Years ago there were gypsies who had a house locally for winter, they had a RollsRoyce and used it for taking bales of hay and bags of feed round to all the other pikeys (boot and seats loaded with stuff) who still lived in vans around the place.
not a clapped out old roller fairly new.

scrap metal dealers/stealers with no tax bills. At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

To be fair to LR, this is a tough time to design a rugged work vehicle that needs to remain in production long enough to recoup costs. Nobody knows where the market is going and a lot of the old certainties have been thrown out. We may find that the costs of taking a 2.2 litre diesel off-farm and into town become such that the economics drive a further shift from mixed-use vehicle towards differentiation by use - ie a road vehicle for road-use and a hill vehicle for hill use.

Urban road charging (like the London scheme) and tax variation is just the start - employers are likely to start restricting mileage allowances by CO2 bands. Parking charges (and restrictions) are likely to follow suit - the technology to do this is now commonplace. HMRC already tax business use by car type and restricting mileages further (and by engine size/type) is probably already part of their forward thinking.

How on earth do you design a Defender replacement against that backdrop? 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

[quote="Largered"]my moles tell me the New Defender will be priced at an average of £53K.

I think farmers can and will afford it .

.[/quote
At that money it`s thousands less than some of the 2nd hand 90`s & 110`s that are for sale on Autotrader at the moment!!!]

"AVERAGE" price ....

what does that tell you ??



second hand prices are inflated as currently there is no NEW option.

Advertised price is not always sell price.

.

Don`t disagree with that, however you would have to barter pretty hard to get 50% off the advertised price of a car for sale! Perhaps once the new model is out then old Defender prices will get a bit more sensible! If 53K is the average then there should be a base model for a lot less than that , that might appeal to farmers.

Largered wrote:

my moles tell me the New Defender will be priced at an average of £53K.

Dondiddy quoted ...
At that money it`s thousands less than some of the 2nd hand 90`s & 110`s that are for sale on Autotrader at the moment!!!]

My search brings up around 50 vehicles all 50k and above. Yes some have been modified but then again there is very little information available on the new model to be able to accurately compare "Apples". As some are suggesting the new model may be more of a "Lemon".

The Times

We agree to disagree


When the New Defender is launched end of 2018, come back to me

.

Not sure what we`re disagreeing on (Other than the number of Defenders for sale on Autotrader!) but happy to take up the discussion again when the new model is out!

5 door mule spotted
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-car...le-spotted MY14 Kahn Converted Dynamic - Fuji White Ebony/Pimento Interior
MY15 Xenon Headlight Conversion

MY17 RRS SVR - Estoril Blue Cirrus/Ebony 🪣💺’s

Don't care what Autocar publishes as the new Defender, there ain't no way that will turn into a six cab pick up  my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

Its not about turning it into a six cab pickup but whether you can throw two sheep and a bale of hay into it.

And i suspect the price tag will stop anyone doing that!

If it's a Defender replacement it does need to turn into a six cab pick up, the apparent head room at the tail gate would render it useless as utility vehicle. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

average price of 53k just to trash the inside etc ???

if they want the utility market to be interested they need to follow the ethos of the last defenders but with modern, rugged, easy to maintain, reliable underpinnings. A load bed that can take a beating, an interior that can be hosed out of mud etc.

if farmers want a posh 4x4 then they have the rest of range to select from but none of those is tough enough to withstand a life on the farm.

Like dartman, I am puzzled by the apparently random bodywork shown on the different wheelbase mules. These bodies do not look at all practical, and are perhaps just perched on a chassis.

I am starting to wonder if the 'new Defender concept' is that of a very sturdy aluminium ladder type chassis, produced in several wheelbases, onto which different bodies can be mounted.

This would allow single and double cab pickups (which I think are the most popular world wide sellers in cars generally), as well as the familiar long and short wheelbase 'estate' versions.

If I'm right, this could be a winner. The original Defender morphed into many different vehicles, doing many different jobs. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 76k+ miles) (MY2015)