95 Ed Evans
NEW Defender is a great truck in the general run of things, but I still haven’t met anyone who actually enthuses about it with the excitement and aspiration to adventure that came with a classic Defender, Discovery 1 and 2 and (to a lesser degree) a Range Rover Classic. The current range of Land Rover vehicles simply aren’t appealing to enthusiasts – we’re slowly parting company with the car manufacturer that brought us all together and inspired our still flourishing movement.
Buyers wanting a new Land Rover that’s traditionally sizeable, unpretentious and with socially acceptable fuel and emissions levels can choose between a Range Rover Sport 2 and a Discovery 5. If I was buying new, my first choice would be the D5, and I’d need the £1000 conversion to put the rear number plate in the right place.
Owners of these new Land Rovers tell me their purchase was an unemotional case of acquiring a practical, well-designed and built vehicle with the right finance arrangement – there’s no hint of the excitement and enthusiasm that came as part of the package with Discoverys 1 and 2, Defenders, even Freelander 1. Something essential is missing. I’ve seen good Discovery 4s selling for more money than used Discovery 5s – surely there’s a message in that.
Our parting of ways is likely to accelerate as Land Rovers become electrically powered. But that’s something that must happen: our planet is getting seriously trashed, and electric drive is one relatively small, but essential, step toward getting a few more generations out of it. Taking the internal combustion engine out of a Land Rover though, is akin to removing the four-wheel drive – can it possibly be a Land Rover as we know them? There will come a time when old internal combustion-engined vehicles are something very special and, as with everything classic, it will be the best that are best – the V8s, V6s and straight-sixes.
Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll all be enthusiastically driving sizeable four-wheel drive electrical appliances without the risk of being stranded by a depleted battery, and without taking out a mortgage to buy it. As I write this, a fine Discovery 4 has driven past my office window – the last big traditional Land Rover truck. I know the driver. He wasn’t a Land Rover fan until he bought it; now he’s desperate to keep it in good order because he sees nothing to replace it.