ford nailed the look of bronco. land rover chit the bed with the defender

[Broncolli]

I hope to see more Defenders in the wild. I saw a silver one yesterday and it looked like a plastic toy...maybe it was the color...

the silver ones do look funny - I had a silver LR3 and it looked great - butt he same color on the Defender makes it look small and toyish.

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[BD1]

I test drove the new defender. It drives great. It looks better in person vs pictures.

But the design, in particular the front end is much too modern and doens’t bring much of the legacy bronco into it. Bronco, Jeep JL, and even the new g-wagon are designed much better with mixing the old and new.

Also the Defender has an odd mix of really nice materials inside and out but mixed in with some very cheap hard plastic bits. Not good for $70K+.

And I really don’t like the angry eyes front. If the front had more of the old defender style it would look much, much better.

 

[highonthedesert]

Ford needs to produce an optional hard top with a Defender-style, raised rear section, complete with the alpine windows. If not, I'm sure the aftermarket will.

 

[Carmaker1]

As a former Jaguar Land Rover engineer, who lived in Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK and later Solihull, working in JLR Whitley in Coventry and sometimes from Gaydon development Centre, there is a lot of information on what happened.

A very instrumental reason in why I left JLR in 2016 and returned to United States, was the L663 Defender programme. My primary responsibilities were regarding Jaguar in Coventry, but I did work on a few Land Rover projects early on.

A decision was made not to spend the requisite billion or so in pounds £££ on a bespoke, Defender family body-on-frame architecture. Tata was responsible for this decision. He was also responsible for opting not to develop and offer a manual transmission.

As the co-owner of both a classic '74 Bronco (partner's) and a 2008 Defender 90 SVX (bought by my father in '08), I was extremely disappointed.

Taking the cake was some professional matters back in Whitley and reasonable salary for promotion (after MBA). Plus, my last programme was the successor to the X351 Jaguar XJ flagship sedan losing too much focus and virtually all of my 2 year work scrapped. It switched to X391 from X360. I digress.

To the point , it was very infuriating to see that the heritage of Defender was managed in the way that it was by Tata and thoroughly endorsed by my superiors.

I haven't really looked back since, upon knowing what was the directive at Ford for U725 in 2016-17 and desiring a R&D job stateside. (I wasn't going to work for Toyota and commute between Japan and USA). Also how I met my partner.

 

[bobby bunny time]

As a former Jaguar Land Rover engineer, who lived in Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK and later Solihull, working in JLR Whitley in Coventry and sometimes from Gaydon development Centre, there is a lot of information on what happened.

A very instrumental reason in why I left JLR in 2016 and returned to United States, was the L663 programme. My primary responsibilities were regarding Jaguar in Coventry, but I did work on a few Land Rover projects early on.

A decision was made not to spend the requisite billion or so in pounds £££ on a bespoke, Defender family body-on-frame architecture. Tata was responsible for this decision. He was also responsible for opting not to develop and offer a manual transmission.

As the co-owner of both a classic '74 Bronco (partner's) and a 2008 Defender 90 SVX (bought by my father in '08), I was extremely disappointed.

Taking the cake was some professional matters back in Whitley and reasonable salary for promotion (after MBA). Plus, my last proramme was the successor to the Jaguar XJ flagship sedan losing too much focus and virtually all of my 2 year work scrapped. I digress.

To the point , it was very infuriating to see that the heritage of Defender was managed in the way that it was by Tata and thoroughly endorsed by my superiors.

I haven't really looked back since, upon knowing what was the directive for U725 in 2016-17 and desiring an R&D job stateside. Also how I met my partner.

here it is in laymans language.

-land rover wanted to spend as little as possible to bring back the defender but keep the defender name.

-land rover didn't care if the product was a shell of what it was it use to be. the "new" 50/60K defender wasn't meant for the people who paid in upwards $150k in 1990's for one. it was meant for the many jugheads in this thread as a price conscious option to the other competitive vehicles in the style

-as you can see from opinions in the thread they have succeeded in some aspects. peeps say they like the new defender, etc, etc...especially if they don't know any better and aren't comparing it to what it many "in the know" thought it should be. and i'm sure they like it because in some aspects they want a different genre choice and hold the brand appeal in high regard.

