Right with you MattF. Just took delivery of our new X5 M50i a couple of weeks ago. Figured I better get a V8 before they are all extinct. Already put 1800 miles on it and hundreds of dollars of premium top tier gas in it. Still smiling every time I step on that gas pedal.

Would have ordered a V8 Defender if available in a reasonable amount of time. X5 was "plan B" since they promised 8 week delivery from order date and it even arrived early. Only downside is that our P400 Defender now feels a little slow compared to the X5.

 

That was the retail price when I bought it. But your reply is hilarious😂. In hindsight I should have, she was hot!

 

If you want a great article on why we have higher gas prices today, here is one

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...st-covid-crash

 

FWIW, I made the same decision as you. Went to a Tesla Model Y for a daily driver. We still have the two old Discos for off-road/outdoor/camp needs, but yeah, here in CA I was spending about $300/week for gas and now the Model Y fuel cost is essentially negligible. Really hoping LR delivers on the EV lineup. I'd love to get back into the Defender form factor.

 

Just a question for everyone selling their defender because of high gas prices. What will you do when demand destruction occurs and you see a decrease in gas prices? Don't forget 2 years ago oil and gas companies were afraid that they were going bankrupt when, for the first time ever, oil futures were trading negative. Will you buy another defender or another offroad vehicle with a low mpg? Or are you just done with ICE?

 

I can't speak for everyone, but for me at least, it was a reckoning with what I already knew I should be doing but chose to ignore because of how much I wanted the Defender. I'm as much of a Land Rover fanboy as you'll ever meet. Have the two old Discos, have had new Range Rovers, an Evoque, all over the product lineup both new and old. Love em. So when the Defender came out it was an obvious/instant want.

Before the Defender came out, I kind of started to see the writing on the wall for ICE development when a bunch of major automakers made announcements that involved stopping ICE sales soon, or pivoting R&D from ICE to EV. Mercedes' announcement was a big one, for example. Anyway, the so-called end of ICE coupled with my overall ecological convictions led me to decide to make any future car purchase an EV. Then the Defender came out and I was like... ok maybe after this one... haha... then [California] gas prices started to increase, guilt set it, and I decided to go back to my original EV commitment. Gas prices were just the catalyst to bring me back to where I knew I needed to be.

So, of course I'd love a Defender, but I can't ignore all the upsides of having an EV. And after having had one for a while, the upsides are pretty vast. For me at least. We're getting solar installed this year too which further changes the calculus.

To answer your direct question - gas prices could go back to the bargain-prices of $4/gallon again and I'd still be fully on the EV train. Cost of fuel is a component, but it's also the lack of maintenance (the discos provide enough of this to keep me interested), the reliability, the safety, blah, blah.

Really looking forward to seeing what that full size new RR EV shapes up to be though.

 

Must admit that after ordering my V8 I had some second thoughts however as we are all going to drive electric cars at some point I figured this would be one of the last opportunity for me to experience this engine.
My daily commute is about 12 km so the price of fuel doesn't change much for me.
In addition, given the shortage and how much these are going for these days, I figure it would be a win win situation.
As the fuel price keep going up , the price for V8,V10,V12 will keep rising just like all luxury goods.

If I were to go electric, I would probably get the Etron Sportback S , that's the only pretty electric SUV, to my taste.
Looking to possibly order the new Gwagon electric for my wife this week, she simply love their upcoming version.

 

Must admit that if I had to commute in the Defender, I’d sell it too. Just no way to justify that kind of mileage to drive on pavement. Fortunately my commute is usually in pajamas down to my home office, so the Defender is for weekend fun and towing. That said, if I didn’t tow much, or didn’t need moderate off road, and just used the Defender on pavement, I’d sell it in a second and probably get an EV. Just no way driving one of these makes any real sense for every day pavement duty no matter how cool it looks.

 

I went the other route, sold my Tesla Model S for a fantastic sum and got the Defender. I don't commute and the Defender is for long weekend adventures that the Tesla wasn't up the task with (drive.. charge.. drive... charge... etc).
The P400 is thirsty but as mentioned, I don't commute and just work from home. I fill up once every 2-3 weeks where there's nothing planned. On trips, the Defender gets me decent MPG around 21-22. I recently came back from Death Valley and it got me home on a single tank of gas, all the way up to the San Francisco bay area.
Wife's car is a Volvo XC90 PHEV, around town the gas engine remains off, great for local errands.If you own the Defender for daily driving around town I feel bad for you.

I'll reconsider electric when QC is better and range is much higher. Drove the Model S for 3 years and yea... I'm definitely over it.

 

I'm a very environmentally conscious person who didn't own a car at all for 15 years when I lived in NYC. I had originally planned to get a PHEV defender, but then they weren't offered here, and even if they were, it appears that PHEV is a $12-15k upcharge from the P400 (based on RRS pricing overseas). That wouldn't make sense for me given the mileage I do and plan to do in the future.

As far as I can tell, fully electric cars are great as one of multiple vehicles in a household (with some exceptions). A fully electric BEV just won't work for me and my vehicle usage and there really aren't any viable PHEVs available in the US right now for what I want and need.

So I burn through 200-300 gallons of gas a year and the engine is rated as Euro 6 which is the cleanest possible rating (would be exempt from charges in most urban areas in the UK because of this). My offset is planning on keeping this vehicle for as long as possible rather than trading for another every 3 to 5 years.

Maybe I'm kidding myself, but that's my calculation