Defender first drive

What’s in a name? The Defender is probably the most controversial vehicle to hit the streets in a long time. Whether it should be named Defender or not is perhaps irrelevant, it’s here, and that’s all that matters - a brave new Defender for a new market and a modern age. Seriously folks, it had to be done.

Everyone knows, even if they may not want to admit it, that the old Defender was simply unsuitable for the 21st century, its lack of any sort of safety features and passenger protection rendered it positively dangerous. I could waffle on all day about old vs new, but instead I’ll tell you what new Defender like to drive.

On the Road

Arguable the most important part of the new Defender’s remit was to make it safer with better on road manners. The trouble is, the old Defender always made you feel like you’re about to go on an epic adventure, even if you were just nipping to your local Co-op for some frozen peas.

The interior, which at I’ll get to later, is designed to be rugged and goes some way to making you feel like it’ll handle anything, just like the old ‘un, only with more space, comfort and tech.

The new Defender’s on road manners are light and day in comparison to the old one, and so they should be. It’s still a tall vehicle, so don’t be thinking that you can throw it around corners at speed, if that’s the kind of driving you’re into, buy a Discovery or Range Rover Sport, that’s their domain, not the Defender’s. By the way, I’m not saying you can’t throw it around corners, you can, but it wasn’t designed for that.

With the 110 fitted with the optional variable ride height air suspension, no matter what road surface, the Defender 110 offers a quiet and relaxing drive, even with the drivers window fully down, there’s no buffeting as you get with many other vehicles.

For my 2 hour drive from Fen End to Eastnor Castle along A and B roads, I had the ‘240’ 237bhp, 317lb ft inlinefour twin-turbodiesel, and it was such a comfortable drive.

After around 130 miles that included many A, B and motorway stints, as well as an almost 2 hour off road course, ‘my’ Defender was showing that it had achieved just over 33mpg, which is impressive considering that I wasn’t hanging about!

Off road

C’mon, there was never any doubt that the new Defender wouldn’t be epic off road, was there?

A simple button push engages the low-range gearbox, which activates the off-road mode for the air suspension, giving 300mm of ground clearance, which 40mm higher than the old Defender. Simply switch the Terrain Response system to Mud and Ruts, set the hill descent to a sensible speed, and the new Defender took me everywhere I pointed it.

Unfortunately, the Eastnor Estate had had quite a dry spell of late, so the tracks were fairly easy to navigate. The critics and doubters amongst us will always argue that Land Rover Experience off road course at Eastnor is built and designed to show off their abilities, of course they are, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t tough.

There were no creaks or groans from anywhere in the vehicle, except perhaps from me, I’d had a terrible night’s sleep, and my neck was a bit stiff…

Interior

First things first, elbow space, there’s plenty, even for a tall fat bloke like myself!

The interior is where I believe the Defender retains its sense of adventure, that feeling you’re about to go on an exciting drive. They’ve done a great job of updating the dash layout whilst still retaining certain aspects from older vehicles.

Sat behind thick rimmed steering wheel, you suddenly get an overwhelming sense of space, it’s huge inside, there’s a wide centre console and loads of space for you all your nik-naks, they’ve done a really good job of making the interior as practical as possible.

Despite being a bit posh, The new Defender is still utilitarian with tough, high quality, soft touch wipe-down materials and oodles of practicalness. It may not appeal to everyone, but I love the exposed bolts and architecture.

The now familiar central screen is integrated really well on the dash and sits just above the transmission shift and takes care of the usual connectivity, SatNav and external camera images.

As you might expect, the new Defender bristles with the latest Land Rover technology such as the PiviPro infotainment and up to the minute software updates from the vehicle’s constant connection to its own version of the Cloud. The list is almost endless of self activating apps and appliances, is it all a step too far for some purists? Probably, but I suspect they aren’t the target market.

Engines’n’transmissions

Power is supplied by a variety of the now proven Ingenium engines both 4 and 6 cylinder petrol, 4 cylinder sequential twin-turbo diesel, plug in hybrid and mild or self-contained hybrid mated to 8-speed automatic transmissions.

Conclusion

I went to the launch expecting to drive a well balanced, exceptionally competent 4x4, it had a lot to live up to, and it didn’t disappoint.

Times are difficult for everyone and all manufactures, and I know that JLR would have much preferred to have had an extended test drive for us to get more of a feel for the car, but they did their best considering current restrictions. The 5 hours or so that I spent in the Defender was enough to convince me that they’ve surpassed their brief of building a Defender suitable for the 21st Century, one that you’ll actually enjoy driving down to Morocco and back in, and still be as fresh as a daisy

Hopefully, within the next few months I’ll get my hands on one for a full weeks evaluation, but until then, let me raise my beer filled tankard and declare that the King is dead. Long live the King.

more at » www.landrover.co.uk