Thread: 2007 Land Rover Defender Revealed! - Photos and Pics.

i'd be interested if they have made it comfortable for over 6 footers. Havent heard good things about the transit motor tho, but at least it would still be economical and maybe they have ironed out some bugs-lets hope so. Power wise if its better than the td5 its good enough for me.

It is unfortunate, but Australians are (in general) very much sold on "nothing beats cubic inches" despite the fact that once you supercharge an engine the actual capacity of the cylinders becomes irrelevant, particularly talking diesels. (And you can use a lot more boost when the engine was designed from the start with supercharging in mind than when it was added as an afterthought)
Hence this lack of capacity will definitely hamper sales here. But if the performance is there, it will make little difference in the long run. The biggest problem faced has nothing to do with the vehicle itself, but with Landrover's woeful dealer network. This is shown up graphically by the member here who had to have his Defender shipped back from (Newman was it?) to Perth for what turned out to be a throttle potentiometer. This is the sort of thing that will hit sales, not the engine capacity.
The softer interior, while it may not help sales to repeat buyers, will sell them to a lot of people who just found the Defender too spartan for them (or their wives did). And what else are the repeat buyers going to buy? One would hope they have figured out how to make the doors a bit thinner (and hence more room), but I rather doubt it.
Overall I suspect the changes make for more sales. Of course, we can all think of how they could have done things better, but the route chosen will probably reduce the manufacturing cost of the Defender, and hence hopefully the selling price - which will be one of the major influences on sales numbers.
John

.... I don't why everyone is complaining about the engine size.... how is 90kw in the 2,4 ford different to the 90kw in the current fender???

.... six speed, who cares about auto.... bring it on.... for me this is a big enhancement

new dash, plastic bits.... I like the look of my 2000 dash. Simple and retro.... but the new one looks fine and my wife will probably be happier which means I sleep more soundly at night

....

I will definately check it out...

... Scott

... And if they come out with the full colour-coded body like those glamour shots show --- I will probably buy one!

I don't like the swanky dash, but I would have one even with the mini-me diesel engine

My 02MY Xtreme has spent weeks in and out of the dealership with trivial issues.
Every time I go on corrugations the CD player falls out, loose door handle, clock face fell out, backdoor central locking stopped working, aircon vent fell in, trasfer case oil leak, rear pinion seal oil leak, I could go on and it hasn't even got 40,000k on the clock. The point being if someone else can do a better job of building them at least give them a chance.
I love the girl but sometimes................

Originally Posted by JDNSW

It is unfortunate, but Australians are (in general) very much sold on "nothing beats cubic inches" despite the fact that once you supercharge an engine the actual capacity of the cylinders becomes irrelevant, particularly talking diesels. (And you can use a lot more boost when the engine was designed from the start with supercharging in mind than when it was added as an afterthought)
Hence this lack of capacity will definitely hamper sales here. But if the performance is there, it will make little difference in the long run. The biggest problem faced has nothing to do with the vehicle itself, but with Landrover's woeful dealer network. This is shown up graphically by the member here who had to have his Defender shipped back from (Newman was it?) to Perth for what turned out to be a throttle potentiometer. This is the sort of thing that will hit sales, not the engine capacity.
The softer interior, while it may not help sales to repeat buyers, will sell them to a lot of people who just found the Defender too spartan for them (or their wives did). And what else are the repeat buyers going to buy? One would hope they have figured out how to make the doors a bit thinner (and hence more room), but I rather doubt it.
Overall I suspect the changes make for more sales. Of course, we can all think of how they could have done things better, but the route chosen will probably reduce the manufacturing cost of the Defender, and hence hopefully the selling price - which will be one of the major influences on sales numbers.
John

I couldn't agree more with your comment about cubic capacity. I live in a town full of cruisers and nissans and hear lots about how woeful a small engine is. But then I get half the fuel consumption and have just as much torque!

As for there dealership etc... my closest TestBook/Dealer is now 1100km away thanks to LRA's cut back on dealerships and total removel of service agents. At the time it happened I wrote 2 letters to LRA which I can say were either never received, ignored or they could just not be bothered responding to. But I do get their junk mail on the new D3 etc...if only I could get it serviced!

Of course there is the possibility that LR are putting out a bit of mis-information here, maybe lowering everybodys' expectations a bit before they announce the option of a Jaguar/TVR V8 engine. At the very least I am optimisic that when the official release comes the TDV6 will be the engine of choice.

Don't really see the point of the bonnet bump - if they are serious about the 90kW 4-pot engine then maybe it should be slightly concave.

...and yes, I am going to mis the air vents too, but maybe they are just a bit too worried about morons leaving them open during a river crossing and drowning the copious electrics in the new gadgetty dash.