Another Defender hint?

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TheWidup

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This goes back to the point of...if you have LR3/4 and like it then the Defender isn't likely for you. If you bought a D5 thinking it was the evolution of the LR4 you might be interested in the Defender.
 

ryanjl

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I’ve been sidelining comments but had to dive in...bc of the Bronco.

This offering will be awesome, seems like Ford is listening ppl like us and they clearly want at the wrangler market share (FINALLY someone wants it!!!)....and good for them bc the Defender will be a miss for many, not all but many.

The bronco will become wrangler like, as in tons of bolt on accessories that will generate mall crawlers but then you’ll have the core segment of off-roaders doing it properly...like in the wrangler word.

Also a biggie is that bronco will just be easier on the wallet (bolt on accessories too) and it will envoke the feeling of love for the old school bronco/scouts that many have....something the defender offering isn’t doing bc it looks like could have any auto manufacturer emblem on it.

Final thought....you will be able to take the top and doors off the bronco....that alone excites people.

The formula here isn’t hard...people like wrangler “like” autos...they can make it their own easily and they scream FUN.....does the defender look fun?? Not in my eyes but when you see an D90, Wrangler, Fj40, Bronco/Scout drive by you with the top down it looks like pure simple FUN.

End rant...

What you've described as a blessing is also a curse.

People inherently want to "stand out." Take something like the Jeep Wrangler, which sells over 230,000 units per year, and they become very common. I probably see at least 2 or 3 of them every day on my 4 mile commute to work.

Since it's hard to "stand out" in a Wrangler, people try to modify and accessorize them to make them different. Along with that comes a lot of god awful, ugly ****, and a certain percentage of people's ability to stand out becomes limited only by the depths of their poor taste. Angry front gills, add-ons that make the Jeep look like a mutant kitchen appliance, ugly ass wheels, etc. In my experience, people who gravitate towards that **** often have similar personalities. As much as I hate to admit it, my feelings regarding the vehicle I drive depend a lot on the community that develops around that vehicle, and a lot of the Jeep community (and the accompanying online rhetoric and attitude) is why I sold my Jeep and bought my LR4. Sure, that says something about me, but I hardly think I'm alone in this regard, especially when I'm sharing this tidbit about myself on an online vehicle-specific forum.

Land Rovers are much less common, and stand out on their own. I think it's probably a big reason why most of us bought one.

Generally, the audience self-selects to an audience I can jive with a little better.

That all said, I still consider a new Wrangler, Gladiator, or the new Bronco, just because the vehicles are so sweet. I just don't know if I want to dive back into the baggage that comes along with it.
 

TheWidup

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my feelings regarding the vehicle I drive depend a lot on the community that develops around that vehicle, and a lot of the Jeep community (and the accompanying online rhetoric and attitude) is why I sold my Jeep and bought my LR4.
Replace Jeep with Ford and this is me. The community support here and in other forums has been awesome. I'd have a hard time going elsewhere at this point. I have to say though living in the Chicagoland area that it's not super uncommon to see LR3/4 or RRS all over the place. It's still nice to wave at them when I do. I was pressuring my wife to dump the XC90 in favor of a LR3/4 because of the community support alone...I'm not winning that but I tried. :)
 

Frank8

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What you've described as a blessing is also a curse.

People inherently want to "stand out." Take something like the Jeep Wrangler, which sells over 230,000 units per year, and they become very common. I probably see at least 2 or 3 of them every day on my 4 mile commute to work.

Since it's hard to "stand out" in a Wrangler, people try to modify and accessorize them to make them different. Along with that comes a lot of god awful, ugly ****, and a certain percentage of people's ability to stand out becomes limited only by the depths of their poor taste. Angry front gills, add-ons that make the Jeep look like a mutant kitchen appliance, ugly ass wheels, etc. In my experience, people who gravitate towards that **** often have similar personalities. As much as I hate to admit it, my feelings regarding the vehicle I drive depend a lot on the community that develops around that vehicle, and a lot of the Jeep community (and the accompanying online rhetoric and attitude) is why I sold my Jeep and bought my LR4. Sure, that says something about me, but I hardly think I'm alone in this regard, especially when I'm sharing this tidbit about myself on an online vehicle-specific forum.

Land Rovers are much less common, and stand out on their own. I think it's probably a big reason why most of us bought one.

Generally, the audience self-selects to an audience I can jive with a little better.

That all said, I still consider a new Wrangler, Gladiator, or the new Bronco, just because the vehicles are so sweet. I just don't know if I want to dive back into the baggage that comes along with it.


Very well said. Different vehicles attract certain “types” of people. Same with a lot of other things.
 

cperez

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This goes back to the point of...if you have LR3/4 and like it then the Defender isn't likely for you. If you bought a D5 thinking it was the evolution of the LR4 you might be interested in the Defender.

I see your point but what about all the people saying (with good reason) that the Defender is what the D5 should have been to begin with? Most of them (LR3/4 owners) did not buy a D5 because they couldn't get their heads around the abrupt design departure. The Defender brings those people back home. That said, I'll be driving the LR4 for as long as possible and am very interested in a preowned Defender in a few years. I'm at the stage of my car buying career that I'm pretty much done with brand new vehicles.

On a different note, I stopped by a JLR showroom yesterday. I was at the dealership to buy some Castrol for my oil change this weekend. The sales manager said that they expected to have a demo Defender by December.
 

ryanjl

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That said, I'll be driving the LR4 for as long as possible and am very interested in a preowned Defender in a few years. I'm at the stage of my car buying career that I'm pretty much done with brand new vehicles.

I want to wait and buy used, but my concern is what sort of options will be spec'd on the first round of used Defenders. My thinking is the buyer who goes with a lot of the options I want (rear locker, towing package, etc.) might be in in for the long haul, and the normal first round of used Defenders won't be spec'd with that stuff.

I've also been scoping used L405's lately, and, looking at the service histories (Carfax), it's astonishing how many people take the stupid LR recommended 15k oil change interval to heart, with a lot of those stretching them out to 17k miles or more. It would be nice to have a brand new vehicle that I can be certain was maintained to my standards.

On the other hand, most Land Rovers take a huge depreciation dump in their first few years, and it's hard to rationalize that kind of hit to my pocketbook.

I suppose that, no matter what I do, it's not going to be until the Defender has been for sale for a year or so, so I'll be able to look at the market then and weigh my options.
 

iconoclast

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This goes back to the point of...if you have LR3/4 and like it then the Defender isn't likely for you. If you bought a D5 thinking it was the evolution of the LR4 you might be interested in the Defender.

I believe this sums it up quite well. While I don't think the D5 is bad in any way (although some may say in terms of styling it does not fit the part) but it does not give the same "feel" the LR4 has and the Defender may be the saving grace or at least we can only hope at this point.
 

CaliDisco

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There are some things that I’d like to see in the facelift like a more truck like and less Kia front end. There are some BS style things that I definitely feel hurt the vehicles credibility like the fake pillar and diamond plate...

BUT generally I like the vehicle and regard it as the LR5. Not a Defender....

I think the bronco will more than likely take up that role in the market:
A rough and rugged wrangler alternative...
 

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