New Defender Rage/Hate Thread

[JeepColorado]

If there's one thing the rage/hate thread has proved, it's that there are a lot of people who care a lot more about what it looks like than they do about what it's capable of. Weirdly, these are often the same people criticizing JLR design for supposedly putting "form over function", because nothing says "functional modern vehicle" to me like driving a brick into the wind.

It's been pretty evenly split between the atrocious front-end and the shoddy reliability....we could always talk about the Air Suspension again.

 

[JeepColorado]

This vid highlights where the Bronco sits in the market.

Haha....Release the Hemi Wrangler...haha...somehow you know that that is probably not too far from the truth.

 

[JeepColorado]

I think they went in neither direction and that's okay. The Pathfinder (and Blazer, which you could also have included) removed capability. The Defender added capability. The Wrangler has very slowly added capability while placing form above function. The Bronco is a leap ahead of its predecessor in capability in many ways, but clearly targeted the Wrangler market.

The rest is an argument over aesthetics. Just because it "looks" soft clearly doesn't mean it *is* soft.

Come on Diesel, I have standards....even I wouldn't go so far as to compare the Defender to what Chevy did to the Blazer. I think LR swung and missed- I think they could have done so much more than they did. In Chevy's case, but for the Chevy Colorado Bison partnership with AEV and how cool that truck is I'd say that Chevy doesn't deserve to ever get to make another 4x4 because of what they did to the Blazer.




To this....

It Didn't Have To Be This Way

Just before Ford unveiled the new Bronco, Jeep busily attempted to steal the show by sticking a V8 in the Wrangler. Jeep was trying. It was a bit of a dud, but at least it was trying to get in there, get some people thinking again about that stalwart Jeep, not just the new cool Ford. Missing...

jalopnik.com

 

[Carson G]

I have developed a solution........... buy them all. ?

 

[TexasTJ]

A little side Heat in line with getting in trouble in the back country or on a trip. Now some of this is my fault because I’m a dummy and I only had one key for my LR3 but when I lost it in the lake yesterday I found out that there’s only one machine in the whole country that can cut Land Rover keys and program without an old key to clone. That machine has been broken since March and keys are on back order and it could be over a month before I get one so that I can drive my truck. I will have to tow the truck from my house to the dealer when it gets delivered to program it. What happens when you’re at points sublime looking into the Grand Canyon And your Land Rover Key takes dive into the canyon. Now not only are you stuck in the backcountry, But you have to get a key from New York. Land Rover just build a couple more key Machine. Only having one in the whole United States is terrible for your customers. Again I am a dummy for only having one key and watching it sink into a Lake. PS. Don’t throw your keys into the Grand Canyon.

 

[umbertob]

Bummer. You would love the Activity Key available with the new Defender.

 

[JeepColorado]

A little side Heat in line with getting in trouble in the back country or on a trip. Now some of this is my fault because I’m a dummy and I only had one key for my LR3 but when I lost it in the lake yesterday I found out that there’s only one machine in the whole country that can cut Land Rover keys and program without an old key to clone. That machine has been broken since March and keys are on back order and it could be over a month before I get one so that I can drive my truck. I will have to tow the truck from my house to the dealer when it gets delivered to program it. What happens when you’re at points sublime looking into the Grand Canyon And your Land Rover Key takes dive into the canyon. Now not only are you stuck in the backcountry, But you have to get a key from New York. Land Rover just build a couple more key Machine. Only having one in the whole United States is terrible for your customers. Again I am a dummy for only having one key and watching it sink into a Lake. PS. Don’t throw your keys into the Grand Canyon.

That sucks!, hopefully you can get it fixed soon!

 

[TexasTJ]

Bummer. You would love the Activity Key available with the new Defender.

HAHA Maybe but not as much as I will love my New Bronco next Fall.

