RE: Driven: Prindiville Land Rover Defender

[GranCab]

Prindiville ... Joke cars ... joke Company ...

Edited by GranCab on Tuesday 22 May 12:23

[BinaryRefinery]

Where as Alive Tuning who built, and own the car, are very well respected for their work.

[jbi]

Alive said:

bamberwell said:

still prefer this....
http://www.tomcatmotorsport.co.uk/advert_71.htm

That's a real off road toy! Could you imagine a 6.0L 485HP Corvette V8 in a Defender? Tomcat are not too far down the road from me, so might be worth a visit. Anything is possible with a Defender!

technically it's not a defender... they look like this under the fibreglass panelling.



Not much land rover there

[mat205125]

Comedy width wheels are a no no

[jason61c]

The MOD wanted to buy the G wagon instead of the defender as it was proven to be better made and more capable off road, the fact it was post WW2 and German in design stopped them.

Seeing this defender makes me think just how good the G wagon is. They don't corrode from the inside out either.

[sisu]

jason61c said:

The MOD wanted to buy the G wagon instead of the defender as it was proven to be better made and more capable off road, the fact it was post WW2 and German in design stopped them.

Seeing this defender makes me think just how good the G wagon is. They don't corrode from the inside out either.

The Nordic Army had to use the defender as part of a UN/NATO agreement, they found that they were cramped and unreliable in the cold, plus the crew and equipment would freeze to the bodywork. They switched to the G-wagen as that is what the troops prefered. It is a bit like the SA80 assault rifle used by the British... not a big seller outside of its home market.

[Twisted P]

Some interesting comments on this story. A 'modified' defender should truely represent the origins of the design and brand, stray too far from that and you risk loosing the soul of what is probably the most iconic 4x4 in the world. Too many companies are jumping on the 'pimped' defender band wagon, taking the modifications too far. A good conversion is as much about what you cant see as what you can. . . Thanks for reading. CRF Twisted

[300bhp/ton]

Twisted P said:

Some interesting comments on this story. A 'modified' defender should truely represent the origins of the design and brand, stray too far from that and you risk loosing the soul of what is probably the 2nd most iconic 4x4 in the world. Too many companies are jumping on the 'pimped' defender band wagon, taking the modifications too far. A good conversion is as much about what you cant see as what you can. . . Thanks for reading. CRF Twisted

EFA

[Caulkhead]

jason61c said:

The MOD wanted to buy the G wagon instead of the defender as it was proven to be better made and more capable off road, the fact it was post WW2 and German in design stopped them.

Do you have a link to this?

The US Rangers were certainly happy to choose the Defender over the Humvee and G-Wagen for difficult missions complete with a 20 year projected life cycle:

http://www.warwheels.net/LandyDefenderRSOVIndex.ht...

[Twisted P]

I did say probably!

300bhp/ton said:

EFA

[veevee]

Alive said:

Sorry, here's the link to the car on PH Classifieds: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3915006.htm

Notice its not actually being advertised by Prindiville?

Some of you must have seen this car at the Pistonheads show? I have, and it is beautiful!

For nothing more than a set of all terrain tyres, I bet it'll go pretty much anywhere any other Defender will, but with none of the harshness that comes with the factory model. If your job is towing trailers around the country, I think this would make an awesome office!

Eh, isn't it being advertised by you?

[sisu]

Caulkhead said:

Do you have a link to this?

The US Rangers were certainly happy to choose the Defender over the Humvee and G-Wagen for difficult missions complete with a 20 year projected life cycle:

http://www.warwheels.net/LandyDefenderRSOVIndex.ht...

Well others aren't so nostalgic, Australia and Canada ended their 20yr relationship with the GB a few years ago, your link
here and the US Marines ordered a special version of the g-wagon when they were winning in Iraq called the 290 to replace their Jeep based version - Your link here

[Caulkhead]

sisu said:

Caulkhead said:

Do you have a link to this?

The US Rangers were certainly happy to choose the Defender over the Humvee and G-Wagen for difficult missions complete with a 20 year projected life cycle:

http://www.warwheels.net/LandyDefenderRSOVIndex.ht...

Well others aren't so nostalgic, Australia and Canada ended their 20yr relationship with the GB a few years ago, your link
here and the US Marines ordered a special version of the g-wagon when they were winning in Iraq called the 290 to replace their Jeep based version - Your link here

What's nostalgic about the Rangers buying Defenders for a 20 year service life compared to the US marines buying some G wagens and retiring them after four years?

