Defender: 1948-2015

[radiodanno]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/10356980/...

Only just picked up on this on the radio this afternoon

Seems a shame to wave goodbye to such iconic cars. This and the camper so close together

Never owned one but the appeal is huge. Maybe there'll a special edition at the end which will appeal

I can't help thinking that there was a way around emissions and keeping a popular vehicle on sale

Sad news.

[fjord]

Too busy concentrating on Wayne Rovers with stupid fking squirly round LED headlights, to be driven be dirty over-tanned skanks shagging blokes 20 years older than them to use on the 2 mile journey to school.

fk you Land Rover.

[billzeebub]

Orange people not too keen on them unfortunately. I'm sure what replaces it will have some kicking DRLs, 22"rims and rubber band tyres and be called the Range Rover Lifestyle or some such pap, designed by Lady GaGa and NDubz..

Edited by billzeebub on Tuesday 8th October 19:03

[radiodanno]

What seems to be precisely the problem here?

Demand, Company Image or Emissions?

The piece I heard on the radio seemed to indicate that the car wouldn't meet the next round of Euro Emissions (2016).

But everything I read this morning indicates it's more about "new is better".

(Which - as you'll see from the ever friendly Daily Mail - couldn't be further from the truth)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2449593/En...

[robinessex]

Can't someone do a Caterham on this? They bought the obsolete Lotus7, and look where that's taken them. Dead sure an emmissions compliant engine can be found to stuff under the bonnet. Few other safety bits, and we're off.

[Jordan Rich]

billzeebub said:

Orange people not too keen on them unfortunately. I'm sure what replaces it will have some kicking DRLs, 22"rims and rubber band tyres and be called the Range Rover Lifestyle or some such pap, designed by Lady GaGa and NDubz..

Edited by billzeebub on Tuesday 8th October 19:03

Yep: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleri...

The emissions control means the new defenders, now fitted with a 2.2 puma diesel, cannot even tow a trailer up a hill. The emissions control killed off the defender just as much as popular demand and orange people. If they could make them with a simple engine again like the TDi, they would become much more popular, but they are just too complicated, hard to fix, and low on power now.

Hopefully the last of the line will be fitted with a big V8 though!

[Krikkit]

fjord said:

Too busy concentrating on Wayne Rovers with stupid fking squirly round LED headlights, to be driven be dirty over-tanned skanks shagging blokes 20 years older than them to use on the 2 mile journey to school.

fk you Land Rover.

What a ridiculous statement. LR have said for years that they can't get it past the next generation of regulations - both emissions and safety. It still sells well, and I'm sure many millions have been spent to try and get the old girl through it to no avail - after all, a significantly different vehicle is an investment of billions.

[bigfatnick]

radiodanno said:

The piece I heard on the radio seemed to indicate that the car wouldn't meet the next round of Euro Emissions (2016).

isnt it just a transit engine? dont see that being much of an issue. I'd imagine pedestrian safety and general crash issues would come into it.

also its out of date. in the rest of the world you'd buy a 79 series landcruiser in which a full size adult can fit. or a yank pickup truck. even here, farmers and utilities companies etc tend to use japanese pickup trucks or a discovery towing a trailer.

i think they should do a long wheel base chassis cab(ish) or pickup discovery, and maybe a lwb discovery commercial too and get rid of the defender completley. move with the times landrover, like your competitors did.

[SrMoreno]

robinessex said:

Can't someone do a Caterham on this? They bought the obsolete Lotus7, and look where that's taken them. Dead sure an emmissions compliant engine can be found to stuff under the bonnet. Few other safety bits, and we're off.

Do Santana still manufacture Land Rovers under licence?

[Session8]

I might be wrong but I think L/R lost the contract to supply the MOD, which I'm sure must have been a fairly steady cash cow in new vehicles & continuous spare parts production.

If I'm right losing that would have played a part in not making any future investment into the vehicles future.

[SrMoreno]

Mixed feelings about this. We use them at work and they have a hard life, but they constantly have minor faults. The design has reached the end of its life but there isn't anything else available to take its role. I was seriously unimpressed with the images of the proposed replacement that Land Rover put out a couple of years ago- it did not look like a vehicle that worked for a living.

[Snowboy]

If there was demand they would find a way to keep making them.

But there is no demand.
Everybody loves the idea of them, but very few people buy them anymore.
They are just too outdated, uncomfortable and inneficient.

Even the hardiest of farmer wants heaters that work, air con, comfortable suspension.

I wonder how many people lamenting their loss have driven or owned one.
I nearly bought on once - but I didn't get past the test drive - it was just too rough and ready. I got a D3 instead.