Defender DEALBREAKER !!!
#31
01-29-2021, 03:53 PM
Here is something else I learned today when picking up my Defender. The Slovakia facility is only running at about 25% capacity. The issue is that many of the Defender components are in short supply and are arriving slower than needed. Dealers have a portal that is in direct connection with the Slovakia plant. When placing an order today, my dealer was told delivery is now 4 to 6 months. And by March they will start taking orders for the 2022 model.
#32
01-29-2021, 04:02 PM
OP, thanks for sharing your experience. I had the 12-way seats configured in my recent builds too, I'll be looking closer at the option now because I had assumed too that these were not largely manual seats. About a month ago I emailed JLR about my experiences configuring various vehicles on their website and the disbelief that you can configure 60k vehicles that don't have a rear seat armrest, don't have keyless entry, don't have power seats etc. You and me coming from German premium brands and looking at JLR vehicles as first time buyers I think we're a bit blind-sided that these pitfalls even exist for a 'premium' brand. I told them they're really opening themselves up for ridicule when people are buying vehicles at these prices with these premium badges that don't have options that 20k vehicles come with standard. If I ran the company I wouldn't even ship anything at these price points that had a manual seat in it, but to each his own I guess.
#33
01-29-2021, 04:18 PM
Recovery Vehicle
#34
01-29-2021, 04:21 PM
#35
01-29-2021, 06:01 PM
#36
01-30-2021, 09:03 AM
Rock Crawling
you really understood my post lol. I知 planning on keeping my new vehicle for 6-7 years and if it痴 2027-28 and I知 still manually adjusting my seats while most of the world is fully autonomous with massaged seats and AI like Kitt from Knight Rider I知 gonna have the biggest case of buyers remorse. I walked away from BMW because of their new designs flaws 🐽
#37
02-01-2021, 05:55 PM
I agree with alot of these threads. It appears that the SA doesn't always know as much as us. The educated buyer is pervasive in today's digital economy, and rightfully so. It makes it a challenge when you are ordering what you "want" and have to communicate that a million times. Knowing what is possible based on fantastic places like this, avoiding all the negative noise and truly getting what you want shouldn't be an issue.
Soap Box Warning: JLR Dealers should be aware of this and know how the "configurator works", and just because you "configure" it the way you want it you'll also need the trust of a SA to validate, confirm and then validate again when the order window for your respective dealership has theirs. In defense of the SA in some regard, they are shepherding floor sales "looky Lous" and then dealing with self proclaimed purists (I'm one of them, sorta). But... They SHOULD have a better sense about them on what the CONSUMER wants, especially if it means a successful outcome for both. That is Car Sold which yields to service and etc., and at the end... Happy Customer = repeat business! We are accustom to a world of "menus" where we mostly get what we want, kinda like a restaurant. It will take time for some traditional "brick and mortar" approaches to catch up, and once they do, their sales will likely be "direct to consumer". I think there is a company out there that did this already whose stock prices are never in question... Then again, what do I know!
My first "ordered/reserved" Defender was not as described... I walked away. I re-ordered what I wanted and will await to see if it comes true. I can only hope so and if/when it does I will be happy. Until then, I rather enjoy razzing the SA with a weekly email of fun "checking in" emails that give advice like... "Don't eat gum off of a subway rail! Also, where is my Defender!?" or, as of late. "Stock tip... "Don't buy GME - GameStop right now, but where's my Defender!?"
Yeah, I'm THAT guy!
. Educated, and funny (to myself at least) and know that at the end of the day, We'll both be pleased if the job is done correctly!
Now... Onto still loving my 16 LR4 and second guessing my choice every day I have no update on the Defender!
Soap Box Warning: JLR Dealers should be aware of this and know how the "configurator works", and just because you "configure" it the way you want it you'll also need the trust of a SA to validate, confirm and then validate again when the order window for your respective dealership has theirs. In defense of the SA in some regard, they are shepherding floor sales "looky Lous" and then dealing with self proclaimed purists (I'm one of them, sorta). But... They SHOULD have a better sense about them on what the CONSUMER wants, especially if it means a successful outcome for both. That is Car Sold which yields to service and etc., and at the end... Happy Customer = repeat business! We are accustom to a world of "menus" where we mostly get what we want, kinda like a restaurant. It will take time for some traditional "brick and mortar" approaches to catch up, and once they do, their sales will likely be "direct to consumer". I think there is a company out there that did this already whose stock prices are never in question... Then again, what do I know!
My first "ordered/reserved" Defender was not as described... I walked away. I re-ordered what I wanted and will await to see if it comes true. I can only hope so and if/when it does I will be happy. Until then, I rather enjoy razzing the SA with a weekly email of fun "checking in" emails that give advice like... "Don't eat gum off of a subway rail! Also, where is my Defender!?" or, as of late. "Stock tip... "Don't buy GME - GameStop right now, but where's my Defender!?"
Yeah, I'm THAT guy!
. Educated, and funny (to myself at least) and know that at the end of the day, We'll both be pleased if the job is done correctly!Now... Onto still loving my 16 LR4 and second guessing my choice every day I have no update on the Defender!
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Chief65 (02-01-2021)
#39
02-01-2021, 06:46 PM
Rock Crawling
Variety is nice and all but I do think there's something to be said for making certain things standard on these types of vehicles and they've done a lot of that with the Defender which is a good thing, I mean you aren't paying an extra $550 for keyless entry still like on a 2021 disco sport but they've left a few things to fall through the cracks too, the many seat variants (largely manual) rear seat armrest is missing on base model 90s which can still easily top 60k, 70k certain things like this are very unexpected surprises at these price points
A 'commercial' variant of Defender may be worthwhile to offer where folks are fully expecting to be ratcheting up their seat height like they're driving around in a ford focus but I don't think the consumer site needs to be complicating matters.
I just think JLR needs to act like a luxury brand and tighten up their options on their base models, if that involves raising prices a bit on the bottom IMO that's worth it vs completely annoying customers with configurations that are more prone to error. I'm sure plenty of folks end up taking delivery of these vehicles even though something was missed and at these price points that's a shame really.
A 'commercial' variant of Defender may be worthwhile to offer where folks are fully expecting to be ratcheting up their seat height like they're driving around in a ford focus but I don't think the consumer site needs to be complicating matters.
I just think JLR needs to act like a luxury brand and tighten up their options on their base models, if that involves raising prices a bit on the bottom IMO that's worth it vs completely annoying customers with configurations that are more prone to error. I'm sure plenty of folks end up taking delivery of these vehicles even though something was missed and at these price points that's a shame really.
Last edited by Chief65; 02-01-2021 at 06:53 PM.
#40
02-01-2021, 06:46 PM
Great question, and considering you are in Oregon... very appropriate! It was a 2020 HSE but the interior did not arrive as described as well as the heated 2nd row with the 3rd row. As a side note, I wanted and need the Tow Package.. I did not want the tow hitch installed after the fact by the dealer. I wanted the vehicle set up to tow as designed. JLR PDX was great about it, so I ordered again. Will wait patiently with my awesome LR4...