artschool wrote:

Skynet wrote:

Perhaps they need to 'design out' the D3/4 shape as it's ideal for the Defner replacement.

i would be happy enough with that. rebadge the d4 as the "new defender"

job jobbed.

Yep said it before if they had retooled the T5 line for a defender replacement it would have sold like hot cakes a more rugged stripped down T5 would be brilliant ! The platforms already proven and has payed for itself goodness knows how many times over. It would have bought them more time to get the proper replacement.

Imagine the T5 in SWB and LWB formats, something like this could sit on the T5 no problem 8)

Russell wrote:

Why not wait and see as it may well tick all the boxes we are all moaning about, probably does not but we live in hope

I imagine I might be one of the few here with a feeling of deja vu. Having owned 3 of the ultra practical, mini Disco like, FL2's, I felt pretty much as many on here now feel when I went to see the DS; a little concerned, but hoping for the best.

What we got was a stylish, nice to drive, tall estate car with a lot of very real positives; a huge improvement on the Golf's, the A3's (Audi Golf) and 3 Series' that most of its prospective customers will be suffering from now. But what it absolutely was not was a direct replacement to the ultra practical, spacious, high roofed, stepped roofed, light filled, short over-hanged and fairly agricultural FL2! The FL2 line was simply abandoned; many of the FL2's customers are either hanging on to their current cars for as long as possible, buying the newest example they can get their hands on / afford, or have already moved on elsewhere.

The single deciding moment was when I went to get into the back seat and banged the side of my head (at ear level!) on the edge of the drooping roof I then went and got into the back seat of a D4, just to prove a point really; it was everything that the FL2 was, but better in every way, so I bought one

With all the evidence pointing to the D5 being no more or less than a scaled up DS, but with a half arsed attempt at a step in the roof, I see no reason to get my hopes up.

Red Merle wrote:

The (otherwise pretty horrible) BMW X5 outsells the D4, worldwide, 5:1 AND has a split tailgate.

Red Merle wrote:

Even the Mitsubishi Outlander / Citroen / Peugeot thing can manage one:

It's been dropped from the new Outlander

Lost for Words wrote:

Most importantly, I have cause to chuck all sorts of stuff in the boot - saddles, muddy boots, dogs, water tubs, the odd bale of hay, horse feed, compost, sand, paving slabs, wheels/tyres, wood, bitumen sheets, fence posts. I use it well, and I need to be able to use it easily. I have better things to do than wait for an electric tailgate to open every time I want to access it. I couldn't put up with the hassle every time I've forgotten something, when I realise I've forgotten to grab a dog poo bag from one of the side buckets, when I've forgotten to put the dog lead in, or a pair of boots etc. In horizontal rain I'd want it to be open and closed as quickly as possible too. Our tailgate is up and down frequently, and a slow and annoying electric tailgate would be an absolute deal breaker.

After the demise of the Defender, the D4 seems to be the last bastion of the practical, agricultural, Land Rover. I don't see too many of the new generation of Land Rovers being used in farm yards and on construction sites where, when it isn't Japanese, elderly Defenders and Discos rule

They can tart up (and make as impractical as they like) all other Land Rovers and Range Rovers if they wish, but they can mess with the proper stuff at their peril! We don't need another girly Land Rover!