I have a XS on order but am having second thoughts and can still amend.

The XS is a great value and has all of the features I want but I am questioning the exterior look. Most of the exterior surfaces are body color and it seems like it takes away from the rugged look of the models with more contrast.

I can spec a HSE with everything I want for about 5k more which isn’t a deal breaker. My concern with the HSE is that you cannot get full leather seats.

I have a Gondwana Stone XS on order and would go with Pangaea Green if I went with the HSE.

Has anyone seen an XS in person? Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

 

I also have an XS on order - I'm going with Santorini Black / ebony windsor interior. Options were: air suspension / 11.4 touchscreen / tow hitch.
I also spec'd out a HSE - it came in at least 5k more for something almost the same. Feel like the XS is extremely good value from that POV.
I'm going all black - so maybe not so much an issue for me... I plan to purchase and install land rover wheel arch protectors seperately...they're about $400 for a set...and then problem solved for more aggressive look.

 

Have you considered wrapping the lower panels to keep the XS but still get the look you want?

 

That’s my exact plan.

 

I switched from an HSE to XS to get a better value. I prefer the same body lower color but will make some color modifications to the silver bumpers, lettering, wheels to be dark. I edited a photo to look like what I want and it was alot better. It does give the defender a bit of a range rover vibe but im fine with that.

FWIW when I switched from HSE to XS my dealer said LR would not let them amend the build outside of options for the HSE and thus they had to create an entirely new order. This was back in March and it added three months onto my delivery time line, which is still 30-60 days out.

 

I have an XS in Silicon Silver and really like the look, though as you all said above it looks way more like a Range Rover than some other Defenders. That's fine with me, as it's replacing an RRS and still looks like a beast!

I do think if you're buying one to then make it look like an X-Dynamic, it might be easier to just go that route. You'd need to deal with the bumpers, wheel arches, side panels, A-pillars (I think?), and potentially a few other details like the bumper corners front and rear. I've seen a bunch of Defenders driving around in CA and CO at this point and the only ones I like quite as much as the XS are the X-Dynamics in Pangea with wheel arch protection. It's a much more badass off-road look vs. the more luxury look of the XS. I would definitely mock up in photoshop what it will look like in Godwana, as that could be a lot of that gold color (could be super cool too, just can't envision it in my head).

I will say that even on mine, I'll probably re-spray the front and rear bumper to match the X-Dynamic - the light silver looks a bit cheap to me by comparison.

 

I have just received my XS in Santorini black, and since it’s black the body coloured additions look great. Have had to do the bumper inserts.

I chose the XS as I felt it was the best deal and saved me from agonising over every option on offer.

It’s my first defender, I love it so far. The ride even on the large rims is surprisingly smooth, I had only test driven on 20’s.

the 360 degree camera is the only let down, coming from bmw, it’s very clear, but it blurs the surrounds and makes tight parking not as easy as it would be if they just left the image alone. Not sure this can be adjusted, I haven’t worked it out if you can. I’m sure I’ll get used to it’s limits quickly.



This is the detailed while applying a modesta coating, under a macro lens.

 

Here’s mine. Beauty’s in the eyes of the beholder…

 

Looks sharp, @BigDanSRQ !!

 

Looks good Dan. Any mod plans?