According to Photos in today's Autocar, changes outside are a bonnet bulge to accommodate the new 2.2ltr. 4 cylinder diesel engine 128bhp/228lbft. But inside a total redo, gone are the dash and heating controls we all know and love to be replaced with a dash and centre consul identical to the new Freelander with car like air vents and conventional heating controls in the centre. Forward facing rear seats replace the side seats too.
YUK
Strange how the developments incorporate internal AC etc etc but I bet the doors willl still leak!
On or around Wed, 9 Aug 2006 15:40:27 +0100, "Bob Hobden" enlightened us thusly:
ooh, have to have a look out for that tomorrow.
Hope the AC does'nt leak or the Ozone will suffer !
It's only a very small article with two photos obviously taken in the factory with a mobile phone. I think there will be lots of comments about the dash which is a total departure for this vehicle, mind you it wouldn't be the first time Autocar have been "wound up" by someone selling "spy shots". Thinking about it, I presume the front flaps we all love are no longer needed/provided unless they are connected to the round air vents in the dash. Not worth spending the money on the Mag unless there are other articles to interest you though.
On or around Wed, 9 Aug 2006 23:08:39 +0100, "Bob Hobden" enlightened us thusly:
I'll read it in the shop :-)
People Hi,
in addition to the above,
the windscreen flaps will be abandoned. The new engine will be mated to a 6 speed gearbox.
Take care Pantelis
I would really miss them - they are a must when laning or stuck in traffic for me.
I hope to god it's nothing like the current Transit engine. I hired one (18ft Luton) to move house on Friday. Though if felt very free-revving, even when empty I was up and down the gearbox something rotten to keep it moving an any sort of hill. Loaded, it was gutless in the extreme, infact we got the clutch very hot reversing into the drive at the new house on a very moderate slope - about 20ft in all. I would have dreaded towing anything heavy with it.
Also, the hire bloke (a customer) told me that out of the
30 vehicles (all less than a year old) with that engine in in his fleet, 27 had had new engines and/or top end re-builds. The fuel pump has a plastic gear lubricated by the fuel, and if the fuel is interrupted for even a short time the gear breaks up and does "a timing belt" on the engine.Overall, it's exactly the wrong engine for a Defender, and I've no reason to suppose the new one will be any more approprite. In fact, the six speed box probably tells me all I need to know - no torque and therefore no engine braking.
Defender RIP, yuppie truck here we come :-(
Richard
But is it going to have the oomph to pull itself and a useful trailer without having to drop down to 3rd every time it sees a hill?
Steve
Yup. I'd have liked to see a nice 3 litre straight-six diesel mated to a six-speed box. For the complete wish-list I'd also like a triple ratio transfer box (high, intermediate and low), sump/steering guards as standard, bomb-proof diffs and shafts, sand ladders or ramp-ettes as standard (stowed just below the rear body and able to be slid out like you get on Ifor trailers), quick-releasable hard top and/or rear body upper side panels, a petrol version with dual-fuel capability factory fitted, the return of some decent galvanizing (and the debut of galvanizing on the chassis!) ......
Ah yes, now that would be something. :-)
Steve
Well, personaly a 4-cylinder long-stroke engine would be fine. Provosion for your above extras would be good, but perhaps a bit OTT for the base model, but that would make it simple to adapt for specific market segments.
It'd probably be expensive - bit it would likely sell too, as there's no competition - always the best marketing ploy :-)
I also reckon that the return of a PTO suitable for Quad bike type PTO equipment would be selling point.
And a forward control option.
Sounds stangely farmiliar....
I wonder what the Wilkes family are up to these days?
Richard
E.
Looks - from that picture - like the below-windscreen flaps are still there - though where they feed to is another question.
Well the outside is very good, i.e. pretty much left alone - a big relief, thoughit looks all wrong without the vents. The inside........ aaarrrrrrrgghhhhhhhhhhh. Talk about Palitoy! I can see my knee benging against the centre console.
It's a pity we can't see if they've got rid of the bloody stupid potentiometer(s) on the accelerator pedal though.
A steering wheel might be viewed as a good idea.
That's the workshop at GDEC, Gaydon, by the look of it.
Richard
On or around Thu, 10 Aug 2006 15:27:37 +0100, beamendsltd enlightened us thusly:
might have been a gutless version of the engine though. The 2.4 comes in several levels of tune and the proposed transit one if it is indeed that would be equivalent to the top spec transit, which hire ones seldom are. as to overheating the clutch, well, provided they still have low box, that should solve that problem.
Mind, I reckon they're in danger of perpetuating the long-standing land rover disease of fitting too-small engines. They'd do better to use the 2.7 V6 as per the disco 3.
On or around Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:12:42 +0100, "wifiman" enlightened us thusly:
oooh, ta. now I see why I couldn't find the article in the shop today, I was looking in auto express.
mind, I'm not sure about the accuracy. to my knowledge, the current transits are 2.0 and 2.4, there isn't a 2.2...
ah. belay that.
Well what are the outputs of the current engine?
Well, I suppose I could live with a pregnant looking bonnet, but that dash .....EWWWYUUUCK! WTF is the idea behind making everything appealing to mum's and kids in cities?
The current Defender not broken, why are they fixing them? And as for the US market - I've been over here in Canada (and US) for the last 6 months, and I've seen 2 disco II's and 1 disco III. Doesn't say much for the size of the market. I see both Defenders and Disco's all over the place at home in Oz.
On or around Thu, 10 Aug 2006 19:31:04 +0100, "Bob Hobden" enlightened us thusly:
dunno, TDis are 111 bhp and 200 ft lb. But they're universally reckoned to be only just enough, and although the TD5 has bigger numbers, it's also reckoned not to be so useful off-road. The TDi disco is OK, it'll get to about 100 eventually, if you tune it right. But it struggles with the sort of loads it shoudl pull easily and pulling maximum weight it REALLY struggles, IME.
The top-spec 2.4 transit duratorq has 140 ps and 375 Nm, which is I think about 270 ft lb without working it out again - it's a transient overboost thing, ISTR and would make a useful engine in the defender, the extra torque at full boot would be very useful for overtaking and also for pulling up banks on the motorway with a trailer on. Anything much less really isn't worth the effort - the 2.2 is defeintely down on torque compared to the TD5, and doubtless has the same trait of needing lots of revs.
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