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

i could live with that and im a current defender owner

Originally Posted by dm_td5

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.

With a Dealer in Darwin and one in Alice, which one is 1100 km away from you?

Originally Posted by dm_td5

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!

Believe it or not
Back in the late 70's early 80's my father in law lived up there. When his Landy broke he just drove it down to the tip and picked up another one literally drive one in park it get in a dumped one and drive it home.
This is the dead set truth

Originally Posted by Tusker

And will the door catch be shielded??

My car has ripped the belt loop in just about every pair or trousers I have!

HeHeHe...I was out the other night in Kimba in a brand new pair of swanky 'britches' and I got hooked on the door latch...suspended momentarily and the a loud rip.....bugger! Would make a great ad!

I am worried about that new gear knob....looks like a marital aid....

Originally Posted by maggsie

Definately not happy with the handbrake lever still in the same bloody place!
Maggsie

... how can anyone not like that???

* Cold steel against your leg in winter
* Hot (or let's say luke warm) steel against your leg in summer
* Dent in your leg all year round

... I've been driving my mother-in-laws subaru liberty all week... the one main thing that I cannot get used to - reaching down far forward to grab and pull the handbrake!


... Scott

Originally Posted by noddy

I am worried about that new gear knob....looks like a marital aid....

thats so the Ford executive designers can go ........................... in there tough looking SUV.

I'm sorry they've wrecked it for me, it looks wussy. I might have to get the bosses permission to buy one of the last real Fenders before it comes out.

where do I send my deposit?

buy one, run it for a while then put in the TDV8 / ZF 6 speed from the new Rangie.

SO whats your problem? One of the BIG points of a LR is you can easily customise them.

my 10c worth

LRH

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

My engine specification for an out back 4wd as opposed to a private school, pony club, ballet lessons 4wd is a 4 or 6 cylinder diesel, minimum 5 litres, all cast iron including the water pump, gear driven pushrod overhead valves, open combustion chambers, in-line mechanical injection, naturally aspirated. This removes all the points of added maintenance & potential failure found with electronic injection and engine management systems, aluminium heads and water pumps, rubberband cam drives, and turbochargers. In other words an engine from a medium truck, a true industrial long life low stressed engine. European manufacturers, in spite of all their hype & PR spin still have no idea of the heat, dust, bad roads, even the shaking vehicles get on our highways, and distances routinely encountered in Australia. This is why the line haul truckies voted with their bums and their cheque books from the early sixties on, when import & foreign exchange restrictions changed and North American trucks became much more readily available in OZ. I recall a then prominent Euro. truck maker being requested as a matter of urgency by their Aust. operation, for a 400hp prime mover to have any chance of staying in the market place. The reply was that no truck could conceivably require such power. Another one had their first Australian sale into road train service and did not know what a bull bar was, and supplied the unit with oil bath air cleaners. An outback 4wd should also have easily removed rubber mats, not carpets so you can blow or hose it out. Doors should be aluminium of minimum size for access, with full length piano hinges. Light doors ,well retaind, dont sag, & dont cause cracks around the door openings. Seating & legroom should be sized to fit full grown adult North European descent males, with size 12 boots, not Mediterranean or Asian dwarfs in ballet slippers.