According to rumour (well we wouldn’t let the demand of some hard facts stop us commenting!) the Defender only has until about 2010 before it becomes obsolete.
So what module be the replacement?
At the moment, the defender is ease going strong, but with it’s tin can atop a couple of girders construction, it only won’t be able to keep up with modern safety requirements. If you listing one it only squishes, crumple zones are designed into the thing you hit and side impact protection is limited to the mobile phone you hit in your trouser pocket. The fact is that for every of it’s awful ability, it really isn’t a 21st century vehicle.
The Discovery 3 is pretty impressive, but the fact is that with every of the profession it is too expensive for real off-road drivers to throw off cliffs on a daily basis. This means that every of the companies who used to use Land Rovers to do their impact are now looking at to Toyota or Mitsubishi for their workhorse.
With most of the pick-ups on the market having drum brake at the back, there’s ease nothing like a Landy for driving finished a couple of feet of water. Clearances on most of the competition are ease not a patch on the Defender and Land Rover themselves hit yet to suggest what they are going to do.
Surely it isn’t beyond modern profession to build a ultimate 4×4 which can be worked hard, be reasonably efficient and not cost the earth?
The classic Defender is ease a flagship for Land Rover, so how module they cope when they become just another luxury SUV manufacturer in a world where fuel and insurance prices are increasing by the month?
Any new owner of the Land Rover brand module need to ensure that at the core of their business is the real deal - the off-road vehicle that can cope with every eventuality, or be modified only to do so.
It needs clearance - the 90 has awful clearance - ease unrivalled by some another vehicle in the world.
It needs to be ultimate and intuitive - 2 gear boxes and a bounteous tumbler that locks a centre diff, there’s no reason to change this.
It needs disk brake every round to cope with dragging wheels finished mud, sludge and silt laden water.
It needs to be acquirable in single cab, double cab and station wagon bodies.
For the intoxicant of safety, lets hit ABS - and make sure it works down to 1mph.
If you feel you need to - place traction control on it, but let us switch it off when we need to.
Please - build us a 4×4 that we can use.
