[Indraneel Bhat]

Black Pearl Bhai,

I'm not a fan of the Defender, but I understand obsession. Congratulations on the fulfillment of a long held dream!! I am glad you did not let your dream die...

DRIVE SAFE and here's to thousands of happy miles!!!!

[Eshan Joshi]

Hey Black Pearl congratulations of your Defender!

You have got quite a nice garage now. A Range Rover Sport and a Defender. Really nice.

This is the last true Land Rover that you can call a tractor. No luxury , Non nonsense only capabilities. Some thing that belongs in the countryside , not in a mall parking. You have really got your hands on something land Rover will most likely never make again.

Enjoy it to the fullest.

Bit out of topic. My parents used to live near the Land rover factory in Solihull . They used to see new land rovers roll out every day (Including the Defender) . I am pretty sure yours would have come from the Solihull plant.

[shibujp]

Congrats on the new car...or must I say experience! After folowing your Thar, Bolero experience I guess this is no surprise! Great stuff.

What is the experience with relation to taxes owning a Defender in London. I have read that London has some extra taxes for SUVs, cars that have C02 emissions over a certain value etc...does that impact you?

Drive on,
Shibu

[Sridhar C E]

Hi Blackpearl,

Loved reading your love story come true!
Wishing you many many miles and smiles with your beauty!

[Trojan]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Living with the Defender


It is impossible to find fault with a vehicle when it looks so good from every angle! If I were asked to change things I did not like, I would not be able to find a single point

The interiors are not to everyones liking, but I find it beautiful

Are you kidding me, this is poetry!!!

This is literally the Gurkha of my dreams, may the Alchemist be alerted to weave this new story of demands and may the Universe conspire with aplomb to deliver it!

What a beauty, lucky you Blackpearl!

Cheers,

[A350]

Congratulations on your beautiful vehicle BlackPearl. Wish you thousands of wonderful kilometers on it.

[turbowhistle]

Heartiest congratulations Blackpearl,

The car looks ultimate and hope it serves you countless miles. Well I just don’t hope, am pretty sure it’s gonna outlive us.

Was looking forward to this thread since I saw the photos in the meetup thread. Are you still gonna keep the Range Rover for highway runs?

[JoshMachine]

Congrats Sumitro . The Defender is a keeper for many, many years!

Nice & crisp initial ownership review. I know you mentioned somewhere else that you are not into too much writing when it comes to ownership etc. but you have to admit this time you have broken your own threshold of word count

[Samba]

Awesome review. Congrats for buying a TIMEless MACHINE!

This review came straight from your heart! Never had an idea that our calm and composed Blackpearl can be this emotional! Loved reading it.

Few days back, I was driving on the highway and saw this! Just couldn't overtake it, admired it from behind!

[carthick1000]

Congratulations on the ownership and thanks for the brief history and a very nice overview of your buying experience. I can feel a very serious enthusiast of defenders. The example you got seems to be very well maintained and taken care of. Also the service bill is very reasonable. I am not an SUV/offroad person, but I do like some vehicles like the Range Rover, Defender, Gypsy and the new Jimny esp. for their presence and form follow functional design.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

The only dialogue that came to my mind is that of The Joker - “I’m a dog chasing cars, I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just do… things.”

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Long time back I had read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and there was a line there - “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Very nicely put, especially liked your honest nail-biting moments of financing the vehicle. When I booked my first new car in NL (MX-5 ND), I had a similar experience of getting things sorted out before delivery.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Living with the Defender

Then there is the camaraderie among the Defender drivers. Defender owners wave when they pass each other! It is a unique thing and I have never seen this with any other vehicle.

Not only among defender owners. I have seen it here in NL between MX-5 owners too. Irrespective of which generation of MX-5 you drive, you get waved at. Of course it is a special and unique thing. You will get used to it and probably during the course of time, complain if some other busy defender owner forgot to notice and wave

[sjcherian]

Congratulations @BlackPearl ! Amazing vehicle you got and your post has fabulous photos. Been reading your threads from the Bolero and Thar and the Mini.
The Defender is one of my dream vehicles as well. Wishing you many miles of joy !

[Nair.V8]

@BlackPearl congratulations on acquiring this legendary automobile! Wish you a safe & joyful ownership experience.

[Prakritij]

Congratulations on the timeless piece of automotive history. Each pic was droolworthy. This design will never grow old in the minds of motorheads.
Wishing you a million miles and more of happy driving with it.

[sureshkumar]

You said it. The looks are not retro, but ancient. But then who cares, it's still great. You mentioned that the steering is vague, I hope it is power steering. How about the brakes, are they good?. and does it weigh more than 2 tons?

[Altocumulus]

Congratulations BP !!

This is by far one of your best buys.

You should have a series of all your car buying experience. All of them. You pen them down so well and maybe because I know you and Rajsri personally, I can't help but picture them in my mind as I read along. All great stories and proof of your love for cars.