TexasTJ
Climbing Nerd
@Corgi_express Color on your Defender looks good. I thought you were getting the Gold one not Gray. 
jokes aside the back end looks really good.
jokes aside the back end looks really good.
...which is amusing because IFS is the design of choice on 1,000km Baja trophy trucks that spawned the Raptor, and the Raptor itself has raced Baja in stock form. And let's not compare those to Class 10 buggies which are fully independent open-wheel monsters.
I guess 70-90mph over 1,000km of desert rocks and ruts doesn't compare to gently cruising across playas and along gravel roads with occasional washouts though.![]()
I thought this was pretty dead-on, especially, with off-road capability a given, the focus on payload and range.....And says that the front IFS is weaker and is a negative for overlanding ......he doesn't say this, but a reasonable conclusion would be that's X's 2 for the Defender with it's front and rear IFS.
And the Raptor? New Bronco that is supposedly superior to the Defender? The Discovery is quite well built, as is the Defender, of you get up close to them, and each had over a million km of test miles on them all over the world before they made it to market. The Discovery has been proven as a superb overland vehicle by people like Kingsley Holgate all over Africa, the middle east, and south Asia. The LR3 and 4 are used by many, and while their reliability isn't the best it's not failing control arms and bushings that drivers complain about.This seems a little short of your normal sharp analysis- @Red90 is right, the trucks you are referring to are overseen by top mechanics, hand built, broken down after each race and rebuilt etc.. not sure how much correlation there is to a daily driven vehicle and certainly not much correlation in the context of vehicle-supported adventure travel where you may be out on your own far away from support.
If all IFS travel rigs were all rocking 4 grand worth of indestructible RCV CV's or similar then that would be a fair comparison....which is amusing because IFS is the design of choice on 1,000km Baja trophy trucks that spawned the Raptor, and the Raptor itself has raced Baja in stock form. And let's not compare those to Class 10 buggies which are fully independent open-wheel monsters.
I guess 70-90mph over 1,000km of desert rocks and ruts doesn't compare to gently cruising across playas and along gravel roads with occasional washouts though.![]()
Yeah....I'm not gonna lie, this was my first thought too when the new Defender was finally revealed. I can't think of a single person that looked at the DC100 and said "That's a handsome vehicle!". The production version improved the aesthetic, but it wasn't the complete re-design that we hoped for.Anybody remember the DC 100 from years ago and how it was pretty universally hated?
Given the fanbase reaction it's surprising how much of it LR (Gerry) kept-
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Here's How The 2020 Land Rover Defender Compares To The Concept Everybody Hated
The 2020 Land Rover Defender has finally dropped. Most reception seems positive, but many comments seem to be variations of: “It looks like a 10-year-old concept car.” I don’t know about that, but then again, let’s look back at one Land Rover concept that was from 10 years ago and may well have...jalopnik.com
Does the Raptor? Does the 4Runner? The Raptor runs in SCORE Unlimited alongside 4Runners in Production Mini (I think 7F or 7SX), which are also IFS. And what's more, they finish.If all IFS travel rigs were all rocking 4 grand worth of indestructible RCV CV's or similar then that would be a fair comparison.![]()
For some reason I read Trophy Trucks but processed Pro-4 in my head. Reading comprehension fail, my bad.Does the Raptor? Does the 4Runner? The Raptor runs in SCORE Unlimited alongside 4Runners in Production Mini (I think 7F or 7SX), which are also IFS. And what's more, they finish.Axles and CVs must be stock production as delivered - only some gusseting of arms and off the shelf aftermarket shocks and upper arms are allowed in production classes.
There may be $4K unit cost equivalent in engineered strength in both the Bronco and the Defender - the Defender is a $70K vehicle and the Raptor is close - the Bronco is lower cost, but will sell in higher volume so that engineering cost may not add up to that unit cost in each truck. There are a brazillion 4Runners and Tacos on the market and they haven't significantly changed the front suspension since 2012 so that unit cost is way down over the engineering cost.
Bottom line, you're correct, overlanding ain't racing - and there are plenty of IFS trucks that survive racing in effectively stock configurations, which is that much harder. And plenty of people who overland IFS rigs all over the world with no ill effects. The same principle always applies - know your rig, and before you go on a trip, inspect and perform proper maintenance, and you minimize the risk of any failure on the trail.
Same design language. Throw a spare wheel on the back and you've got a Defender Sport.