2020 Defender

[Blueboy]

On my last visit to South Africa my wife was driving our D110 back to Durban from the Drakensberg when the skies opened up and we got caught in a heavy rain storm. The temperature dropped sharply. The Defender's climate control wasn't doing much (perhaps it couldn't keep pace with the ingress of cold air) and my wife had a waterfall of rain runoff cascading over her feet.

We visited the old Defender plant while living in Brasil and one of the pride points was their vehicles were better built than the ones from GB. They really didn’t leak in rain storms which living in a rain forest happened often.

No doubt the new one will be civilized yet the old one could be built well.

 

[DiscoHasBeen]

So reading these replies and looking at currents trends this is where I see the powers that be at LR taking the Defender.

Driver arrives at trailhead. Starts Defender's 'Trails" program.

On the screen... "Welcome, please choose your options carefully as improper selections could adversely affective your offroad experience".

Terrain, please choose one: rocky, sandy, water ford, rutted trail, hills, etc,,,,

Conditions, please choose the most prevalent. If more than one is chosen Defender will choose between available options. Hardpan, mud, deep water, ect...

Please touch Enter when ready.... compiling......... compiling........ compiling.......

Defender is ready. Please refrain from touching the steering wheel or depressing the brake pedal or throttle while Defender negotiates obstacles. Thank you and enjoy your offroad experience brought to you by "thebest4x4byfar".

 

[Blueboy]

Does one sign the waiver clause in the lease agreement??

 

[Blueboy]

So looks like the Defender is “touring” the US:

 

[Howski]

Interestingly no leaves on the trees. Thinking this must’ve been earlier this spring. This version also still has the extensive cladding, some of which has been removed on more recent photos

 

[kennith]

Interestingly no leaves on the trees. Thinking this must’ve been earlier this spring. This version also still has the extensive cladding, some of which has been removed on more recent photos

It's probably already been there a few times unofficially.

Hell, some of the cladding might actually not be removable. There's no telling how much body they actually finished before fitting it, or even how they fitted it. Most of the time it's just under vinyl, but sometimes it's screwed and glued.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[ERover82]

 

[Blueboy]

Maybe the A/C works...

 

[Blue]

Damn that thing is fucking ugly.

 

[ERover82]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/first-ride-2020-land-rover-defender-prototype

The car’s four-wheel-drive driveline, meanwhile, will have a more hardcore standard specification than on a like-for-like Discovery, with electronic locking differentials likely for both axles. Land Rover wouldn’t be drawn to confirm whether low-range transfer gearing would be available, or whether the first gear of the car’s eight-speed automatic gearbox was intended to be short enough to take care of even the most testing of off-road demands. But modern auto ’boxes being as they are, there’s a good chance it might.

“The suspension hardware is related to the stuff on those other cars, but it’s very differently applied and tuned,” Deeks goes on. “Steel coils are standard fit, air suspension is optional. But we’ve got special controls monitoring the adaptive dampers, for example, to ensure they don’t overheat when working really hard. If you have the air suspension, we reckon the car is better able to keep its wheels on the ground and its body clear of obstacles than it would on rigid axles anyway.”

 

[SCSL]

Jaguar Land Rover's survival bid: five new cars in two years | Autocar

New Defender, Mk5 Range Rover, Road Rover, J-Pace and electric XJ are all on the cards

www.autocar.co.uk

Scroll down to that silver Defender with the open back and diagonal roll bars... anyone know if that's a real option or photo-chop?

 

[KngTgr]

I spotted a different version

 

[Blue]

Looks better

 

[Eliot]

Damn that thing is fucking ugly.

I drive an LR3 right now.

It looks like a blander LR3.

 

[Blue]

I drive an LR3 right now.

It looks like a blander LR3.

Exactly

 

[jymmiejamz]

I drive an LR3 right now.

It looks like a blander LR3.

I don't know that Land Rover is capable of making a vehicle more bland than an LR3.

