I ordered a 2023 Defender in the US. I built the truck online and when I put in my deposit they said it all looked good. Since then the dealership has reached out to me to tell me I cannot have the ClearSight mirror, the heads up display and now the latest victim, the 11.4 inch screen has been downgraded to an 10 inch due to the chip shortage. Has anyone else experienced these issues? Do you think the car is even worth purchasing if I cannot have the features I wanted. Thanks and I hope too many haven’t experienced the same bad luck.

 

You might want to check and see if your driver display got downgraded to Analog with Digital TFT while your at it.... Got cut from a lot of models & trims.

 

What vehicle model did you build? Did you get the order accepted by the factory with the larger screen and after the fact they downgraded you? Or are you still in the queue? I'm waiting for my '23 and really hoping they don't downgrade the screen size on me... The order was accepted and a build date was assigned with the 11.4".

 

Clearsight mirror is stupid. I have it and never use it, I don't like the focal length discord. When you look into a real mirror, your mind perceives the objects to be the correct distance away and your eyes focus normally. Clearsight messes with that and I hate it.

HUD is kind of useful (had it in several BMWs) but mostly for keeping constant awareness of speed in a seriously quick car. I don't have that problem in the Defender so I don't miss it.

11.4" vs 10" would make no difference to me. I think the 10" in mine looks about 'right' for the interior.

 

Not a fan of HUD's so I don't have it. And an extra 3/4" on all sides of the screen doesn't matter either. The screen icons are large and there are not that many icons on each screen.

However, I really appreciate the ClearSight mirror. The Defender rear cargo area is far smaller than our old LR4. We pack luggage and boot bags to the headliner on family ski trips. Plus there is the college move-in nightmare that packs the entire Defender to the headliner. But if you aren't stuffing your Defender, you will never use it. As noted above, the display view is distorted compared to a real rearview mirror.

 

This doesn't matter either. I have never changed my driver display in my 13 months of ownership and probably never will.

 

it says on the itemized bill “TFT instrument cluster” does that mean it was downgraded from the interactive driver display?

 

110 X-dynamic. The dealership contacted me 2 months after placing the order to tell me they are sending my order to the factory and the options I mentioned are no longer available due to the chip shortage. It’s annoying because if you build this car online right night you can still add those options.

 

When i ordered my 2022 model I had all of these items removed to get my build in a reasonable shipping period, including the analog driver display and no advanced off-road package. Frankly, none f that really mattered, the build is still quite good. I got my Defender in the time they told me (about 5 months) and I doubt i will miss any of it.

 

My personal opinion is that the 11.4” display looks more integrated and aesthetically pleasing vs the larger screen that looks out of place. And in reality I rarely interact with it. I’m not sure why consumers have this obsession with bigger, it’s not like your watching Monday night football on it.

HUD is cool for high performance cars but doesn’t feel like a must have to me in general, especially a Defender. Had HUD on other cars and you truly do become blind to it after a few weeks or months. It’s like becoming ad blind. In most cases I had to consciously make myself aware that it was actually there, otherwise it just disappears mentally.

As for the mirror though, it’s not a dealbreaker per se, but it does become very useful when you have the boot loaded up. Defenders have a short boot but you gain space by loading upwards which will block your view. But for our sake we load up for road-trips to Canada etc., so I like having the feature. If you don’t fit into that category, then you definitely don’t need it.

Just my 2 cents, hope it helps with your decision.