 

[DieselRanger]

A little side Heat in line with getting in trouble in the back country or on a trip. Now some of this is my fault because I’m a dummy and I only had one key for my LR3 but when I lost it in the lake yesterday I found out that there’s only one machine in the whole country that can cut Land Rover keys and program without an old key to clone. That machine has been broken since March and keys are on back order and it could be over a month before I get one so that I can drive my truck. I will have to tow the truck from my house to the dealer when it gets delivered to program it. What happens when you’re at points sublime looking into the Grand Canyon And your Land Rover Key takes dive into the canyon. Now not only are you stuck in the backcountry, But you have to get a key from New York. Land Rover just build a couple more key Machine. Only having one in the whole United States is terrible for your customers. Again I am a dummy for only having one key and watching it sink into a Lake. PS. Don’t throw your keys into the Grand Canyon.

that sucks. That fear is actually the only fear that I really have about doing the kinds of things I do....at least you know more or less exactly where they are, even if they might as well be on the moon. I've found many a car key on trails, and well off trails, in my time, and I immediately say a prayer for the poor soul who at some point was undoubtedly standing at their car door in a mix of rage and despair.

I think for me, my cold-sweat fear is realizing at some point on a backpack trip that I've lost my keys, because for me, if I don't know where I've lost them, there is a possibility of finding them, and so I know that I would probably waste away on a futile search through willow brush and bracken.

Which is why I optioned this on my Discovery:

Range Rover Activity Key Video | Land Rover USA

View the Range Rover Activity Key video for tips and info on one of the many Range Rover features that put this luxury SUV in a class of its own.

www.landroverusa.com

 

[Buliwyf]

I double check my that my keys are in my ziplock bag when backpacking.

Double checking has caused me to lose my keys or phone countless times. Check for my key, phone falls out. Check for my phone, keys fall out. I just leave the keys in the truck now. Travel with the crank relay instead.

 

[Highlander]

JeepColorado

Great video. Ford has haired the right guy.

One thing to LR defense is that Bronco has been designed strictly for the US / Canada market. Wheres the Def has been designed as a global platform.
Who knows maybe that's why the new Def is the way is.
There must have been a conversation about retaining the old Defender features or character and transform the old into the new, but somehow it must have been outvoted.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

This is true. I know a lot of guys driving Discovery IIs because they wanted to be different from anyone in a Jeep.

Guilty.

I have eyed several clean disco II's that were cheap with blown powertrain components for doing a bodyswap onto a non-time bomb running gear.

But midsize 4x4 and nostalgia sells right now and to throw a little shade at Land Rover and Ford they’re both about 5 to 7 years late to the game.

Which is sad because they were both pretty big key players in the beginning of the game. Explorer started out a pretty decent offroader and really kicked off that size of 4dr SUV in the US but has turned more minivan with awkward rear doors with every redesign.

One thing to LR defense is that Bronco has been designed strictly for the US / Canada market

It is getting to be a chicken vs egg thing but the current Ranger is heavily based on a global truck. The Bronco is based on the next gen Ranger which will also probably be a global truck... so global platform.

 

[mpinco]

JeepColorado

Great video. Ford has haired the right guy.

One thing to LR defense is that Bronco has been designed strictly for the US / Canada market. Wheres the Def has been designed as a global platform.
Who knows maybe that's why the new Def is the way is.
There must have been a conversation about retaining the old Defender features or character and transform the old into the new, but somehow it must have been outvoted.

Except there is the Ineos Grendadier that is targeting global markets.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Except there is the Ineos Grendadier that is targeting global markets.

The problem with that so far IMO is distribution.

Where are the dealers at? How do you get parts? How do you find someone that knows anything about it?

Building a car is one thing. Supporting a car is another thing.

The building part... according to the stuff on youtube looks good. The supporting part I haven't seen much about yet.

That said in my area Land Rover is pretty much non-existant for technical support too.

 

[mpinco]

The auto industry support model is changing, really a discontinuity. To LR's credit they leveraged Blackberry's solution that is used by many, OTA updates and dual-banking of software/embedded systems. An exact copy of your vehicle variables and performance data is copied to the cloud for support, review, analysis and then can be swapped out at your next vehicle start. Which leaves mechanical issues that need local support. If Ineos is breaking the support model I would like to see local support at the local Ag/OTR dealer. That would fit with the Grenadier's customer profile. International offered the Scout at the local farm and truck dealer. Parts was open 24/7. I can think of a few companies that would be ideal for that support model.

We shall see but the old dealer model is coming to an end. Since Ineos has only one vehicle to support they can begin with a clean slate and adopt the future.