Land Rover Sticker Shock, Soothing Subaru In This Month's Letter From Europe

Letter from Europe,
By Andrew Frankl
European Bureau Chief and Executive Editor

In all these years of testing card and trucks I have never ever come across a vehicle where the MSRP price differential between the least expensive and the most  expensive is -no this is no misprint- 100 thousand dollars! Yes folks,,

The 2026 Land Rover Defender chimes is at 65 thousand  dollars  accelerating all the way to a mind blowing 160  thousand dollars.

This is the Octa version  which some young people with more money  then they know what to do with other than prance around Aspen.

Unless of course Ivanka and her beautiful family happen to be in town in which case Octa or no Octa you will be diverted  regardless of how many times you tell the cops “Don't you know who I am?!” Any more than these  billionaires who had mega meltdowns in St Barts because their private jets were also diverted from the nearest Major airport in St Martin.

Now that I’ve had a minute to mop up my tears, how about the Defender itself?  At $65 thou it is a very fine product, At 160 it is silly. From an engineering point of view it is a tour de force but I doubt if any of the billionaires have a clue about what is under  the hood and its historic off road capabilities.

First of all let me just say that I don’t blame Land Rover for taking money off these fools.

This Defender the one I had for test costs 107 thousand dollars and ti comes with lots of goodies. It has one of my favorite engines, Rover’s block-busting V8 with 493 horsepower. 8 speed auto transmission, all wheel drive, all terrain control (a must outside Harrods in London)

What is there not to love?! All the techies and hedgies have one for hurtling down the M40 into the highly coveted  Soho house for dinner.

The Defender is much more rugged than its rivals and it also scores in the snobbery stakes-vital if you are in the Stratospheric  segment  of the 1/10th of 1 percent. Genesis who? Genesis what? Park at the back says the valet.

No, the rivals to take seriously are Audi’s Q8 and Porsche’s Cayenne.

So far during my California winter stay we’ve had floods of Biblical proportions here in the Bay Area and the Defender was of course a God send, Don’t be fooled by the enclosed pictures, that was the only sunny day.

I must admit I am still having problems getting over Rover’s 160 thou sticker price. Especially when I got back into reality with Subaru’s Forester Hybrid AT around 40 thousand dollars it makes all the sense in the World. Partly because Subaru is a byword for reliability.

Is it exciting? No. Could it use a bigger engine? Absolutely. But for working families these are minor consideration.

What matters are the fuel consumption which is excellent 37 mpg and things like the first class instruments.

I needed all the help I could get during the horrendous storms we have had. Roads blocked, rivers overflowing, diversions everywhere and yet the Forester coped admirably. Brakes were fine, handling was fine and quite frankly I was glad to be in a Subbie ‘cos I knew it would get me home.

Under these conditions it was vital to have  my iPhone charged and the Forester had a wireless smartphone changing pad. Should be made compulsory.

The 11.6 inch infotainment touchscreen was fine but truth be told under the appalling conditions it was a matter of hands on the wheeling no  distractions of any kind. What mattered more  at that moment that the wipers which helped me to get home.

Before you think I am dramatizing  just look at recent photos from Marin County.

It was so Bad that The Times of London had on its front page a picture of three cars floating down Highway 101 in Corte Madera just up the road from where we winter. The generous 8.7 inches of ground clearance was a blessing and a savior!

As for rivals..well there are several in this highly contested field. Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan Rogue, Ford Escape, you name it.

The one thing that differentiates the Subaru is customer loyalty. I have several relatives who own one and would not consider switching to any other brand. If I needed a small SUV would it at the top of my shopping list?

Absolutely.

Well that's it from rainy California – Happy New Year To All and hoping that California goes back to its forever description “Sunny California”.