I just made the trip from Boston to Long Island and back transporting my elderly parents in my LR4 "car bubble". I didn't see a single Defender driving on the road, but I did see a total of 6 brand new ones on 6 different flatbed trucks in my travels. Apparently dealers are doing a lot of Defender swaps. If you find one with the specs you want, you should probably grab it before it's on a truck to another dealer.

 

yes- it seems as if the LI dealerships(3 of them owned by 1 company) have the bulk of the premium inventory. Unfortunately my local dealer( 5 miles away) could not swap w them or any other dealer it seems. I wasn’t sure why that was, so I had to start calling outside dealers directly. This was a challenge as sales reps didn’t want to deal with a buyer from out of state or vehicles were “reserved” for owners or managers ( I couldn’t understand that one !)
Remains to be seen how long the “exclusivity” remains. Similar to my last vehicle - Audi Allroad- I liked being the only one in town w one for a good year.

 

I do a 50 mile round trip on I 95 5 days a week between Newark and Wilmington Delaware and I have yet to see a Defender.

 

There are two more Defenders now in my neighborhood after I got mine. Anecdotal I know, but I see them everywhere here in Birmingham.

 

Have seen 3 Defenders so far in my small town but I'm sure more are coming. According to the local dealer there are over 50 LR4's in our town. Our town has a drive-on beach so every house that doesn't have a Land Rover has a Wrangler instead. The high school student parking lot looks like a Jeep dealership. (Although our teens drive a Honda Passport since it has the driver assist features our LR4's lack and handles better than a Wrangler)

 

My local dealer in Omaha has sold 36 Defenders this year. They are the only JLR dealer within 150 miles. That is a pretty big number considering the greater Omaha/Lincoln area is just over 1 million people. I have to assume that at least 1/3 of those are not in Omaha, as I'm sure they sell them and ship them to other locations. If I'm lucky,(or unlucky), I will see one other Defender a week. And none of them look like mine with a lift, wheels and tires. I feel so special...

Anyway, I think my local dealer might have sold 1 Defender on the 31st. That leaves two left for them: a black P300 and a white P400 HSE.

Rob

 

Not seen too many up north of Seattle either but I think Seattle dealer has sold a good many. For reference I bought the P300 110 and believe it has plenty of power and torque which develops at 1500 rpm. I worried about power but it is very nice driving over mountain passes and has decent fuel economy for an aerodynamic brick. 20.5 to 21 in just 2-3 mile jaunts around town, 22 combined with a bit more distance and I get 24-26 on highway drives - the higher mpg if I stay between 60-64 mph.

For reference since I couldn’t drive one when I ordered I used my last vehicle a 4 door RAM ecodiesel pickup. It had 230HP and 400 pounds of torque I believe and weighed 6400 pounds empty. It went over passes on long road trips really loaded down without a hitch and had plenty of pop though I was led to believe it wouldn’t. Not a corvette of course but that is not what we are buying. The P300 has almost 300HP and develops 300pounds of torque at around 1500 rpm weighing 4800 pounds. A 1600 pound difference. Unless you really put your foot in it all the time I don’t see the extra weight and fuel economy hit on or off road. Mine does go if I put my foot in it on a highway on ramp. Remember the mild hybrid is a small turbocharger lag reducing system not like a Prius type system. Try to drive the 4 cylinder first before you rule it out.

 

I have a P300 and it's plenty for my needs. I bought it mainly for offroading and didn't want the extra complexity or options of the p400. Mine has both offroad packs, tow pack, heated seats and no sunroof. Perfect for me.

Funny, here on the west coast, there are no p300s available. As soon as dealer gets one, they arr sold. Tons of P400s around on the lots.