Thread: RIP Defender....

Originally Posted by goingbush

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I have never, will never, buy a new car.
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Neither have I, and I don't ever plan to [at this stage]. So why should Landrover care what we think or try and make a vehicle that we would want to buy second hand???


(I did buy a new boat though... so who knows one day...)

Originally Posted by vnx205

It's all very well for those of you who regularly buy a brand new vehicle from the showroom floor to be perfectly happy for the Defender to move upmarket and up the price range.

There are people who never have and probably never will buy a new car. They are probably affected more by such a move by Land Rover and other manufacturers.

There was a time when a quite reliable second hand vehicle could be bought for today's equivalent of a couple of thousand dollars. If it broke down, it could be fixed by anyone with a modicum of mechanical knowledge and a few few simple tools. Even if you had to resort to getting a mechanic to work on it, there were not very many things to go wrong and keeping the vehicle on the road was quite cheap.

On modern vehicles there are many more things to go wrong, fewer things that can be diagnosed without specialist equipment and the cost of even quite simple repairs or even regular services can cost an arm and a leg.

When a Series Land Rover failed to proceed, there were only a couple of things that might have caused the problem. When a modern Discovery grinds to a halt or goes into limp mode, if I can believe what I have read on this forum, it is likely to need some sort of computerised diagnostic device to even work out what the problem is.

As cars become more sophisticated, it isn't the new car buyers who will suffer. They will probably trade it in as soon as the warranty runs out. It is the second hand car buyers who will suffer because of the complexity of the vehicle, the extra things that can and do go wrong and the cost of keeping the vehicle roadworthy.

The huge number of Defender owners who buy second hand want something that is made from materials that will last, not some sort of plastic that will turn to powder in the Australian sun. They want rugged simplicity so that there is at least some of the maintenance that they can do themselves.

If the Defender looks anything like some of the concept vehicles that have appeared in recent years, the new car buyers will still manage quite well, but in a few years second hand buyers will have a real problem.

I get reminded of this all the time yet I'll bet a months pay both my scary modern vehicles did and still do more K's in remote outback Oz than all the Isuzu LR's do combined and my L322 would have to have been the easiest vehicle I've ever worked on. Pat

Originally Posted by goingbush

vnx205 Amen to that

I have never, will never, buy a new car.

but I do know the new car feeling, as I used to have them for work, the feeling lasts a month or so and then it was just another POS

The feeling I get when I drive my Defender is the same each time never wears off, the smile never goes away.


Thanks Tombie, I dislike Harleys but the penny just dropped, Now I get why Harley riders love their bikes, exactly same as we love our Defenders.

If your a Harley Rider , why don't you just move with the times (and get a Vstrom ), yah right

As far as the new defender goes thats my only worry,I drive hilux's,LC's etc at work and for me they are a car,I drove my TDCi home from perth after my last swing and it put a smile on my dial. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

I get reminded of this all the time yet I'll bet a months pay both my scary modern vehicles did and still do more K's in remote outback Oz than all the Isuzu LR's do combined and my L322 would have to have been the easiest vehicle I've ever worked on. Pat

Wasn't the L322 introduced over a decade ago? The pace at which technology changes these days means that is hardly a modern vehicle.

I was really more concerned about the vehicles that will be produced in the next decade rather than the ones from the last decade.

Originally Posted by vnx205

Wasn't the L322 introduced over a decade ago? The pace at which technology changes these days means that is hardly a modern vehicle.

I was really more concerned about the vehicles that will be produced in the next decade rather than the ones from the last decade.

It was and still is a very modern vehicle,four ECU's,air suspension,common rail injection,electronic gearbox control etc. Pat

Well now, I was thinking about all this when I went out to the well to get some water. There I was, pumping the handle and filling the wooden bucket, and then walking back to the house in the shoes I made just the other day, only stopping to adjust my suspenders and relight my corn-cob pipe. (I know I shouldn’t smoke, but it helps me to relax after milking the cows.)

Anyway, the sheep had missed cropping a bit of the back lawn so I had to move them and that’s when I found the lamb stuck in the fence, (you know how when you weave a fence out of wattle sometimes you make the gaps too big), and by then I had to rush inside and light the kerosene lamp before it got too dark because it can really hurt if you’re stumbling around in your kitchen at night and hit the woodstove.

So I got the lamp lit with a burning twig because we don’t believe in them matches round here and that’s when I found the chamber pot that I’d brought down in the morning and forgotten to empty!

Oh, and I like Defenders, too.

Originally Posted by goingbush

Meybe a Isuzu engine Defender for 2016 !
All good, but Bob, if they are for the 3rd world will they comply with Australian standards. ??

Edit,

was just wondering what 1st & 2nd world countries are & found the answer

1st world countries are Market Economies, Blue
2nd World, former soviet bloc / communist / planned economy , Red
3rd World , undeveloped / developing countries, Green

Mate, they are the same defenders being exported to Aus. now, so until the legislation is changed here, you have your answer. Bob

Originally Posted by bob10

Interesting observation, you younger generation are soft little petals, aren't you. Thank goodness the people who pioneered this country were made of sterner stuff. Bob

ffs Bob, enough with this crap, I agree with you on most things but not this.
From the little I know about Mike (Tombie), he's not the sort of bloke anyone would call a "soft little petal", at least not twice
Silly name calling does nothing but make you come across as a grumpy old bugger who mutters about "their day" and how much simpler it was. Which I'm sure is not the case, nothing against you mate.
Sure, it was harder doing things "the old way". Does that automatically make them better? Does that mean we shouldn't try and make things easier?
People (most of us anyway) move with the times, Do you see many people still using betamax or 8 tracks?
If anything wants to survive, it has to be able to adapt. Like it or not, that includes Defenders. If Land Rover wants to survive in the modern car market, then that requires something a bit more modern.
And how about we hold off judging how good or otherwise it will be until it's actually released and we can get behind the wheel of it. Until then, it's all just he said she said.