Hi all
I'm very keen on the new Defender as a replacement for my D4 in some years time. There are a few things I don't like about it though.
It hasn't got a tailgate. Just a week ago I used my D4's tailgate as my workbench whilst doing some fencing repairs. My wife and I sit on it to have a morning or afternoon coffee on a long trip or we use it as a table top for making lunch.
Also with the spare tire on the back you have to lower the spare by hand to ground level, and the flat tire has to be lifted up. With the D4 you lower by winch all the way to ground then drag it out and roll it to where you want it. The old wheel is just winched up. At my age now I can lift the tyre but older people will have to call the NRMA just to get the spare off or the flat tire back on.
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Mike
Not just LR that have focussed on mum's taxis..Nissan..Suzuki..Subaru and many other have vacated the utilitarian space. You could also argue that Aus is a bit of Yota loving paradise..not really reflective of the Global mkt. And there's the Taliban ...how do Toyota get away with supplying vehicles used as gun mounts to them and not incur UN sanctions😞??
Also many farmers now use eg side by sides rather than cruisers..a trend together with cheaper Asian variants or better value US imports must cut into cruiser sales. But I do hope Toyota keeps making them orherwise the aftermarket industry will collapse here.
It's called international law...eg. s UK business supplying CAD machines to Iraq was stopped from exporting them because they were being used to make munitions. There are countless examples of such interventions and clearly Toyotas are being used as gun platforms.
USA makers of similar vehicles are not allowed to sell them into war zones inc Humvees etc. There's a clear lack of consistency when it's obvious that they are being used for terrorist mobility as well as gun platforms..dozens of them at a time and many shiny and new.
It's just not right😞
As many boxes isn't all boxes. Remote area travel is a niche market, the number of customers who actually buy new cars AND do that kind of travel are very few.
A car costs $1-2B to develop. You need hundreds of thousands of sales to make that up. Many regulations like crash worthiness, economy and emissions prevent
All that said - the new defender has the best capability outside a 70 series in a new car, at least on paper. Better approach angles, wading height, true tow capacity and payload (including roof payload) than a 200 series. And frankly Toyota have been taking the **** with the 200 series for a long time, the car is appalling in the quality of the interior, driving dynamics and design for what they charge for it. A LC200 Sahara is worse inside than a corolla is and miles worse to drive and live with - this is why we all drive Land Rovers right?
The biggest issue with using a new defender for remote area travel is nothing to do with the design, it's 2 things: ease of fixing on the fly which is very difficult with all modern vehicles, and parts availability.
Your concern about buying first off the line can be said of any vehicle and is a perceived quality concern (which may or may not be accurate - only time will tell).
The problem with all modern cars as time goes on is that they are basically dumbing down people's driving skills...
I think I'll wait for this instead - ALL-NEW INEOS GRENADIER 4×4 WAGON AND UTE HERE SOON FROM AROUND $80K! and see how it performs
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