Thread: The "New" Defender, ...Your Thoughts?

It will have a 'other land rover detection system' with pop up bonnet deployed waving arm !

Good call Pickles. There's also 'Defender 2016' which I started eons ago when we were led to believe there would be a new model by this year... Now the latest thinking is 2020 ...maybe.

I think Defender is finito.

But that doesn't stop me imagining a new perfectly simple, pragmatic, highly evolved and erudite reincarnation in the same form with an elegant aluminium skin, but with airbags and solar powered.

I agree but I don't know about solar power! It has to have low range, a simple design with a nod to the Defender so maybe an evolutionary design, a nod to safety modernity, decent diesel and an array of models that reflect the current, such as a SWB, LWB, Ute, tray etc.

I'd like to see no transfer,just a straight 9 speed forward gearbox with two reverse speeds and a bit more cabin space,better insulation,more rear leg room. Pat

If there is going to be a new one, then I don't think we'll see it much before the end of this decade. I believe the delay has more to do with the massive challenges faced by new vehicle designers now and the escalating and massive costs involved in designing and building an all new vehicle. Things have changed dramatically in just the last two or three years in this regard.

A lot more is going to change in the next decade and any vehicle being designed now is going to be different to what we are used to or even expecting.

Diesel, thanks in part to VW, is now a dirty word and there are car companies saying their ongoing development is a dead end, and that they will be concentrating on electric and small capacity turbo charged petrol engines and eventually just electric engines.

So while Land Rover could fit a diesel to an all new Defender, the big question is how obsolete will it be if it's not fully or partially electric drive?

There is a massive push by most car makers to bring electric vehicles to market. VW is revamping it's entire business model and has announced that it wants 30 EVs on the market by 2025.

MB are saying similar things. This technology is going to accelerate very rapidly (pardon the pun). We ain't seen nothing yet and what we have seen recently is pretty damn amazing.

Then we have autonomous vehicles. Countries are putting legislation in place to deal with them now. Car makers are buying up ride sharing companies like Uber so they can partly control their autonomous vehicle markets. This is another technology that is here right now. Google is buying into and investing heavily in autonomous vehicles. Autonomous cars are going to be here tomorrow.

Much the same is happening with safety and connectivity tech, especially connectivity.

What car maker is going to start with a clean sheet design and not feature these new technologies and directions? If they don't the new vehicle will be obsolete before it hits the market.

So by default, I am sure the days of simple, hose out, commercial style 4X4s are all but over and any new Defender isn't going to go there, simply because it won't be possible. Well you might be able to hose it out but it will be far from being a simple vehicle.

A few years ago JLR probably had the new Defender project on the board and ready to go. Nothing too major, nothing too difficult. But it's changed in the last few years and now they have no choice but to build something that is seriously cutting edge so that it is future proof. They are now creating this new vehicle at a time when the industry is on the cusp of massive change.

The next Defender, if it happens, could quite possibly be the most amazing 4X4 we've yet seen. I seriously doubt it will be anything remotely like the Defender we've known. That's not a JLR or rich man's conspiracy, it's just the evolution of the MV and the cycle is quickly gaining momentum.

I'm with Pat.. Technology is now up there that a 2 speed TC is just weight and complexity that isn't needed.

Throw in a couple of crawler gears, some nice long over drives and 2 speed reverse and it's a winner..

Take of in "3" for normal and 1/2 for low.

Pats vision is where my heads at.

That's an interesting thought that I've not thought about!

How come 'real' 4WDs have a transfer case, and not just a couple of low-low gears to assist in tricky offroad situations? Would be a lot cheaper to throw in 2 more cogs to a gearbox than build a whole extra transfer case.

Reliability?

I don't think you'd want a straight 9 speed mainshaft and layshaft. A high/low selector on the gearstick with 5 or 6 gears in each would be more managable.

Obviously a transfer case has to remain, just with less moving parts.