Thread: Won’t be retro...

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Carpet squares are good too. If they get dirty you just throw them on the ground, hose or scrub them clean, leave in the sun to dry and put them back in the vehicle. I bought a dozen for $1 each from a second hand shop.

They are also useful in the back of the ute to stop the bottom of your plastic jerry cans wearing out on the chicken plate floor and are also handy outside your swag door
You gotta love cheap simple solutions

Originally Posted by trout1105

I am thinking that the only people that will buy the new defender will be Landrover the "tragic's" and I highly doubt that it will win any of the Toyota/Nissan buyers over.
None of the current JLR products can honestly be considered as hard core off road machines, They are simply luxury SUV's and the majority of them will never see much off road work.
IF the new defender continues down this path I can't see it being successful in the Australian market.

I agree with what you say about "lux" 4x4's, but, on average, only about 20,000+ new Defenders have been built per year, so they are hardly "out there" in numbers to be of any real competition to any other brand. Even the Jeep Wrangler make nearly 200,000 a year. (didn't look at SUV's). And God only knows what Toyota's figures are.

The reality is, for myself and what I've seen, there's more SUV's out in the High Country,, from city areas,, than utilitarian type vehicles, eg, Defenders both utes and wagons, Toyota (75/78 series ?) utes and wagons etc. Realistically, I think you need to take the Farmers/Business's vehicles out of the equation.

I have never understood why people look at Disco's and think,, "gee, I'm not taking that into the bush", but they'll buy and take Nissans and Cruisers up there,, in they're droves even. I dont think anyone buys any car/SUV to take it up the bush and damage it,, even a Defender. Why do people have the mind set that only Defenders, or utilitarian type vehicles can do "the hard core stuff"?

Although I agree with the Lux statement, I think if LR do the right advertising, you could well see a transfer of sales for what supposedly will be a more robust SUV.

Just my thoughts

The best floor mats for D2 are the (initially exy but last 10 years) genuine LR rubber ones. Catch a fair bit of water. Cheers

Originally Posted by Arapiles

I'd guess that the Defender will come in a range of grades - rubber floors and hose out at one end and HSE Disco equivalent at the other. One will happily wear bush stripes, the other won't.

Contrary to some of what's been said here, if you want your rubber-floored hose out model then the luxury versions have to be part of the mix, because otherwise LR are unlikely to get the volume. Unless they go after the mine market, but there's been no sightings of a single or twin cab.

Sure, you can complain about "soccer mums" (which is a stupid phrase in Victoria, because it's more likely to be "Auskick mum") but people who bought the D4 for family transport knew exactly what they were doing and if they do buy the new Defender it helps it get the minimum sales it needs to continue.

And, if the new Defender does turn out to have a lot of the characteristics of the D4 that were dropped in the D5 - like good visibility and square corners - then they will be bought for the school run.

And if it takes off in the US, that alone would probably give them a big chunk of the volume they need, given that they sold about 10,000 D5s there last year.

Agreed, there will no doubt be svx, s-hse, svr, mines need 5 star safety, thats why toyota can only supply single cab, dual cabs are not 5 star. JLR are going very strongly in Sales in US at the moment, the new evoque that was just released will keep that going until the fender, and becuase of how much of a cult car the fender is there, they will no doubt go nuts for the new one if the get the styling right.

Originally Posted by weeds

I don’t get the fascination of hosing out a car.

Starting driving Perenties in 90 and have owned a 300tdi and now a TD5, never had the need to hose out the car.

Hmmm, good poont, guess its more, clean and dry out after a muddy crossing, pressure cleaned out my old 89 RRC, no electronics under seat, go some funny looks at carwash

Originally Posted by blackrangie

Agreed, there will no doubt be svx, s-hse, svr, mines need 5 star safety, thats why toyota can only supply single cab, dual cabs are not 5 star.

All Current Hilux models from 2015 including dual cab are ANCAP 5 star rated - Toyota Hilux (Jul 2015 – onwards) Crash Test Results | ANCAP - and do get used in Mining - certainly where I am anyway, there are heaps of them being used.

Originally Posted by weeds

I don’t get the fascination of hosing out a car.

Starting driving Perenties in 90 and have owned a 300tdi and now a TD5, never had the need to hose out the car.

I prefer hosing out the floor after a trip to the beach. Gets rid of any residual sand and salt.

I can’t use a hose on the L322. But keep a stiff brush in the car to give it a maintenance clean after each day. Sand in the car is inevitable if going to the beach. It doesn’t worry me but I try to reduce its impact.

Originally Posted by Red90

Probably something to do with living in Australia. It is handy in places with winter and mud.

The problem with the new Defender is three fold. First it will be expensive. Second it will be complex and lastly it will be built on a platform that is not inherently good off road.

Imo will start inline or just under current D5 so 75-80k so inline with competition.

Imo no more complex than the competition, but hopefully base model is simpler.

Its a juggling act these days with safety, comfort, capability etc, tech is not going away, we just need it to be as reliable as possible.

I think it will be best in class capability.