By Mario Mullen on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 03:12 pm: Edit

so when is the new defender going to come out?
i know there is going to be a new defender because
i've seen pictures?

Mario

By Eric N (Grnrvr) on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 03:25 pm: Edit

I've heard any where from 2004 to 2005.. Well at least that is when it might find it's way back to the USA show room floors

By Troy on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 03:45 pm: Edit

The pics you saw were a "design study" if they were the pics of the green one; silver roll cage with the integrated snorkel. We're still a few years off . . . & it won't be like the current one. There's been some talk of the new Ford Bronco and Defender 90 sharing the same chassis -
I guess we'll wait and see-
Troy

By Mario Mullen on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 06:35 pm: Edit

When the Ford Bronco and Defender will share the
same chassis then I will never buy a brand new
Rover again. Ford is really going the mess things
up. Land Rover will never be the same.

Mario

By Steve (Steve2) on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 06:54 pm: Edit

land rover haven't been the same since the freelander....it;s no d90 but it does hold it;s own in 90% off the stuff. no need to fear the new discoIII or the defender. look to the new 332 (rangie) for clues on future technologies and family styling.

no one is complaining about jaguars these days, are they?

they will be more civilized, better on road handling, better fuel economy (?!?) with a modest sacrifice on the max off road front. i look forward to the new models, and really look forward to the l.a. auto show, this year more than any other.

steve

By Troy on Thursday, July 26, 2001 - 03:41 am: Edit

To add the rumor mill - supposedly, all Range Rovers and Discos will go to unibody (just saw the latest spy photos of the new Rangie and it is). According to a Ford release I read a while back, the Defender would ONLY be produced if it could be made more profitable by curbing production costs. With that said, though, the release also said Ford saw the Defender as the "marque" model for LR & were intent on keeping it.

I think it's a good thing as long as Ford keeps the off-road ability at hand. Who knows, a Disco or D90 with a Ford 9-inch or Dana 44? Prices for drivetrain upgrades would be cut in half -- at least.
Troy

By Anonymous on Thursday, July 26, 2001 - 05:57 am: Edit

The new Defender should come out in 2004 with an arsenal of off-road goodies(I heard that it would share a chopped down and strengthened version of the new Bronco chassis, which is a modified Ford F-series chassis). It's a miracle that LR still builds the current Defender because of its really bad sales. I think that the only reason LR built the Freelander is to keep the Defender alive(kind of like BMW building the Z3 to keep all their cars alive). The Freelander is not that bad guys, it could still kick any compact SUVs ass any day! The Freelander is the best selling SUV in Europe right now, so it should do good in our side of the pond.

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Thursday, July 26, 2001 - 07:10 am: Edit

unibody, independent suspension, Ford transmissions, and the Ford plastic parts bin? no thanks.

By Eric N (Grnrvr) on Thursday, July 26, 2001 - 07:15 am: Edit

ya right.... Why can't they just cut the top off, slap some air bags in it, and send it back over here.. They can use Ford airbags if they want but leave the rest alone.

By nadim on Thursday, July 26, 2001 - 09:30 am: Edit

I hate, I hate, I hate Ford!
Land Rover is simple!...aluminium sheets, big chassis, lazy engine, good suspension...what the f*** don't they get?

By Mario Mullen on Thursday, July 26, 2001 - 05:17 pm: Edit

yeah I agree with you Ford is shit.(Fix it Or Repair Daily) If Ford messes around with the
chassiss it will be over for Land Rover. Might of wells buy a Hummer!

Mario

By Bud on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 02:48 am: Edit

I suspect that Land Rover will see similar involvement to that at Jaguar. Quality will be vastly improved as a means toward reducing warranty claims cost as well as for bragging rights. Good sellers with growth potential will probably be tweaked. Laggards will either be overhauled or replaced. That will make visitors to this and other LR sites PUKE!!! Just as Jag purists are up in arms over the S-type and upcoming X-type. I expect to see a modified Defender for the "consumer" market. Probably retaining some of the squareness, but more like an Exploder underneath. I tend to think the market for the REAL defender is still strong enough in the rest of the world to support it's continued production. The name Land Rover, applied to a vehicle, is going to be a selling point, regardless of whats behind the badge. Folks looking for the real McCoy should be able to tell the difference. In the unlikely event that they dump our solid axles, CDL, aluminum, etc. they will most likely be sending business elsewhere for a certain segment of the market. And I think they know that. That's why you can still buy a Vanden Plas as well as an S-type.

Just my .02

Bud

By discoman on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 07:21 pm: Edit

Bluegill I'm with you Ford's do suck. I think they have more problem's than LR's do any day. It's easy to make a decent car but very hard to copy the Disco RR or even the d90 which are all great truck's . The American way is to buy every thing fuck itup then try to bolt as much plastic to it as possible the sell it to some smuck. At least BMW know's how to design nice cars.Unibody Disco's and RR's I don't think so. If that happens it will be better just to buy a shopping cart and go to the mall with that. Atleast I wouldn't have to worry about people smashing into my bumper's if I just owned a shopping cart. Leave are truck's just the way they are.

By MTB on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 10:00 pm: Edit

Only time will tell what Ford will do with the LR's. But when only 5% approx. use them offroad I'm sure they will cater to the mallcrawlers of the world. If so it will be cool to see a bunch of 20-30 year old modified Disco's on the road.

Michael B

By Eric N (Grnrvr) on Wednesday, August 01, 2001 - 04:20 am: Edit

I can just see the adds in the Paper now. Year 2006

1998 Land Rover Discovery LE, full frame, live axles, 4 wheel drive with lo range, and center locking diff. Very little rust, runs great, and requires bi-weekly mud bath. Low mileage. This is a pre-ford model. For sale $60,000 obo..

Think I better put it in storage now