RE: You Know You Want To: £90K V8 Defender

[infradig]

vdubbin said:

Just the ticket for ferrying ex-soldiers to my bonded warehouse.

Just watch out for a bloke that looks like James Bond in a grey RS6.

[veevee]

Come to think of it, isn't the whole thing lowered? It looks pretty low.

[JimexPL]

£90k is fair once you consider the cost of the parts involved -

110 CSW - £33k

Brand new modified Jag V8 - £15k?

Gearbox - £4k?

Upgraded drivetrain components - £6k?

Wheels and tyres - £3k?

Quality interior re-trim - £3k?

Winch, roof rack and snorkel - £3k?

You're up to £70k very quickly before looking at the labour and R&D involved in producing a conversion to a professional standard, and some profit.

The side exhausts will have been the original owners choice; There's no reason why JE wouldn't make up a rear exit exhaust for you that wouldn't affect ground clearance.

[suffolk009]

I think I'll have mine with a Stig-in-a-Pod Roof-rack option. Now that would make the school-run fun.

[Twoshoe]

RenesisEvo said:

The noise

That is all.

Yes. My dog leapt up in alarm when I played the vid!

[gumsie]

X5TUU said:

sorry but I could never buy that over a G-Wagon

Me neither but wouldn't you need far faaaaaar deeper pockets to go german?

[Bill]

Charlie Foxtrot said:

And after all that you still can only drive it with the window open.

Would you have it any other way, given the noise?

[sleep envy]

Dan, have you been scanning the thread again?

[DonkeyApple]

JimexPL said:

£90k is fair once you consider the cost of the parts involved -

110 CSW - £33k

Brand new modified Jag V8 - £15k?

Gearbox - £4k?

Upgraded drivetrain components - £6k?

Wheels and tyres - £3k?

Quality interior re-trim - £3k?

Winch, roof rack and snorkel - £3k?

You're up to £70k very quickly before looking at the labour and R&D involved in producing a conversion to a professional standard, and some profit.

The side exhausts will have been the original owners choice; There's no reason why JE wouldn't make up a rear exit exhaust for you that wouldn't affect ground clearance.

The conversion is about £45+VAT: http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1w5qy/NewZULUBroc...

When you consider the cost of the engine, the development cost, labour and the Ashcroft parts etc it unfortunately isn't a bad price.

I've driven one and I have to say they are superb, really superb.

[DonkeyApple]

300bhp/ton said:

Charlie Foxtrot said:

And after all that you still can only drive it with the window open.

Let me guess you think a Defender is cramped, noisy and has a too small a cabin? So what if you added a wider body, increased elbow, leg and head room. You might even improve NVH, refinement and comfort too. Yet still retaining the modular build and ladder chassis construction, live axles and off road ability?


Umm sounds rather like you are wanting a Discovery 1!!!!!


BTW - lack of elbow room is a good thing in the Defender, as it allows for 3 seats in the front but a narrow overall width (good for off roading). It also means as the driver you are sat right next to the window, this allows you to stick your head out when off road and easily see the front or rear wheel. This can be quite handy on certain types of terrain. Moving the seat further away from the window seriously affects this.

Handy considerations when off road. In the context of this urban fun mobile the lack of space for the driver is a pain in the arse.

[300bhp/ton]

DonkeyApple said:

Handy considerations when off road. In the context of this urban fun mobile the lack of space for the driver is a pain in the arse.

True.

[myhandle]

SO much nicer than the modified Defender on here with the diesel engine a couple of months back. I see a V8-converted late model Defender cabrio around which is not so far from this, and looks great.

[Fetchez la vache]

article said:

... just about - at a pinch - cut it as everyday transport you'd still have to be pretty bloody minded and dedicated to choose it

Christ, if I had this you'd have trouble prizing me from the drivers seat..

[WingNut]

For 90k they could have replaced the rear door cards with ones that the vinyl was lifting on!

[Moosh]

90K

[Digga]

Sounds great, but IMHO not as good as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1kwH5BA8mg

And we've got a nice TD5 90 around the works still...

[Eversleigh]

myhandle said:

SO much nicer than the modified Defender on here with the diesel engine a couple of months back. I see a V8-converted late model Defender cabrio around which is not so far from this, and looks great.

Not sure about the latest models but the cabrio V8's were sold as standard in the SA markets for a while. (and could well still be being sold)

[B.J.W]

Bobhon said:

Am I the only one who thinks that the noise on the video is a bit tame and boring?
Lots of low revs burbling from the V8 just seemed a bit monotonous. I was really hoping for some serious beans going on with this soundtrack.

But then again I do drive (occasionally) a TVR V8s.

Maybe giving it the full Heinz leads to too much wheelspin (can you have too much wheelspin).

underwhelmed at that exhaust note too.......

90k as well - highly amusing

Do I still love it..... yes I do.

[AngryPartsBloke]

You know something isn't right when you're looking at a defender and the "something similar" is a Lamborghini

[jhonn]

Re this statement in the title -'Like an AMG G-Wagen, only British and better' - opinion or fact? I'd like to see the two of them in a back to back test, it's hard to tell which is 'better' unless you've got criteria you're measuring each of them against.