, but the best thing I can say about the Defender is that it's a lot better than a Freelander! Landcruiser FTW!

[James467]

I did it, I bought a Defender!

Pretty cool, came with an Ifor Williams top and a trailer plus some pigs, one of them looks suspiciously like my mother in law!

Oh and the headlights light up and it makes noises!!



My son absolutely loves it!!

[Mahesh]

And it looks brand new, so no restoration time needed.

[GTS290N]

I didn't know pigs had headlights

[trackerjack]