There are currently 70,000 LR Defenders actually in service with different militaries around the world - I wonder what the comparable figure for G-wagens is?

http://www.militarysystems-tech.com/suppliers/land...

[jhonn]

jason61c said:

The MOD wanted to buy the G wagon instead of the defender as it was proven to be better made and more capable off road, the fact it was post WW2 and German in design stopped them.

Seeing this defender makes me think just how good the G wagon is. They don't corrode from the inside out either.

Well that's certainly not my experience.

We regularly trial Defenders, Jeeps and G-Wagens - the G-Wagen is good but is hampered by it's weight and relatively poor axle articulation. It needs these three locking diffs - without them it's not as capable as a Defender.

As for corroding - the bodywork and bumpers certainly do. Big-time.

[mat7w]

Cannot compare the quality of this pretty standard defender with a few grands worth of extras to a Twisted Performance Defender! Twisted have took a leap and designed and built an awesome bit of kit with a top class finish which is why their vehicles are priced where they are... Unfortunately a couple of lower grade competition now want a piece of the pie and and have upped the prices of their own modded vehicles to that price. I saw all 3 defender tuners at the Pistonheads show and had a good luck around all that was on show. All I can say is that the Twisted Landys are 2nd TO NONE!! And their staff are a great bunch too. ;-)

M

[angryBMWdriver]

This or a Twisted Defender? http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/magazine/3600.asp?...

[BinaryRefinery]

mat7w said:

Cannot compare the quality of this pretty standard defender with a few grands worth of extras to a Twisted Performance Defender! Twisted have took a leap and designed and built an awesome bit of kit with a top class finish which is why their vehicles are priced where they are... Unfortunately a couple of lower grade competition now want a piece of the pie and and have upped the prices of their own modded vehicles to that price. I saw all 3 defender tuners at the Pistonheads show and had a good luck around all that was on show. All I can say is that the Twisted Landys are 2nd TO NONE!! And their staff are a great bunch too. ;-)

M

Mr Walton blatantly flying the flag there for a company he's worked with for many years!

If you look at the spec of this car, and add up what everything costs, you'll soon realise where the value is!

[Trommel]

Very few of this latest raft of messed-about with Defenders seem to be much more than a remap, wheels, seats, SVX-style plastic and black windows.

If I had to spend too much money on one I think it would be a JE Zulu on some low-key wheels.

[Wild Rumpus]

300bhp/ton said:

jbi said:

I would never use a wrangler for towing unless it was a 4 door. They have gotten better over the years, but just arn't really engineered for it.

Not sure why the UK gives the wrangler a higher tow rating than the US TBH. The diesel may be a factor, but it's just too unstable with any significant weight behind it.

The Unlimited is a 4 door and has a 116" wheelbase (longer than a 110), so should be plenty stable.

In the US the HD tow pack gives you a Dana44 rear axle while all UK spec Wranglers have the D44 as standard, however I think it's more political than technical or engineering limited. In the US the Unlimited is rated at 3500lbs while UK/Euro models are rated at 3500kg using the same drivetrain.

It would appear all Jeep (Chrysler) do is swap lbs for KG, meaning the vehicle is fully capable and engineered as such. For instance the JK Wrangler has far superior axles and gearboxes vs a Defender and it also uses a much stronger hydroformed chassis.

But in the US if you want to tow the expectation is you'd buy a Ram (or similar). So partly there is no need for a Wrangler to have good tow ratings in the US and secondly they wouldn't want them taking market share away from their bigger trucks. In Europe and the UK this isn't the case.

The current data on the Jeep website shows a paltry 1000kg tow limit for the standard Wrangler (less than my wife's C3 Picasso) and 2200kg with the uprated axle.

[300bhp/ton]

Wild Rumpus said:

The current data on the Jeep website shows a paltry 1000kg tow limit for the standard Wrangler (less than my wife's C3 Picasso) and 2200kg with the uprated axle.

You are correct, it looks like they've revised the specs In 2005/6 all Unlimited came with the Dana44 in Europe, it wasn't optional as it now seems. And they did (maybe incorrectly) have a much higher tow rating. Sure I've got a brochure somewhere.