i think that whilst emissions could be cleaned up, the thing that has really put the end to the old landy is its crashability. the vehicle couldnt really be made compliant with the latest safety regs with regard to the survivability of occupants in its current form, and as anyone who has driven one will know, the possibility of survival for anyone hit by one is pretty poor compared to other more modern 'softer' vehicles, in terms of the latest euro ncap limits. i suppose its a double edged sword. on the one hand, its sad that an iconic vehicle has come to the end of the road, but sales have been tailing off in recent years and if it werent for the latest trend in chunky off road looking vehicles being used as fashion statements then i think they might have killed it off a few years back. oddly, this trend for 4x4 fashion statements has meant that more of these have been being used in urban environments where they werent really designed for. now as bikers we are often concerned with the problems of modern vehicles when they and we come into sudden and close contact, from terrible lights and invisible indicators to external projections and crumple zones. as bikers it might be seen as a bit hypocritical to on one hand say that the defender shold still be in production, and then in another case campaign for new vehicles to be safer for those whom they hit in accidents, we cant have our cake and eat it, whilst the chunky landy has a reputation for being big tonka toys that you can bash and crash and they just get a dent or a scratch but drive away whilst the car they hit is a mass of shattered plastic and paint and has to leave on a flatbed truck. but the reality is that the shattered plastic and foam of the car impacted by the landy was designed to absorb the impact to allow both its occupants and more importantly those whom it might hit to survive the impact better. i know that if i were given the 'choice' of what vehicle i was to be hit by in a rta, the very last thing i would want to be impacted by is a landy, theyre built to survive, not to save.
now, ive driven a defender, and theyre nice, but in my mind, the old leaf sprung series landys are the only true land rovers. ive had a few though i dont own one now, i couldnt justify such a single minded vehicle, theyre fab chunky things, but by any standards, unless you need a rugged 4 wheel drive car for more than 30% of your driving times, then theyre terrible cars, but folks love em in that strange massochistic way that we seem to love stuff that doesnt really do what its supposed to do. if i had the cash and an excuse to play in the mud would i have another? yes, in a heartbeat. if i had a farm and needed a tough, reliable, dependable 4x4 for work would i buy one? no, id do what most of africa who do all their driving on dirt tracks and mud do, and buy a toyota or mitsubishi.
