2020 Defender

mgreenspan

Well-known member
Feb 28, 2005
4,723
130
Briggs's Back Yard
Those fiat multiplas are hilarious. I had one as a dirt cheap rental car. For how ugly it was the interior was very spacious and the seats could fit people really well. It’s goofy look was some what endearing, though. It wasn’t pretending to be anything except maybe The Homer.
 

pinkytoe69

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2012
1,689
182
minnesota
Those fiat multiplas are hilarious. I had one as a dirt cheap rental car. For how ugly it was the interior was very spacious and the seats could fit people really well. It’s goofy look was some what endearing, though. It wasn’t pretending to be anything except maybe The Homer.

They're not terrible when you add a little flair 😁_UjUPMHlDESUU16W8bAT8VK_twHGBtWu49Cy19mlilM.jpg
 
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jymmiejamz

Well-known member
Dec 5, 2004
6,008
361
35
Los Angeles, Ca
We had one in our showroom for a couple of days. One of the apprentices needed to go jump start it. The battery is located under the seat like a Defender, but there is an electric seat.... The apprentice said that car had a lot of broken plastic interior pieces in it. To be fair, it is a pre-production model and is being carted all over to different dealerships, so it is seeing a lot of wear.
 

fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,927
201
Lake Villa, IL
We had one in our showroom for a couple of days. One of the apprentices needed to go jump start it. The battery is located under the seat like a Defender, but there is an electric seat.... The apprentice said that car had a lot of broken plastic interior pieces in it. To be fair, it is a pre-production model and is being carted all over to different dealerships, so it is seeing a lot of wear.
So how does one move the electric seat to jump the battery??
 

DiscoHasBeen

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2016
1,171
262
Indy
IDK, in my D1 the battery is under the hood, like all other cars! 🤣
Is there a good reason for having the battery under the seat?

Yeah, so some engineer can justify his salary by coming up with something way cool and different. Or to make better use of the room in the engine compartment.
 

gimebakmybulits

Well-known member
Dec 11, 2013
1,067
85
Pasadena
I'd also guess that with batteries that theoretically don't leak you can put them in the passenger compartment and take advantage of lower CG and weight distribution.
 

Eliot

Well-known member
Feb 4, 2008
736
47
Bozeman, MT
IDK, in my D1 the battery is under the hood, like all other cars! 🤣
Is there a good reason for having the battery under the seat?

I had a W124 where they put the battery in the trunk. It was a V8 model and there just wasn't a lot of room in the engine bay.

That made sense, and it was functional, although people would get confused when you popped the trunk for a jump start.

Putting the battery under the seat, that just seems like a bad idea.
 

jymmiejamz

Well-known member
Dec 5, 2004
6,008
361
35
Los Angeles, Ca
IDK, in my D1 the battery is under the hood, like all other cars! 🤣
Is there a good reason for having the battery under the seat?

I think it is pretty common for manufacturers to put the battery in places other than the engine bay. I don't have experience with other brands, but Maserati and Jaguar both put the batteries in the trunk (in vehicles with powered trunk lids). RR, RRS, and D5 all have the battery in the rear as well. Silly setup, but there really isn't room in the engine bay.
 
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Maximumwarp

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
836
26
Fairburn GA
Battery in the passenger compartment is pretty common nowadays. The Chevy Traverse puts it in the second row, halfway under the front passenger seat, and you have to use a torx bit to open the compartment on top of moving the seat forward. Super annoying.
 

pinkytoe69

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2012
1,689
182
minnesota
Just to add to this...

1st gen Cayenne/Touareg (Q7?) - battery under driver's seat

5th gen Caddy Seville - battery under rear bench seat

E53 X5 - battery in trunk
 

ERover82

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2011
3,899
450
Darien Gap
New baby Bronco. I see a lot of LR DNA. Looks better in some ways than the lux Defender.

Ford-Bronco-Sport.jpg