I have something that might be helpful to folks and it's exactly what Stu described (Hope your head is OK Stu!! You only have one so stop using it to test the structure of your Disco's doors, ok? They are strong enough!) and that's it's comparison with other vehicles.
Here's the assumptions on my analysis:
1) I built the cars from regional websites by "pretending" I was a customer in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and South Africa. My build was based on the "tool to do a job" analogy, which means in every case I had to add a few things over the base, but my goal was to add the minimum options necessary to each vehicle in each market to get them suitable for a basic scenario/use case, or as close as I could get to it. I defined that use case as follows: I want an off road vehicle that allows me to tow, has front and rear lockers (or the equivalent in the case of the LR), and has the ability to pop off a part of the roof to stand and take pictures. My reason for having that last one in this comparison is that it is the default state for one of the comparators (Jeep), so I might as well try to get as close to apples to apples. I did not add any other options unless I had no choice. All vehicles are petrol with automatic transmissions - note that the jeep can be had for less with a manual, which is actually preferable for some, but again apples to apples. I should add though, that some vehicles come with a LOT more stuff in the "base" price -- the Land Rover interior has premium audio and finishes by default, for instance, whereas those are options on the other marques.
2) The analysis isn't perfect. Not all packages are the same around the world; for instance I was unable to get a price from the Australian website for a Defender, so I had to guesstimate how much the options I added (tow package and locker systems) would cost from third party data, so I'm probably a bit off there. Another example is that the Jeep in both Canada and the USA come with a soft top, so I added the hard top; this appears to be default in the UK and Australia. In Canada, you cannot just get the tow package, it comes with the high load aux switches, whereas in the USA you can do the tow package without the aux switches. So, it's not perfect because of these regional configurator differences, but it's not a terrible "dead reckoning".
3) Finally, the actual dollar price is pretty irrelevant; the vehicle is not priced based on exchange rates but instead on what the local market will bear. To that end, all of the numbers are expressed in the local currency. With that thought, we needed a benchmark, so I picked the Big Mac from McDonalds, also expressed in local currency. This can be thought of as your opportunity cost -- "How many Big Macs could I get if instead of buying (model) of vehicle, I went to McDonalds?".
I think that covers most of the context, here are the numbers:
Prices of Various Vehicles Expressed in Local Currency
| Vehicle | USA | Canada | UK | Australia | South Africa |
| Wrangler | $56,630 | $65,275 | £62,520 | $98,534 | R1,099,900 |
| Gladiator | $55,075 | $67,225 | £N/A | $94,212 | R1,329,900 |
| Defender | $67,875 | $82,730 | £70,925 | $87,830 | R1,816,600 |
| Grenadier | $77,300 | $101,084 | £61,970 | $104,385 | R1,584,635 |
| Big Mac | $5.78 | $6.70 | £3.81 | $6.48 | R47.24 |
How Many Big Macs Can I Buy For The Price Of That Car?
| Vehicle | USA | Canada | UK | Australia | South Africa |
| Wrangler | 9,797.6 | 9,742.5 | 16,409.5 | 15,205.9 | 23,283.2 |
| Gladiator | 9,528.5 | 10,033.6 | N/A | 14,538.9 | 28,152.0 |
| Defender | 11,743.1 | 12,347.8 | 18,615.5 | 13,554.0 | 38,454.7 |
| Grenadier | 13,373.7 | 15,087.2 | 16,265.1 | 15,108.8 | 33,544.3 |
So what does the analysis above show? Well, the first blush is that my reaction to the Canadian pricing was not unfair -- the biggest affordability jump from the competition is in Canada. I could get 2,739.4 Big Macs for the money I would save buying the Defender instead of the Grenadier. For my American friends, you would be able to get only 1,630.6 Big Macs for the money you'd save buying the Defender instead of the Gren. In the UK, the Defender would actually mean you could get 2,350 Big Macs if you purchased the Gren instead of the Defender. Australians can get 1554.8 Big Macs if they "skimp" and buy the Defender instead of the Gren. South Africans -- apart from getting stupid good deals on Big Macs -- would be able to buy 4,910 Big Macs if they buy the Gren instead of the Defender.
So, it seems like in some places, the Gren is the value option. In other places, like the ones whose flag is adorned with a Maple Leaf, it's exorbitantly more expensive than the competition. It also shows that dollar for dollar, the Gren is priced similarly in the USA and Australia; less than 100 Big Macs isn't a lot on a purchase of this size. In Europe and South Africa, the Gren is a relative steal of a deal.
Personally, if I were in America, I'd still be in - the value is there. But in Canada, it is not. Each of these vehicles represents some sort of compromise on the Gren, but as I've said earlier in this thread, I can compromise on a lot for 2739 Big Macs. That's 3 years worth of dinners' difference between what a Canadian pays for the Gren as compared to what an American pays for the Gren, versus the other options.
This was a quick comparison, and I could easily have made mistakes on the numbers and I'm totally open to folks correcting any of the above based on their own analysis; good science needs repeatability so if others are willing to do a similar experiment and post the results, that would be awesome.
).
