There's an amazingly simple solution to this 'nightmare'...

...stick with the L322 camera car!!

Doh!

I had a play with an L405 in London dealer the other day. The boot is a disaster! Much, much smaller. The problem is not so much depth front to back (though I think that is a bit less) but rather height.

The boot floor feels higher and the roof slants downwards. Combine that with a more canted rear window and the whole shebang feels at least 1/3rd smaller.

I am seriously worried. My golden retriever will struggle to jump the extra height to get in and almost have to duck to fit in. I'm not sure that going shooting in the new one is really an option.

Having seen one in the showroom and on the road, I really, really want one but I don't know that it will do what I need it to do anymore. I think I really need to get one home and play with the dog and other kit that I take.

Oh and there are no mounting brakets on the headliner for a half-height dog guard. Full height is the only option.

I imagine the only shooting the designers had in mind was drive-bys in Russia.

Trommel wrote:

I imagine the only shooting the designers had in mind was drive-bys in Russia.

Damn you beat me to it  One day your life will flash before your eyes......................................make sure yours is worth watching!

Clarkson behaves the way he does just to get the type of negative comments some are making! I just don't get what the problem is, the show is designed as a p*ss take from start to finish. I think they are all hilarious in there own little ways but for goodness sake they are NEVER EVER being serious. They plan very hard to annoy (thats the point) so just enjoy what is after all a very funny show about cars.

I read a comment by Steve Cropley in autocar last week, referencing clarkson, he would appear to be well respected im the car hack community, personally i like him, but can see how he can be viewed as a village idiot.

I think that his view of the 405 was was on the whole positive. And yes the boot is pretty titchy....... There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Given the comments in this thread on loadspace, I’ve been taking a closer look. Worth noting that on the L405, unlike on the L322, the rear seat bases themselves do not tip forward, so the maximum load space is differently proportioned. Maximum loadspace volume is quoted as 2,100 litres for the 322; 2,030 litres for the 405, so a slight drop. But how usable all this is will very much depend on what you are loading: e.g. the maximum loadspace length is now significantly more: 1985 versus 1529 mm; and the vertical clearance between the boot floor and the loadspace cover is greater. It’s difficult to find comparable data for the capacity with rear seats in place: I read somewhere that with seats up, the L405 has 15% less space (can anyone confirm?) so that's a noticeable decrease. For me at least, the change in boot size is not a showstopper, but if you have a specific task in mind you might want to go along with a tape measure. The 405 has also lost the useful cubby hole in the boot floor to the right of the tailgate. Norman

Current LR: L405 Vogue TDV6 (MY 2014) Aintree Green/ Ivory interior
Past LR: L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 (2002); Discovery series1 V8 (1995)

Well my two flat coats retrievers and the jack Russell fit in the back no problem. The flatties jump in and out fine. The Jack Russell never could jump in!

Worth noting that the rear seat can be set a little more upright to help the space ( or vertical without rear passengers) but it does look smaller. Seems strange to have a postbox slot between the new shorter bottom tailgate and the load cover when you open the top tailgate. 2019 D5 HSE Lux SDV6 Indus
55 D3 SE
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gone 17 older variants of FFRR

[]

I've 4 dogs (....) and to be honest a _much_ smaller boot does concern me. BUT mostly they're all in the back of the Defender. And when we do put them all in the L322,,,we stick one of them on the back seat (yes with a harness...). MY2011 TDV8 Vogue - GONE
MY2006 Porsche 911 C2S - GONE
MY2003 Defender 90 (JE stage 2)

Dogs, Defenders and Range Rovers

Reminds me of a guy in my Rover off road group. He off roads on a late 80s Range Rover with his two dogs. He also has an old series truck. The dogs refuse, point blank, to travel by Series Rover because its too loud and uncomfortable.

Rather smart (and fussy) canines, if you ask me.

On the subject of top gear am I right in thinking that this years much delayed "Series" was just two new episodes, two Xmas special episodes and a best of episode.....

The small boot was the first thing that struck me as being odd about the new model. The reason it's so much smaller as far as I can see is due to the rear seat angle which is far more laid back compared to L322. LR have already declared that the new version is in direct competition with Bentley and if you look at most Bentleys the boots aren't that big and their new off roader is also due out fairly soon. So the new car doesn't really seem to be aimed so much at the huntin shootin fishin brigade.

The new tailgate arrangement is fairly logical if you think about it. They've made a lower section whose sole purpose is a platform rather than a true tailgate. This part fits behind the upper section before the tailgate closes. With luxury sacrificing practicality they have probably done this so that the full height upper section shelters those sitting on the tailgate from the great British weather when its open. If they'd really thought about it the tech guys at LR could still have fitted a number plate on the lower section by using some sort of glass panel on the top section, however the tailgate is now so big there would probably be H&S implications to this. This is a design flaw however, but not for that reason. Surely the main issue here is that the tailgate takes up so much space, so when parked up against a wall in a car park the rear hatch is so long that it cannot open within the footprint of the vehicle. This does illustrate an extreme lack of thought in my opinion. How many owners are going to graze their tailgates when they back up too close to a wall and press their key fobs to open them?

Just to add that LR should continue to make the L322 in the same way that they did with the Defender after the Disco came out. The new version Rangey is a completely different car and is aimed at a different market to the phased out one...

I think you mean the now 'classic' when the P38 came out

Discovery was never a Defender replacement - it was a reskinned Range Rover! Land Rover Addict
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