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New Defender?

is not the same as Platform Engineering!

We'll see. It has a different emphasis and that's for sure. I have a Q7 on order and have a current Range Rover and have had many other brands over the years and they are all different. Yes the Range Rover has superior ground clearance and a low range but let's face it, even mine spends most of their time on road. The MercedesM and BMW X5 never failed to take me anywhere, on or off road, that I wished to and neither, I suspect will the Audi.

The Td5 is fine in its intended

The TD5 is not great and inadequate for the LR products. Its torque curve drops off the end of a cliff at low revs.

the so called Td6 is just another example

The BMW was and is a good engine though it is poorly matched with the ZF automatic in the Range Rover for some reason so when asked to accellerate rapidly it revs like heck and downshifts but doesn't have the woomff that it should and does have with different software in the X5. The main complaint with the Range Rover is that the cabin is badly insulated from engine noise. The engine seems much noisier than when it is used in any BMW application and this is well known. Overall it is a superb engine of its time but it is now in need of an update which it will soon get.

I

In the same way as you just described Jaguar and Land Rover products you mean?

That's what I have done. Not that it would be a first choice should they have made bigger steps to improve the product and provide what I need.

I have no patricular desire

They are wrong. The Range Rover is superb off road as long as the tyre specification is not too wide and low profile [a customer choice]. In fact it is probably still second to none in this respect. It is also a good roomy load carrier. A good towing vehicle. Has superb equipment and luxury and tours in grand style. With leather seats it is very close to its original concept. Yes it is expensive to buy and expensive to run. This has always been true. My experience is that it is far better built and more reliable than ever before. It is also the best diesel engine they have ever offered, though it is now far from being the best diesel engine offered in a large vehicle. But Land Rover have never offered the very best diesel engines in their vehicles. I just cannot see where they have 'lost the plot' with the Range Rover.

Where they have really lost the plot, or even given up plotting, is with the woefully underdeveloped Defender. In mechanical terms it can hold its head high and the revised model could only be an improvement with the new engine given emission regulatory constraints, but body-wise they are still back in the 1970's and certainly not the better for it.

Huw

Reply to
Huw
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The late 50's, surely?

Stuart

Reply to
Srtgray

Well they did add a plastic dashboard around 1971 and wind-up windows in

1994 if I remember correctly, but otherwise there is not much difference to the cab now than there was in 1958 when they introduced the SeriesII. People are bigger and expect more today. Utilities buy them because their drivers' comfort is of secondary importance but the self-employed owner-driver has deserted LR in droves just as they did when Series vehicles became outdated in the late 1970's. The Defender needs a bigger update this time, not to the mechanical but to the body, which is exactly what it is not going to get :-(

Huw

Reply to
Huw

"Huw" wrote

and wind-up windows in

That should read '1984' of course. ROTFLOL. I know I should be crying over this because it is beyond a joke. And they think a new dash will make any difference?

Huw

Reply to
Huw

On or around Sun, 3 Sep 2006 19:03:38 +0100, "Huw" enlightened us thusly:

My 1985 one had wind-up windows...

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Sun, 3 Sep 2006 19:07:21 +0100, "Huw" enlightened us thusly:

having said that, there's not a fat lot wrong with my series III. I actually enjoy driving that as much as the fast ford, these days, which is SO bloody frustrating. In the ford, I'm forever up someone's exhaust pipe swearing at 'em for only doing 60, and looking for opportunities to pass, and being thwarted by other covelling grunts coming the other way in 35 mph convoys on every bloody straight.

in the SIII, cruising at about 40-50, it's not stupidly noisy nor as uncomfortable as it looks as though it should be, and on the rare occasions when you *do* get to overtake something it's a real achievement.

's a bit like the old boxer (BMW R60) - it's not remotely fast by modern

600cc bike standards, but on real roads it's a hoot, and quite a challenge to ride well at 60-80 mph, and while you can still get busted, it's not instant licence-losing territory like being pulled for 130 would be. Modern bikes are boring at 60-70 sort of speeds, and if you go fast enough to make it exciting, you're either not gonna live long or not gonna have a licence long.
Reply to
Austin Shackles

That doesn't help LR sell new ones though. Anyone who wants a clunker can find a cheap Series if that is their cup of tea. I would expect more for my £15k + VAT though.

Huw

Reply to
Huw

And when you've got none of those coming and you are in a R/R you find lots of little islands where you could overtake. Traffic calming ?, frustrating if you ask me. I suppose it's just another way we can waste fossil fuels.

Martin

Reply to
Oily

||| looking for opportunities to pass, and being thwarted by other ||| covelling grunts coming the other way in 35 mph convoys on every ||| bloody straight. ||| || || And when you've got none of those coming and you are in a R/R you || find lots of little islands where you could overtake. Traffic || calming ?, frustrating if you ask me. I suppose it's just another || way we can waste fossil fuels.

There was a letter in yesterday's Torygraph from a policeman, who warned that people who live on roads with speed bumps don't get the policing the others get. The fuzz in his area have had so many bad backs etc from the jarring that they will only drive down a speed-humped road if ordered to, or after an incident. They won't patrol there routinely. Another manifestation of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Reply to
Richard Brookman

"Richard Brookman" wrote

Speed bumps should be illegal, they are an obstruction and they don't seem to slow the intended down at all. It wouldn't be so bad if you could bill the council for damage to shockers and springs.

Martin

Reply to
Oily

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