Everybody always says the same arguments of why it should have X or Y or Z. I would have bought a DC100 in 2013 instead of the new Ford Escape I bought for my wife then. I love Rover products that look Rover. The new look sucks. I am fully ready for an all IFS/IRS vehicle that isn't uncomfortable, leaky, and 100% purpose built. I want it for driving to work, taking kids to school, going to the next biggest town for a shopping trip, but also want it to be able to do everything else a 4x4 should or could be able to do... and look the part. Consumers get that the vehicles they buy won't be like the SUVs of the 90s, but they don't have to be carbon copies of everything else on the road. That's the problem with Land Rover.
They are so dead set on the image and idea of being up market that they drag their feet on their products and end up behind the power curve. Jeep says, it's time. Then they build a product. It sells in HUGE volume. Rover products, while everybody claims fly off the shelf, are not and never will sell in the numbers required to make them a viable brand. They have made their choice in pushing each vehicle in its right segment up to the next segment up. Range Rover is now supposed to compete in the +100-150k department with the ridiculous SUVSs. The Sport is in old Range Rover territory. The Disco is now the Sport. The Disco sport is now the Disco. The Defender will not be the Freelander. It's going to compete against the Disco in the end. They are ruining it before it even has a chance. The yet to be seen Toyota FTX is going to eventually steal everything they have and the new Jeep Wrangler pickup will play cleanup on what once was the Defender market. They are 8 years late and a dollar short.