-what land rover did is cheapen the brand. and let's face it, they've been slowly doing this for a while. most current range/land rovers are pretty crappy as well. crappy in the sense that the reliability just is not there.

think of it this way.

what is ford said ..we're coming out with a homage of the bronco. and on the reveal day they roll out not the heritage but OJ's model...think about it. it would be a major facepalm.

i'll take it step further. just think if chevy/camaro did this. can you imagine how excited many people would become thinking they would get a 70's era camaro only to have chevy break out the new model as a 1988 iroc...

like the above poster states, i'm sure there were many pissed off people within the LR company that didn't want to go in that direction.......it's embarassing what they did to the defender

 

[LOMartin]

Current owner of an LR4 w/ front runner rack, awing, RTT. Have overland across America. Love the thing but it’s getting up there in miles and maintenance cost can get crazy.

I’m a cross shopper For the Defender vs Bronco, defender is pure disappoint. I wanted simplicity with a touch of luxury not another soccer mom complicated generic looking beast.


ordered a bronco badlands/Sasquatch/Lux gonna be around $60k compared to the defender at $90k + $10k dealer mark up.

this bronco bringing a lot of people back to ford.

 

[broncoflorida]

Former LR4 and Discovery 5 owner here. LR makes a good, capable product. I just turned down a new Defender that arrived at the dealership, after waiting many months for it. It drives very well, but between the new Bronco launch and the V8 Defender coming soon, I figured I would sit this one out. Reserved a Wildtrak (well two, depending on ADM), and I like the idea that I can get an off roader with 35's and a lift under full factory warranty, especially for $20k+ less than the Defender I ordered. Looking forward to the configurator opening up to see what the real cost will be and whether I may be better off with a different trim level once more information is released. As a long time LR fan, I can say Ford killed it with the Bronco.

 

[Toccoa]

My beef with modern Land Rovers is that they went the German sausage route. Same sausage, different lengths. I really can’t tell most of them apart anymore.

 

[Bdisco]

Former Discovery Series I owner.

Saw a new brown(bronze?)Defender on the highway the other day. It was traveling under it's own power and not in it's natural element on the back of a flat bed tow truck. I must say the rear end is interesting, led lights are cool. I am also digging the front row jump seat.

 

[Bdisco]

Sarge, best of luck with your Rover. They are great, extremely capable vehicles when they are working and if not at least their service centers are nice places to visit.

 

[Mopar2Bronco2021]

I just came here to say that the new Land Rover is ugly as HELL. What a miss. I have no idea how anyone looks at that thing and thinks it looks even decent. That being being said, it tows like 8000 lbs so that kinda impressive for an off-road vehicle.

 

[stampede1]

My experience with British cars centered around an early 70s TR-6 and a 1969 Ford Cortina. The Cortina was the car that Ford imported until the Pinto came on line. The Cortina was economical, safe and dependable, a better car by far than the Pinto. I always wanted the Lotus version! The Triumph was fun but finicky. Sketchy electricals and mechanics. It seems to me that whether it is Jaguar, Bentley or Land Rover, the Brits' cars are expensive to purchase, rapidly lose value and especially in the case of the LR, you need to sell them after a relatively short period of time to avoid expensive maintenace and repair costs. Beautiful coachwork though. I cant wait to see what the options and prices for the Bronco will be when everything is launched officially by Ford.

 

[Darforce]

I remember when land rover unveiled the new defender...I lol'd and cried at the same time.

no way in hell did I ever think I was going to see a cross between the fj cruiser and honda element.

I thought for certain I was going to see one of the cool 90's classic looking defenders.

I mean..the new ford bronco looks more like the defender than the new defender...complete failboat for land rover.


yes

no..haha

yes

NO!!!!!

yes!!!!

100%. I was beside myself when I heard theyd finally be available in the US. The 90 (little one) pick up is one of my favorite cars ever. Then they came out with this dumpster fire. Also, loved the fj, those were awesome, just needed better than 13mpg. I think we have room for an updated RamCharger.

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