Looks cool but, a few nice options gets quite pricey, nor will it be very reliable too considering jlr's reputation for quality. For a bit more you could treat yourself to a more reliable 4x4 like a g wagon or land cruiser, which feels much more luxurious inside and probably does just as well off road.
Looks really nice I think. I like the overall design of it. It's not too flamboyant, and it's not too basic either. A part of me does wonder though if Land Rover is bringing the Defender back because Ford is bringing back the Bronco. I could see a rivalry between the two. The interior looks nice too. It also looks like this is going the be the first modern vehicle I've ever seen that can seat three people in the front. And honestly, I think the $50,000 price tag is kinda fair for a Land Rover IMHO. I mean that's cheaper than a 2020 Lincoln Navigator, and around the same price as the 2020 Aviator. I probably would've guessed it that it would go for somewhere in the $70,000 - $100,000 range.
$50k is unfair as hell. You got $28k for the Wrangler, $36k for the 4Runner, $19-26k for the midsize trucks, and between $28k and $32k for the fullsize ones... and in comes a Land Rover for 50 grand. --- Post updated --- Also, front bench seats are optional or standard in virtually all pickup trucks and vans.
Did you forget that there are other SUVs that also go for the $50,000 range? Which includes the Ford Expedition, Lincoln Aviator and MKT, Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Yukon, Mercedes-Benz GLE, Audi Q7. a couple of BMWs, etc. My original guess would've put the Defender up there with the Lincoln Navigator, Mercedes-Benz GLS, and the Cadillac Escalade. Also, IMO, $50k for the Defender is nowhere near the $90k for the Range Rover. As for bench seats in modern vehicles, I have never seen such a feature in modern vehicles. I do know past vehicles had bench seats that could sit up to three people, which there's honestly too many to count, but these were all before 2000, and bench seats that can sit up to three people has mostly been phased out in favor of putting features in between the driver and passenger seats, like the shifter, cup holders, storage compartments, etc. The Defender is the first modern vehicle I've ever seen that would introduce a third front seat.
Except Europe considers a bench seat to be basic bitch tier, nobody wants that except maybe a work van that needs 3 big blokes in the front, and land rover hasn't sold very well in that market for many many years, that's a market they lost to van based conversions (often transits) and so they aren't even trying to compete in today. I think that's basically it. The traditional utilitarian market for the defender doesn't exist anymore, it was lost years ago. The only eoplep who were buying defenders when production stopped were more upmarket customers and so that's who they've tailored the new one to.
So? I can get a decent conditon older defender for an eighth of the price. Sometimes even a sixteenth.
Those are all Discoveries' or Range Rovers' competitiors, or not even competing against any Land Rover or Range Rover product.
It's hilariously overpriced for what it is. Land Rover knows exactly what they're doing, though. They know that footballers in Chesire are going to buy it, urban mommies in LA are going to want one, and Russian diplomats are going to buy them by the hundreds. Their profit margins are going to be huge.
If this apparently is a Defender, then wowee is it stale. The original had a beefy look to it, and you can tell that it's destined off the gravel and on the dirt. This just looks like what a modern Land Rover would be if they went for a more boxy, squared look, not IMHO a true successor to the Defender. Also, that 50k base price isn't reasonable when you could just buy 2 Wranglers, or other competitors that can offer more and are cheaper than the base price of this gen "Defender". Additionally, I'm getting sick of car companies trying to have a Olympics over who can make the most impressive or eye-catching touchscreen (and in general who can stuff the most technology in their interior). Just my 2 cents.
I've done a comparison, and while you can't buy two Wranglers, you can get a Wrangler and over ten grand left. Or a few thousand left from the 4Runner. Of course, the Defender is likely going to be more refined than the 'Yota, but it will also be less reliable. The inline-6 also doesn't compare too favourably on price to V8 4x4 pickup trucks. On the other hand, the price differential of similar-spec cars isn't too high to make the LR completely unworthy of buying.
About less often than throttle cables snap *or* they mean traction control etc kicking in, which is also doable on cable based systems too so still about as often as something cable based
