Exactly. I mean, the gigantic for Raptor and TRX somehow manage to fit their brake hardware in 17" wheels for crying out loud. I just think JLR pulled some stuff out of the parts bin and decided to use it on the Defender. Since the rest of the range is on 19" and up, that is what we got.

It seems pretty universally accepted that 33" tires are the overwhelming choice for a realistic change that could actually be implemented. JLR, you listening?

 

Ahhh… I didn’t realize we were discussing “things needed to make people take me seriously in a Defender.” I’m sure you’re right, in that case. Since I’ve never been taken seriously in much of any context I hadn’t considered that. I was just thinking about actual offroading capability.

 

I wasn't really referring to tire size being what determines how seriously one takes the driver, but rather the car itself. In other words, how fit for purpose it is and whether it was imbued with the basic hardware to back up all the adverts of trucks driving through streams, over mountains and such. I understand that JLR had Goodyear develop a Duratrac in OEM sizes, which is great, but there are better all-terrain tires out there. It would be nice to be able to have a wide variety of tires available as the U.S. is a big, big place with a lot of varied terrain. The type of tire one might be looking for in swampy central Florida differs from the one you would want for the Arizona desert. If they had seen fit to build the platform around a 33" tire size, a whole world of tire options would be available.

 

Good thread! Love my defender - but sure do wish it had the following:



-passenger door lock/unlock button

-aluminum skid plates for the fuel tank

-rear floor mounted cup holders/slide out cup holders

-base model gets rear seat back pockets and center armrest (baffling that a 50k car doesn’t have this)

-more wheel travel for coil sprung models, also an extra 1.5” of height (Land Rover should assume folks that get coils aren’t being cheap, we actually want to go off road). Along those lines, a Sasquatch/Rubicon like package with real tires and aluminum sliders - because people are actually cross shopping the Wrangler and Bronco with the Defender.

-exposed front recovery hook

-thicker windshield

-OEM bull bar option for the US

-charge way less for painting the roof a different color

 

Please make it possible to turn off the feature which does not allow the vehicle to be driven with the driver's door open.

Or make this a new feature inherent in selecting one of the off-road modes or when in lo range.

 

Good one TrioRowner^^^^ I forgot how annoying that is. I like to back up with the driver door open to maneuver--hate that safety nanny!

 

No exposed off-road recovery points as standard is a joke on a Defender.

Should not even be in the universe of this type of vehicle design.

These should be standard on ALL trims. No question. Front and rear. Wouldn't cost JLR a thing. Simple change. Win win for all.

 

Another good point ^^^ Recurring theme here seems to be: hey Land Rover, make your offroady car, you know, offroady.

 

@NoGaBiker I respect the position you are coming from in defense of engineering trying to bridge the gap between off-road performance, and on-road performance. But that is purely the purported point and design of the RangeRover Sport. The defender was designed to pay homage to its predecessor as a true off-road vehicle. For that reason, equipping it with road going braking, and wheel options negated the design language.

Is it fantastic on the road? Yes, and Im sure a lot will buy it for this.
Is it fantastic off-road? No, and this is what it was designed for.

Thats a problem. The solution is tire options as the GY is a barely passable A/T which was clearly also designed that way for on-road manners. So, aftermarket tire options have to be considered, and given the brake/wheel problem. That exacerbates the problem, as it limits tire options, and makes necessary sidewall not an option.

Can it be fixed? Yes, should LR address it, double yes.

 

I agree wholeheartedly that it was quite a happy accident for Land Rover that all of a sudden the upper trims of Broncos and even now [gasp] Jeep Wranglers had so much price overlap with the Defender. I know full well that the pandemic and global supply chain issues have caused a lot of upheaval in the automotive pricing structure but when it made its debut at $49,990 base MSRP, it offered a fascinating alternative to an upper level Wrangler, especially as Jeep was positioning the 2.0L turbo four as the 'premium' choice. All this is a long way of saying that JLR should do whatever it reasonably can to get these things out on the trails and have them go head to head with Jeeps and Broncos but especially Toyotas to show folks what they can do. They have seemingly arbitrarily and illogically cut their show pony off at the knees by not fitting it with proper sized tires.

Remember the title of this very thread: "Single, Simple Change" It is clearly a 33" tire from the factory with a corollary that we'd like the brake hardware to fit in an 18" wheel.