 

[Lake_Bueller]

"Land Rover also did a "whole vehicle life test," according to Top Gear, that simulates 10 years or 150,000 miles of use. It runs 24 hours a day for eight weeks. The Defender name has a lot to live up to, and it sounds like Land Rover is planning for it to exceed expectations. "

And on the 9th week it exploded

 

[Tugela]

Let's review those assumptions. If "whole vehicle life" = 24/7 for 8 weeks, that is 1,344 hours of operating time.

In one hypothetical example, let's say an owner makes a couple trips around town during the week, goes camping on the weekend, and every other month takes an extended trip in the Defender. So for an average month, maybe the vehicle gets 10 hours of use per week with an extra 12 hours thrown in every now and then for a long term average of 16 hours/month. That equals 192 operating hours per year. At that rate, the owner hits 1,344 hours of operating time - the "whole vehicle life" - at 7 years. From the distance perspective, however, an average annual mileage of 15,000 seems about right. Some people drive less, others more, but that much mileage on a 10-year old vehicle would not be unusual.

My Range Rover is 25 years old and still going strong at 184,000 miles. I would not consider it anywhere close to reaching the end of its "whole vehicle life". Hell, I have a friend who drives three Series 1 Rovers, the youngest of which is 62 years old. Engineering a vehicle for only ten years of life sounds like a failure of vision. Maybe there is a technical definition associated with that or some engineering standard I'm not aware of, but I would hope that LR designed the new Defender with longevity as an objective. In some ways they already have with their other vehicles. If you buy a 2009 L322 Range Rover today, it's probably in much better shape than a 1999 D2 would have been in 2009.

 

[Blue]

Let's review those assumptions. If "whole vehicle life" = 24/7 for 8 weeks, that is 1,344 hours of operating time.

In one hypothetical example, let's say an owner makes a couple trips around town during the week, goes camping on the weekend, and every other month takes an extended trip in the Defender. So for an average month, maybe the vehicle gets 10 hours of use per week with an extra 12 hours thrown in every now and then for a long term average of 16 hours/month. That equals 192 operating hours per year. At that rate, the owner hits 1,344 hours of operating time - the "whole vehicle life" - at 7 years. From the distance perspective, however, an average annual mileage of 15,000 seems about right. Some people drive less, others more, but that much mileage on a 10-year old vehicle would not be unusual.

My Range Rover is 25 years old and still going strong at 184,000 miles. I would not consider it anywhere close to reaching the end of its "whole vehicle life". Hell, I have a friend who drives three Series 1 Rovers, the youngest of which is 62 years old. Engineering a vehicle for only ten years of life sounds like a failure of vision. Maybe there is a technical definition associated with that or some engineering standard I'm not aware of, but I would hope that LR designed the new Defender with longevity as an objective. In some ways they already have with their other vehicles. If you buy a 2009 L322 Range Rover today, it's probably in much better shape than a 1999 D2 would have been in 2009.

Conventional logic would agree with you....but you also have to remember that, in my opinion, the majority of 2009-era Range Rovers are driven by clueless fucks who barely meet the minimum service requirements. How many 2009 Range Rover drivers (male and female) do you think have ever opened the hood on their own? My unprofessional observations tell me that inattentive (or absent) preventative maintenance is what kills these vehicles, or at least brings them to brink of salvage value only.

 

[Tugela]

Conventional logic would agree with you....but you also have to remember that, in my opinion, the majority of 2009-era Range Rovers are driven by clueless fucks who barely meet the minimum service requirements.

I can't argue there. But now jump in the time machine and go back to 2009. Would the same statement hold for the D2s & P38s that were just turning 10 years old? If you assume that clueless fuckery remains steady over time then my suggestion is that improved materials/build quality on the newer Rovers helps them hold up better than their solid axle brethren. Then again, the increased mechanical complexity of the newer vehicles also means that the consequences of neglect by clueless fucks are also more severe and more expensive to correct.