Having worked in "extreme terrain" conditions for much of my adult life, and now work my own farm, I completely disagree. You don't want to be spending significant portions of your day in a "stripped bare" platform. Maybe thats ok for a couple of hours rock crawling twice a month (not that I would call that extreme terrain!), but not for any actual utility.

Why is this, what features give you value ?

In no particular order, but equipment I recognise I use frequently. Probably missing a bunch of other stuff.

  - Cab heating (keep warm when cold)
  - engine block heater (start vehicle below -25C)
  - windscreen wipers (clear snow/dust from windows)
  - demister/deicer (quickly clear fog/ice from windows)
  - air suspension seats (stop spine popping out of butt)
  - Cab air-conditioning (keep cool when hot)
  - cab air filtration (reduce chance of nasty lung conditions / death)
  - power-steering (be able to turn without arms falling off)
  - wet-braking (nice to have breaks when you need them)
  - a handbrake that works (safely keep vehicle running while unmanned)
  - multiple lockable diffs (you WILL get stuck in mud without these)
  - multiple range gearing (go super slow without stalling and also go fast enough on highway)
  - quick-reverse (switch from forwards to backwards quickly)
  - reversing/positioning cameras (so you dont hit stuff you dont want to hit, and do hit stuff you want to hit)
  - bluetooth entertainment system (podcasts, audiobooks)
  - soundproofing (soooo loud otherwise)
  - winch (get unstuck without waiting for help)
  - CTIS (save about 20 mins a day solely adjusting tyre pressure from field/road)

Im sure you can do without a bunch of that, but you will just be miserable for much of the year (or you dont actually spend much time operating).

I guess you could add safety equipment to that as well. Rollcage, multi-point harness, etc. Theres also the obvious stuff that you just need to do the job - tow hitches, 3-pt mounts, PTOs, etc.

For example air conditioning prevents heat exhaustion.

Heated and massaging seats, auto deploying running boards and tailgate step for your aching back

360 degree camera for maneuvering in tight spaces

110V outlet for charging tools

Sunroof you can stick your head out of to get a higher vantage point

None of these have I ever needed in my previous life as a country boy.

Most of my tooling was petroleum, and I had no back problems. I will be the first to admit that maneuvers in tight spaces was definitely a learn by fire trial.

I have a 2004 Discovery 3 which was specced in the highest possible trim at the time, I've been driving it off road for nearly 2 decades now and it's still absolutely fine. The only feature on it which is actually broken is the driver seat heating. Everything else, including the armrest fridge, works fine. 210k miles, no major repairs with the engine(4.4L V8 petrol). I had to get the chassis rustproofed few years back and the air suspension compressor replaced twice, but that's about it when it comes to "big" repairs.

My point is - I'd absolutely buy another highly specced, full of tech vehicle for offroading. Disco 3s were meant to be "catastrophic" in terms of electrical problems but I didn't really have many issues with mine. The only catastrophic thing about it is the insane fuel consumption(my long term average is 15L/100km, which actually at the current fuel prices is financially ruinous)