Clearly LR are heading in the wrong direction.

My next vehicle will be a Defender with the following specification.
Big V8 engine - no hair dryer or other forced induction stuff.
Discovery 2 running gear - mandatory ACE - the iltimate live axle system.
Nice trim RR standard - special leather dash and headliner OK.
No electronic fripery. All you need is power windows and central locking. Nothing to go wrong. None of this connectivity HMI stuff.
Bullet proof.
No low profile wheel stuff. Its a 4WD - The best 4WD.

If I want to buy a limosine (can't spell) you don't buy an off road vehicle with 22 inch rims.

I would pay a million dollars to buy one of these. Check out the prices of SWB V8 defenders (20years old) in the US. They would sell.

SVR take note. There is no vehicle in the LR/RR range which the 4WD punters really lust after.

After all Mercedes can make a 50 Million year old G wagen with a whopping big engine and it sells. Ever been to Japan they love their V8 G-wagens. So make a statement.

Is LR run buy Pinko Greeny New Age Do Nothing burocrats.

Yeah, but that's because you're a backward-looking, sentimental, boring, stick-in-the-mud, traditionalist dinosaur with one foot in the grave and you don't matter to LR.

Oh, and you'll "come round to it". Never mind the fact those 22" alloys are going to be useless off the tarmac, the electric tailgate will take 10 times as long to open and close, the colour coded bumpers will show loads of bramble rash, the stupid touch screen will require a dozen selections to achieve the function of one button...you'll "come round to it".

And lastly, it's OK, because LR will make a load of money even if you don't like the vehicle, so what are you complaining about?

So they say anyway...  Visiting from DISCO3.CO.UK
2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 Auto HSE Zambezi Silver

I thought Brits are the "whinging bastards"...this Aussie makes us look positively, well, positive!  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

I've often thought LR are missing a trick trying to replace the Defender. All you need is the RRS1, D3/4 or Freelander2 (take your pick). Then strip out all the stuff that repeatedly goes wrong (all the electronic gizmos, air suspension etc), remove leather, carpets, electric windows, sat nav etc. Ship the tooling and 2L Ingenium engines, make it in India then sell it for £20-25k. Voila you have a new Defender.

Anyone who's travelled or worked in the Middle East or Africa and is familiar with the Toyota Landcruiser (the utilitarian version that is), where it's traditionally outsold the Defender 1000 to 1, will know what I'm on about.

If you don't want all the fancy electronics then you could of course spend £120,000 for a plastic bodied, space framed lightweight off-road racer called a Bowler Nemisis............... Looks like a windowless RRS, weighs less then a Freelander and goes a darn sight faster than an SVR and it does that off-road too! OK so it has fan assisted V8 5.0ltr but you do have to make the odd concession to modernity.......... 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

I would buy a Bowler without any hesitation. The problem is no one sells them here and there is no ADR approval available.

Some years ago we were in Japan and I was visiting Autobacs in Tokyo (anyone who knows Japan will know what I am talking about - automobile shop nervana) and a Hummer (the proper one) pulls up (big V8 rumble) in the car park fully tricked out. Powered side steps move out doors open and a normal looking Japanese family with 3 kids gets out - my wife says I could live with that.

So getting approval to buy a Bowler would not be a problem. Except she would want to drive it all the time. That is the problem.

Have a look on Urban Automotive at the LS powered Defenders they sell, ticks all your boxes

I always thought Hummer H1's were awesome for years, until I drove one in Saudi. off-road and useless on-road, they still look though

It certainly does tick all the right boxes and they only charge 80,000 UKP for it. I spent 130,000 UKP building my 1973 Giulia Super - I don't know how they do it.

Only one problem I could not get it licenced here.