Noticed this treasure trove.....

Last Defender is built this week....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35285258

 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport

Sad day, but I hope this pushes the value of my 110 up a bit more.

I don't think LR will ever be the same again, though. The King is dead. Long live the King. Si. <This is my name.

I eat rat poison.

A man ain't truly been insulted until he stands buck naked in front of a woman and she didn't even notice. Or care.

BL dy un-elected Eurocrats strike again

Sooner we tell them where to get off, the better  2006 (56 Reg) 4.4 V8 Vogue In Bonatti Grey (Gorgeous!!)

I love the look of the Defender and I think it is a brilliant car (probably why it stayed in production for so long). I do however not want to own one as it is too agricultural for my liking and bringing it to Twisted or doing that sort of work myself I think is wasted money. I'd rather get a RR Classic and play around with that (of course next to my L322 that I hope to be owning for a VERY long time ).

The Defender is / was a very important part of JLR and now with the range that is available today, they don't need it. Great for nostalgia and people like us who like "special" cars but not great for business. I do hope that they build a really cool successor !!! MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Very sad day.
Anyone with an inkling of Land Rover in them would be proud to own a Defender or Series vehicle at some time in their motoring lives. If it wasn't for the Series 1,2,2a,3,90,110,127,130,Defender....We wouldn't be driving round in our Range Rovers now. Remember the first Classic was no L405.
Lets not forget our roots. Agricultural or not
The king is Dead. Long Live the King  Tony
You're always in the ........it's just the depth that varies
2011 5.0 Autobiography Fuji White
2019 Audi Q2 in White
04 SL55AMG

Gone:
07 4.2 SC in silver.
06 4.2 SC in black RSE
RRS 4.2 SC in Black RSE
52 4.4 Vogue in silver
04 Mercedes CLK 320 Conv
03 4.0 V8 ES Disco in Silver
00 TD5 90 County
98 4.6 HSE in Epsom x3
97 3.9ES Disco
93 L 4.2 LSE in black
too many classics to mention !
V8 Lightweight
Too many series to mention !
IID for L322

Long live the King!

Donning tin hat and preparing for frontal assault because I guess that this will not be a popular viewpoint……

It saddens me to say that I am almost glad that era has ended, for many reasons.

When I was looking at replacing my ageing 90 (that I did about 180k miles in nine years in) I looked long and hard at new and nearly Defenders and what I found was that I was expected to pay for a vehicle which still had all the design flaws my 90 had and into the bargain, I was expected to pay nearly as much money as it would cost for offerings from other makers that didn't have these failings.

I saw unregistered Defenders with brown rear cross-members and chassis parts, drove in a demonstrator that still peed on my right knee in the rain and was offered a brand new one where salesman 'hadn't noticed' the paint on the rivets along both side rear three-quarters was coming off. I even saw an eighteen month example where the owner didn't know about the mud traps and the bodywork paint was beginning to blister as a result. Basically, I couldn't bring myself to part with about £40k for something that wasn't worth it.

I've pondered about how some refer to old Soviet vehicles and the parallels with the Defender are obvious to me. Were the Defender offered at half the price point it was and by an Eastern European/Soviet maker, it would have been a more attractive and reasonable prospect in my view.

The real shame is that LR sat on their laurels with the design and didn't make the Defender as good as it could have been (or even sorted some design flaws) which may well have encouraged many more away from Japanese offerings.

I enjoyed my 90 a great deal and am the first to admit that that made sense at all but that is what the Defender did; it inspired blind passion.

I depart, awaiting the barrage.

Second that Giant. The Defender/ Serles Landies were great in their time, but have long since been overtaken by other marques. LR used it as a cash cow and never really invested in its development. Nowadays LR are more interested in selling high margin luxury cars (which those on this forum love) than limited demand, low margin utility vehicles. Sad but true.

I think it's a sad day but only in the same way as it was sad on the days the E Type stopped, the Aston DB5 ended, the Ferrari 355 and so many other classics.

Defender has a following quite unlike any other though in as much as it is all things to all men, or at least, it can be. 3 Wheelbases, multiple body styles, up to 12 seats and a simplicity which meant it could be bodged up with basic tools and readily available consumables, even in the wilds of Africa. But that came with the price of cereal packet build quality and the associated issues which come with that such as unwanted water ingress, unwanted oil egress and Massey Ferguson levels of comfort and refinement.

My main hope is that the successor can still be all things to all men, just with more refinement and build quality. And if it is, the wave of ridiculous over-inflated prices we're currently seeing for Defenders will drop like a stone in an empty pool.

I'd still have another Deafener though

having driven a few but never owned one, i can honestly say i would not want to live with one on a day to day basis,

they do however look cool, do what they say on the tin (most of the time), and have a cachet that no other 4x4 does. they were the best 4x4xfar, just not any more,

as a utility vehicle many of the jap pickups are just as good in most areas and are quieter, drier, less rusty, look as cool, go as far off road, and don't break down (as often), but that said i didn't buy a Jap pickup as my company van (we have 2 hilux which the other chaps drive)..... i bought a disco...... (which breaks down a lot) 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

My Brother just sold his mint 7yr old 90 and he got 2.5k more for it than he paid for it when he bought it 6yrs ago!

I've recently been offered close to double what I paid for my Series III, that I bought three years ago... Getting tempted I have to say... Regards
Mark

2009 D4; 1993 Classic 3.9 VSE

GLM technically you are 100% correct there are better built vehicles that can do what the defender does, are much cheaper to buy & repair, but they have no soul, you do not smile when you drive them & they will end up being scrapped when the defender is still on the road.


I have had defenders for most of my 37 years of driving, I have just bought one for the reasons I say above, I have a L405 but still often choose the defender to go to work in - go fathom that  Paul
L405 now sold

You'll no argument from me on that front, pjb. The Defender doesn't make logical sense in modern times but it does raise a smile and engender irrational passion. Defenders feel like they have soul because we pour so much of ourselves into them, I'd say. Loved mine and before buying the 322, one of the options I pondered was building one that was modernised…..it would have cost nearly as much as the 322 to do this 'right', however.

I was also tempted to wait for the new Defender but my passion for owning a FFRR won.

It's a shame to see it go. It was a very cool car. But I'll echo the comments above about how to live with it. I do some pretty serious off roading and find my Discovery (series1) goes where the Defenders go and is a LOT more confortable. It's also hugely cheaper.

My view, from this side of the Atlantic, is JLR just didn't keep up with innovating and updating it. They had the option of updating it or withdrawing it from North America in 1998 and made the wrong decision. Look at that video posted of the Australian Disco3 rolling off a tow truck ramp. Look at how that car held up. Amazing. I would not want to try that roll in a Defender.

Also, keeping it unchanged for so long makes it so much harder to change. Many folks sneer at the new version of the VW Beetle as "not a real Bettle". Ever heard anyone say that about a new Golf? No. The Golf gets updated every few years and that's normal. The Defender is amazing in that it could last so long and be so popular, but it really deserved a little more TLC. I really hope they get the new one right. (And right means cheap, rugged, simple and a full service can be done using only a Swiss Army knife. )