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The demise of the Defender

  • Lambert
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24 Mar 2021 07:41 #233974 by Lambert
Replied by Lambert on topic The demise of the Defender
Which is why his opinion has weight unlike the majority of the rest of the motoring press.

Temeraire (2018 quasar grey automatic)
One of the last 200ish of the gen3s, probably.
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  • Groenewald
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24 Mar 2021 11:26 #233986 by Groenewald
Replied by Groenewald on topic The demise of the Defender
I love Andrew's videos. I originally saw his Jimny review and did not think a lot about it: (Just another guy who likes the Jimny so what?)
then I watched more of his channel and saw his background... That puts his Jimny review in a new light. He's got strong opinions... About baboons too. ;)


Anyway on to demise of stuff, some personal examples:

Rav4
My wife has a 1997 Rav4. On our last trip to Mozambique we saw a LOT of them used by the locals in and around Inhambane.
No new Ravs used by the locals. The new Rav4 is a much better car than the old model we have. Its just not really as suitable for that kind of terrain.

BMW 1200 GS / 1250 GS
Same story. I had the last aircooled 1200GSA. The new ones are much better bikes. MUCH more power, more gadgetry, fly by wire, electronics, computer controlled this and that.

For an overland trip up Africa I would not choose the new 1250 over one of the old air cooled bikes.
Heck, I would choose a KLR over one of the aircooled GSs since it has less that can leave you stranded. And it has user servicable parts.

The defender:
For me the old Defender has always been the no.1 MOST iconic 4x4. Damn the thing just looks at home in Africa. Look back at what Armand Denis used. Its on the cover of his book as well.

Looked hard at the Gen3 in 2012, but could not afford it at that stage.

Then the Gen4 came out - That a small Defender made in Japan!

Personally I stretched my neck out beyond my comfort zone to get a Gen4 Jimny but I am not sorry for one moment I did!

 

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25 Mar 2021 12:17 - 25 Mar 2021 12:18 #234014 by Groenewald
Replied by Groenewald on topic The demise of the Defender
Spoke with one of my clients this morning: They had a rather interesting problem on their new Defender.

They had a rodent in the engine that ate some of the cables. A while later they had another one in the engine. It was promptly rattexed.

I m not sure exactly where they were, but the dead rat raised a stink, attracting the attention of a passing hyaena which proceeded to eat up about 78 percent of the defender's left front fender....

Good thing the defender is so heavy, a Jimny might have been carried off.
Last edit: 25 Mar 2021 12:18 by Groenewald.

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25 Mar 2021 12:52 #234015 by Lambert
Replied by Lambert on topic The demise of the Defender
Eaten by a Hyena! I'm so glad that I live in rural Yorkshire where the most worrying creature is a sheep.

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25 Mar 2021 13:15 #234016 by lightning

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25 Mar 2021 14:17 - 25 Mar 2021 14:21 #234017 by Scimike
Replied by Scimike on topic The demise of the Defender
^^^^ Very funny and true with regard to the treatment they get.I have never actually attributed the “unreliable” tag to the old Defender.
It’s something that started to happen on JRL models as they fitted all the clever electronic gizmos and suspension aimed at the luxury market.
I love my Series 2, Its been 100% reliable for the past 16 years I have owned it, but then it only has two fuses!!!

Arrgh Sheep, the cloud shaped assasins of rural Yorkshire.

Yokohama Geolanders, Sony head unit, NAUTILUS Air Horn, DRL conversion, Rear cargo space, Elvis Bobblehead, transfer Guard, Indian hanging Elephant, Koni Heavy track dampers, Custom SS exhaust, Voodoo Doll, Adventure Rack with LED ight bar, vintage ERIBA caravan usually attached (yes it's slow)
Last edit: 25 Mar 2021 14:21 by Scimike.

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25 Mar 2021 15:04 #234018 by Roger Fairclough
Only 78%, maybe rampant indigestion and lack of any Gaviscon saved the rest.

Roger

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  • Groundworker
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25 Mar 2021 20:49 #234027 by Groundworker
Replied by Groundworker on topic The demise of the Defender
I was offered a bank staff job at Land Rover Experience about 18 years ago, I couldn't take it due to a change in circumstances. The instructors at the time looked like extras from It Ain't Half Hot Mum, all khaki shorts and shirts, hiking boots etc. When I went with a mate to a day with the Experience to drive an Evoque (he had bought one) about 3 years ago, the instructors were in shirts and ties. Think this says a lot about where Land Rover are now.
Interesting talking to the guy we had, he said their biggest problem was the Clarkson effect, people turning up expecting to be Ari Vatenen, bit shocked to be driving round in low box at about 5mph.
We had to drive with two wheels on top of a rounded mound, was told to use the cameras in the bottom of the door mirrors to see where my front wheels were, knew perfectly well where the wheels were, as it was a frosty day, the cameras misted up and were useless, don't know how people manage without cameras that look at your wheels....

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  • Lambert
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26 Mar 2021 04:22 #234028 by Lambert
Replied by Lambert on topic The demise of the Defender
Part of me would love to take either Dreadnaught or Leviathan round one of the experience sites on an open day just to demonstrate that there are other contenders for the Best 4x4 By Far!

Temeraire (2018 quasar grey automatic)
One of the last 200ish of the gen3s, probably.
ADOS Attention Deficit Ooooh Shiny!

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26 Mar 2021 06:56 #234029 by Groundworker
Replied by Groundworker on topic The demise of the Defender
I did a day 'ride along' before being offered the job at LR experience. Was quite enlightening, went in the storage barn in the morning to see which vehicles were 'working', I was under strict instruction not to use the handbrake as they tended to seize on. The site had a loose stone track around field perimeters to get to off road areas, the stone that had been used was shredding tyres at a shocking rate.
It was interesting how the customers liked to bang on about how brilliant LR were, but they were shown films of a disco 2 on BFG's making its way up a hill whilst land cruiser and shogun seen failing on road tyres.
Guys who worked there were telling me about all the problems during lunch, don't think any of them owned LR's, one guy safari raced a vitara..
The one I went to recently was so much more corporate, whereas the one I was going to work at was pretty laid back, a bit more fun.
Some of the off road stuff is quite challenging to show the capabilities of the car, I did a half day at Rockingham in a newly launched disco4, we were told to drive into an axle twister then told to stop, a large mirror set up to the side let you see that one wheel was off the ground, told to put it in gear and drive out, traction control cuts in and away you go. Wouldn't be anything a Jimmy couldn't go through, but you wouldn't be able to stop in the middle and then drive off!
Nothing there that you wouldn't drive in a Jimmy, it is set up to show off whatever the latest gizmo is that they've bolted on, hence the insistence at the Evoque one to use the door mirror cameras, they just made me laugh when the guy had to get out in his nice shirt and tie to wipe them with his hanky when they misted up. Some of the radio chatter between the instructors is quite telling, when I was at Rockingham in about 2010, one guy came on to ask why his i'ndestructable' camera on the front corner of the Range Rover would only look at the sky? Guy in our car reaches over and turns the radio down....

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26 Mar 2021 07:16 #234030 by Groenewald
Replied by Groenewald on topic The demise of the Defender
What do you guys think of the direction Suzuki took with the Gen4?

 

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  • Lambert
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26 Mar 2021 07:25 #234031 by Lambert
Replied by Lambert on topic The demise of the Defender
Having seen the available wheel travel in the newer independent suspension land rover lineup I'm not surprised that they want to show off how they cope when wheels in the air.

Temeraire (2018 quasar grey automatic)
One of the last 200ish of the gen3s, probably.
ADOS Attention Deficit Ooooh Shiny!

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