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This Or That: 1987 VW Vanagon Syncro vs. 1987 Land Rover Defender [w/poll]

As I scoured auction sites and classified ads for the perfect vehicle to take into battle with Autoblog Associate Editor Brandon Turkus, I knew I needed to find something unique. You see, I'm currently 0-2 at winning a round of This or That, in which two of our editors agree on a category, choose a side, and argue it out over a (mostly) friendly chain of emails.
The first time we did this, my chosen Fiat 500 Abarth took about a third of the popular vote in our reader poll. The second time, my lovely 1980 Oldsmobile 442 did just a little bit better against a 1989 BMW 635 CSi. Despite holding the opinion that my automotive choices, though perhaps a little bit more... obscure than my fellow editors, are still better, an outright win would go a long way toward boosting my vehicular self worth a few notches upward.
With all of that out of the way, even if three isn't my lucky number after all, I go into battle against Brandon knowing full well that I've made the perfect choice: A 1987 Volkswagen Vanagon Syncro. My rough-and-tumble van/'ute has a formidable opponent in the form of a 1987 Land Rover Defender, which, truth be told, is exactly what I was expecting from Turkus, a self-proclaimed Rover aficionado.

Jaguar Land Rover to cut thousands of UK jobs

LONDON — Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is set to cut thousands of jobs as the company faces lower demand in China and a slump in sales of diesel cars in Europe. The central English firm builds a higher proportion of its cars in Britain than any other major or medium-sized carmaker and has also spent millions of pounds preparing for Brexit, in case there are tariffs or customs checks. Britain's business minister Greg Clark said on Thursday it is clear why a no-deal Brexit would add to the problems with further costs and disruption. JLR lost 354 million pounds ($450 million) between April and September 2018 and had already cut around 1,000 roles in Britain, shut its Solihull plant for two weeks and announced a three-day week at its Castle Bromwich site. Its Chief Executive Ralf Speth warned in September that the wrong Brexit deal could cost tens of thousands of car jobs and posed a threat to production at the automaker. The Tata Motors-owned company, which employs around 40,000 people in Britain and has boosted its workforce at new plants in China and Slovakia in recent years, unveiled plans to cut costs and improve cash flows by 2.5 billion pounds last year including "reducing employment costs and employment levels." Those cuts will be "substantial" and run into the thousands, the source told Reuters. "The announcement on job losses will be substantial, affecting managerial, research, sales, design," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, not affecting production-line staff "at this stage." The company declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Thursday. Ford also said on Thursday it will cut thousands of jobs in Europe, exit unprofitable markets and discontinue loss-making vehicle lines as part of a turnaround effort aimed at improving profit margins in the region. Brexit warnings JLR, which became Britain's biggest carmaker in 2016, had been on course to build around 1 million vehicles by the turn of the decade, reported on Thursday a 4.6 percent drop in full-year sales to just under 600,000 vehicles. Demand in China, which had once been one of its strongest countries but has since been hit by a slowdown, fell by 21.6 percent, the biggest drop of any of its markets. "The economic slowdown in China along with ongoing trade tensions is continuing to influence consumer confidence," said Jaguar Land Rover Chief Commercial Officer Felix Brautigam.

Check out King Charles III's $17.6 million car collection

King Charles III's coronation will take place in England on May 6, and being crowned a monarch comes with a long list of perks with four wheels. He will gain full access to the Royal Family's fleet of cars, which is valued at about GBP14 million (approximately $17.6 million). The two most expensive cars in the collection are nearly identical: they're a pair of Bentley State Limousine models (pictured) built for Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III's mother, in 2002. Only two units were made, and they're both part of the Royal Family's fleet, so they're difficult to put a value on; it's not like one is going to end up listed on your favorite auction site anytime soon. British company Nationwide Vehicle Contracts, which compiled the list, estimates that each armored, 245-inch long sedan is worth at least GBP10,000,000 (roughly $12.6 million). Dropping below the eight-digit threshold, the second-most-valuable car in the Royal Family's fleet isn't really a car. It's the Gold State Coach, which Matchbox recently released a 1/64-scale replica of, and its value is estimated at GBP1.6 million (about $2 million). At 275 inches long it's even bigger than the Bentley limousine and it weighs about 9,000 pounds. It's 261 years old and designed to be pulled by eight horses, and has been part of every coronation since 1831. The rest of the Royal Family's vehicles are relatively mundane. There's a 1965 Aston Martin DB6 Volante that Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Phillip, bought for King Charles III on his 21st birthday. It's worth GBP1 million (about $1.2 million). The collection also includes a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI (about $627,000), a Bentley Bentayga (about $201,000), a Land Rover Range Rover long-wheelbase Landaulet ($133,000), a Jaguar XE (about $41,000), and a Land Rover Defender ($38,000). "Luxury cars have long been associated with the monarch and King Charles III, in particular, is known for his fondness of motor vehicles. His impressive collection features sentimental value with motors passed down from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, to cars bought for him by his parents," explained Keith Hawes, the director of Nationwide Vehicle Contracts, in an interview with CBS News. Being at the head of a car-making nation's royal family also comes with drawbacks: Every vehicle in King Charles III's fleet is British.