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Light Overland Vehicle Tech Tech issues, tips and hints, prepping for travel
Under 3500kg vehicles, e.g. Land Cruiser, Land Rover, Subaru etc.
Photo by Lois Pryce, schoolkids in Algeria

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Photo of Lois Pryce, UK
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  #1  
Old 31 Aug 2011
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"Land Rover insists its next Defender will be a rugged workhorse, having ruled out moving it upmarket as a luxurious car that simply looks butch on the outside," says BBC business reporter Jorn Madslien.

is this guy looking at the same picture? it doesn't look much like a rugged workhorse to me.
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Old 31 Aug 2011
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Originally Posted by misterpaul View Post
is this guy looking at the same picture? it doesn't look much like a rugged workhorse to me.
He probably means for a drug dealer, silly

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Old 31 Aug 2011
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landrover nearly lost the MOD contract when the 'Wolf' was designed.
They didn't win it because they had the best or most suitable or capable vehicle. they won it because it was politically unacceptable for them to lose it, at that time.
I agree with the above comments. that is not a workhorse vehicle in the pictures, it's a chelsea tractor.
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Old 1 Sep 2011
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There's a discussion over on the Adventure Bike Rider site about the new Defender entitled "Have they lost their collective minds?" Most posters, even those waving a Union Jack whilst typing, seem to think they have.
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Old 1 Sep 2011
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Why doesn't TATA just keep making the Defender as is but shift production to India? Can't think of a vehicle made these days that's more suitable for being built by hand.
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Old 1 Sep 2011
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Why doesn't TATA just keep making the Defender as is but shift production to India? Can't think of a vehicle made these days that's more suitable for being built by hand.

That's ridiculous -no way an Indian manufacturer would be able to build a Defender correctly.
For a start they use metric, so panel gaps would be in mm not inches.
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Old 2 Sep 2011
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That's ridiculous -no way an Indian manufacturer would be able to build a Defender correctly.
For a start they use metric, so panel gaps would be in mm not inches.
Well hullo - it's a Landrover Defender we're talking about here, not an Audi A8. A car that can be fixed with a hammer in the field, not one that has to be hooked up to a computer in a laboratory by someone in a white coat just to change a headlight bulb. Am sure a few uneven / wider than average panel gaps wont matter.
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Old 1 Sep 2011
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landrover nearly lost the MOD contract when the 'Wolf' was designed.
They didn't win it because they had the best or most suitable or capable vehicle. they won it because it was politically unacceptable for them to lose it, at that time.
I agree with the above comments. that is not a workhorse vehicle in the pictures, it's a chelsea tractor.

Yep, very true, which makes me think that LR will continue to win the future contracts for political reasons, assuming that they continue to be sourced from the UK (or at least appear to be via the marketing).
But the Wolf worked great and was a speedy vehicle around the highways of the Balkans
In contrast, the Fwd Control LR for towing guns was a disaster. Most unfit for purpose.

Perhaps by 2015 the Defender will be the chelsea tractor and LR will be producing a "Willys Jeep" for the military market which, in fact, is rather small, especially for modern day factory production rates.

There again, following the political issues of years ago about Westland helicopters Vs the USA product and the possible tightening of procurement rules at the British MoD, the Brit military could end up driving Hummers (HumVee).
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