Finally, got to see one in person, at the LA Auto Show.
It is amazing just how little interior space a 110 has. The roof appears to be 4 inches thick, rear pillars - shit, I once thought a D1's rear pillars were thick. It had nothing on new Defender.
Visibility is not bad - but mediocre; okay in front, poor on the sides, and nearly inexistent to the rear.
Front panel is awesome - it is the only part that invoke any Defender parallels, yet it is soft and leather-clad.
Gear shifter... my God, it is just one of these chicken drumsticks on front-wheel-drive voiturettes.
So... it may be the most-capable four-wheel-drive vehicle in the world, but, as John Lee aptly noted, if you took the Land Rover badges off that thing, you may not even know it was one.
Funny that Jeep and Land Rover are in different buildings. Land Rover hasn't even bothered to offer a single down-to-earth vehicle, with steel wheels, mud tires and whatnot. Every single Wrangler version, on the other hand, had 33" mud-terrains. In favor of Jeep, the front radius arms are far longer than those on all previous versions.
Still, Jeep is a strong competitor to Land Rover when it comes to build a large vehicle and make it useless inside. The slanted rear roof cage, clearly catering to bro-dozer crowd with cloth top, takes away at least a third of space from a 4-door wagon.
Then, there were Bollinger SUV and pickup. The only analogy I could think of was electric car built by Clarkson, May, and Hammond in Top Gear.
It is only unsurpassed in ugliness by a "Cybrtrk," but I punted on visiting Tesla show floor.
The only thing sensible for a person who desires to travel in a 4x4 is a Toyota 4-Runner. And it is boring as fuck, just as every one before it.
Sad. As far as "things to come" - there was nothing, not a single vehicle, that I would consider paying for with intention to replace what we currently have.
One other sad thing - it was a Sunday mid-day, and the show was pretty packed, yet there was NO ONE in the Buick corner of the world.
Bye Buick.
I remember seeing a then-brand-new Cutlass Siera in 1996 NAIAS and wanting it.