Can’t please everyone is what they say.
Bunch of people wanted a stripped down version at a decent price, which they have, someone else says it’s too expensive once you add all the bells and whistles.
It’s not a real Defender, then it’s not powerful enough with 300 hp. Most “real defenders” have sub 130 hp 4 cylinder diesels. The thing is 900 lbs lighter than my LR3, which also has 300 hp and MORE than enough grunt even with a 3,000 lb trailer behind it.
I’ve been very critical of the direction Land Rover has headed in lately, and I like V8’s as much as anybody, all 9 of the vehicles I’ve owned have had them. However, things are changing and you can’t even get a Ford Raptor with a V8 any more, towing capability has VERY little to do with HP and LOTS to do with weight and wheelbase.
You see the same thing with dual sport/adventure motorcycles where a small group of enthusiasts goes on and on about “if they’d only build a lightweight twin cylinder that can handle some dirt we’d buy one tomorrow.” Finally someone does and then it’s “got too many farkles to be a real dirt bike”, and “too bare bones to be a comfrotable adventure bike”, or “the gas tank is too small for real range”, or “the gas tank is humongous and will get damaged the first time it’s dropped.” Then the people who actually like it want to wait 3 years to see if it has any problems. After 2 years the manufacturer has only sold a couple thousand of them and pulls the plug due to weak sales.
If the thing ticks most of the boxes on your list and you’re in the market, go buy one. Otherwise us enthusiasts will be left choosing between a bunch of egg shaped mini van crossovers that are all the same, because they fly off the shelves to people that only care about the color and how well it connects to their cell phone.
