Land Rover Monthly August 2022

@busheditor MY Land Rover helps me cope with whatever life chucks at me. I know I’m not alone. Other Landy worshippers experience the same thing and find comfort in their Land Rovers. During our recent Spares Day at Malvern (see our Show Report page 48) I took a mid-morning break to get a cup of coffee and bacon butty. A man and his wife walked past the bench I was sitting on; they were carrying a Defender rear cross-member. I could see from their body language that it was heavy, so when they asked if they could join me, I insisted. While the wife headed off to get some coffee and outriggers – as you do at a LRM Spares Day – the husband started chatting away. He told me…

1 THE ULTIMATE DIGITAL EDITION LRM’s extensive digital library is a fantastically convenient way for you to access all the Land Rover information you could possibly need – whenever and wherever you want! It includes the latest issue and all issues dating back to May 2015, the issues are fully searchable allowing you to easily find what you are looking for. Subscribe now from just £9.99. VISIT: bit.ly/lrmdigi22 2 INTERACTIVE DIGITAL EDITION Enjoy extra photos, videos, live web feeds, page jumps and hyperlinks. Get your first issue for just £2.99, with future issues at £3.99 monthly or 13 issues for only £39.99. VISIT: bit.ly/lrmpocketmags 3 PRINT Prefer paper? Have Land Rover Monthly delivered to your door. Get your first three issues for only £5, then pay just £12.99 per quarter.…

ARES is the latest coachbuilder to breathe new life into the old Defender. For those of you who are not familiar with the name, Modena-based ARES offers design, development, manufacture and car sales all under one roof. And despite being relatively new to the scene, ARES has established quite the reputation for highly bespoke and unique cars… at a price! Its latest product for example – this limited-edition V8 hardtop – is priced from €235,000 (ex-local taxes). So what do you get for a smidgen over £200k? Well, ARES claims that no detail is spared in the painstaking creation of this Defender. First of all, it’s devoid of all visible body bolts – something which we think is a bit of shame, but when you’re fitting larger rear windows, carbon-fibre…

BACK in August 2019, before anyone had even heard of COVID-19, Ben Metcalfe and his seven-year-old daughter Hope drove a 1955 Land Rover more than 1200 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End to raise money for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust. They took two weeks to complete their challenge and we covered the story in our December 2019 issue if you want to find out more. Now affectionately known as ‘Groats Landy’, Ben’s world-weary 67-year-old LWB 107 pick-up hasn’t hung up its hat just yet, as the father and daughter team are now planning their next trip: home (Hampshire) to Iceland and back via Sweden and Norway. Travelling through 14 countries and over 12,000 miles in a car that’s not likely to make it without breaking down, is bound…

PURCHASE if you’d like, but also consider subscription or rental – that’s the new message from Jaguar Land Rover’s revamped online showroom, as it seeks to educate customers about different ways to have a newish Land Rover parked on their driveway. The digital showroom, first launched in 2019, has been overhauled to include subscription and short-term rental options, in addition to traditional forms of ownership, Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) or Hire Purchase. Visually refreshed and with fewer steps, the online platform includes new features such as a document portal and live updates on the status of orders. For customers seeking a subscription alternative to ownership, ‘Pivotal’ offers a simple, flexible ownership experience. A single monthly payment (starting from £850) covers rental, insurance, tax, servicing and repairs – leaving just fuel…

EVER felt Land Rover hasn’t honoured its warranty? Then maybe you should take a leaf out of Mike Cox’s book, who blocked a showroom in protest after the dealer refused to fix a car he’d bought there. The 36-year-old has parked a Range Rover, a McLaren, a caravan and a truck outside the dealership, adorned with slogans such as ‘Don’t Buy a Range Rover!!! They don’t honour their warranty’, and ‘How can Thierry Bollore [CEO of Land Rover] let it get to this?’. Cox’s protest obstucted the entrance to Stratstone Land Rover Cardiff for a week. Before you do decide to take similar action, the dealership has taken out an injunction against Cox. But the angry customer is apparently refusing to be beaten and told BBC Wales: “I’ll just move…