(part 1 here, 2023-01)

State of affairs - just about the same as before. A lot of things that were previously options are now standard.

• Recovery eyes still come standard in orange in X, but you can pay another $250 to have them black.
• Front undershield is still inconsistent - comes with "Front Expedition System" in S, but is not available for X-Dynamic SE, but is available in X, but without the "expedition system", will have to buy that separately.
• "Wheel arch protection" is mysteriously available only for S, what the hell.
• While before the X trim did contain some essential things that I wanted (bigger screen, adjustable steering column, ClearSight interior rear view mirror) and that could somewhat justify the $10k difference, today the difference between X-Dynamic SE and X for the configuration I like increased to $13.5k, and all that's left there is only cosmetic items (detailed list here).

Enjoy.

/me onward to the list of "invisible" options...

PS: I don't pretend to provide an exhaustive guide, this is my research for my own build, I just hope it'll help others trying to figure how all those pieces of the puzzle fit in. I hope JLR will provide such a feature matrix someday but am not holding my breath, it'll be an instrument for cannibalization of sales of some trims.

 

Yes, I agree with you about the absurdity in the way LR does their packages, options and trim levels. I just don't get why they have to make it so complicated. One wonders if it is the bean counters' input into all this charade. Miss the old days when you had a few options and two or three trim levels....

 

(stealing the sentence from my other post) Management complexity. If you take a look at assembly/installation instructions for "invisible options", you will see that in most cases it's not a snap on, there's some cutting, drilling, and fitting required. I bet the same applies for factory options.

Also, trim cannibalization. I don't think X would sell well if the buyer realized that the only thing they're paying for is the gloss look and shiny things. And ostensibly extra premium leather, that I can forgive, but not for $13.5k.

Actually, I don't think that's true either (at least it wasn't for the European car I spec'd for myself in those old days). There were always things that you needed to know about to even ask. And there were things they wouldn't even tell you - case in point, the other European car I got, as I later discovered with a VIN decoder, has an "oversized AC" option that is not listed anywhere at all - you can't order it specifically, it's a region specific feature that was never advertised or published. Like the presence or absence of the roof fin on the Defender that the other recent post just mentioned.

 

I totally agree. I admire the Grenadier approach to SUV sales: If you want to buy a standard configuration, Grenadier has two versions. But if you want to geek out on the features and get exactly what you want, you can do that too. What Grenadier gets 1,000% is that a luxury SUV is something to customize - that's part of the the luxury: you can build it exactly as you want it. When you drive it to your lake house or camp site, the story of what you picked and why is part of the fun. If your Defender configuration is different than someone else's, there's a conversation... JLR misses that in part by pretending (quite arrogantly) that folks with $100k to spend on a Defender don't really know what features we'd want!? It's likely necessary to confine configurations, but it reduces the fun of buying one of these things IMO... The economics are likely terrible. JLR won't sell a Defender without a full glass roof, so they miss out on me (and maybe others) buying a roof rack (which I have on an older LR). If I didn't spend the $3k on a glass panoramic window, maybe I'd instead have gone for the Front Expedition System? I certainly would have looked at a roof rack. Making buyers pay for features the buyer views as detrimental is a bad business model, but I think the sales success is making it so. Ideally, I'm sure if JLR could sell Defender as Ineos sells Grenadier, they would. But that level of customization is maybe unrealistic at Defender production rates. IMO if JLR offered a "blank" Defender (as Grenadier), JLR would likely end up with higher MSRPs from folks like us that want to customize. You end up paying for everything anyways. Nothing communicates a "luxury" purchase like "a la carte."

 

I was pleased with Defender's customisation options in 2021 when I built my 2022, but it sounds like they have narrowed somewhat in the ensuing years. The only think I was unhapy with was not being able to get 18s. Well, I couldn't get a winch from the factory or dealer either, but that was Supply Chain, not Land Rover. I just added aftermarket.

But I've been a Porsche guy for 20 years, and one of the things I just love about them, but which so many people rant about, is the fact that they really will sell you a stripped version if you want, while charging you a high price. People tend to look at that and say, "What??? It's a $100,000 car and you have to pay extra for a sunroof? Lane Keep Assist? Key in the Pocket pushbutton start? Adaptive Cruise Control? Decent Stereo? Etc,

And yes, you do. But I don't see it that way. You wouldn't be getting all that stuff for $100,000 (in my hypothetical example) if they made it standard; if they included it the car would now be $124,800, and I would have to have every single one of those items I just listed that I specifically do not want. Take sunroofs; I don't want one in a 911 (reduces headroom, which matters in a helmet, and ruins the iconic roofline, IMO), and thankfully they're optional on Carreras. I bought a Turbo once, where they are standard, but you can Sunroof Delete as a no-cost option. I bought a Carrera GTS once that came with Centerlock wheels, but you could no-cost delete them and substitute 5-lug wheels of your choice. That sort of customizeability just makes me so happy!

 

That's exactly the reason I'm still here writing instead of out there rolling. I just watched this circus unfold, and eventually said to myself that I'm going to die before the wars and diseases stop. YOLO.