DEFENDER of the LAND ROVER FAITH
ZM’S Vaughan Smith reckons the 2020 Defender is a bit more posh than his Poppa’s 1967 Series 2
My car knowledge is minimal, myoffroading is even less andmyonly previous personal experience with a Land Rover is with a 1967 series 2Athat I inherited frommy grandad.
Butmypoppa’s Land Rover is the one vehicle that’s been inmy family as long as I can remember. Hegot it in 1969 after one careful lady owner traded it in for reasons unknown; I recallmynana constantly complaining about the cost of keeping it capable of farm duties (and that was in the ’80s).
It’s loaded with memories and it’s always been started the sameway. Key on. Pumpthe gas twice. Pull the choke right out. Hopefor the best and press the ignition button. As soon as it chokes, coughs, splutters or gasps, you pumpthe accelerator again and it either roars into life, or you start the process again.
Getting the keys to thenew Defender, it was calming to have to press abutton to start it. But that’s about where the similarities end.
My1967 does have a slight advantage in engine size: 2.25l vs 2l. But it also carries the rattles, bangs, glugs and whining of its years.
The turbo-diesel engine in the D240 model I drove was very nice
indeed: 0-100km/h in 9.0 seconds, I’m told; I wouldn’t know, I drove the whole weekend likemypoppa (who was never in a hurry to get anywhere, but was always going somewhere) was in the passenger seat.
While previous off-roadingdays had shown us the capabilities of the Defender in mud, water, sand and dirt, wedidn’t really explore
the on-road technology.
The adaptive cruise control was great on the open road. Keeping a safe distance from the car in front automatically, I didn’t feel like overtaking and it madefor amore calming journey.
Also, it was key in achieving a coveted title: the “Perfect Driving Score”! The infotainment system has amonitor that calculates a driving score based on acceleration, Rpmand braking. My best score was 99 per cent, and that’s not justmybest driving score, that’s actually the highest score I have ever got on anything; apart from Spider-man on PS4, where I got 100 per cent
completion, but I used the internet for help, so that was cheating.
The Pivi Pro infotainment system is also thehomeof an amazing 10-speaker plus subwoofer sound system and agaggle of cameras around the Defender to help with off-roading, reversing and parking in spaces you’ve been told you won’t fit into. Oooooohyes I will.
The optional Explorer pack fitted to the Defender I drove features (among other things) the side mounted gear carrier.
Every person I showed the Defender to asked the same question within 30 seconds: “What’s that thing on the side?”
It’s an extra 24 litres of storage
for anything you don’t want to put in the car. If I had one, I’d have three bottles of wine, cheese, crackers and four marine flares. Variety is key to survival.
Mypoppa’s children (my dad, uncle and aunty) all saw the Defender, all had comments along the lines of “Phew!”, “That’s flash”, “Abit nice for you”, “It would be abit too complicated for your Poppa”, “Few more bells and whistles” and “Does it have a choke that needs to be pulled out for starting?”
In conclusion (this ishowi wrapped up essays at school) the 2020 Land Rover Defender isn’t the old stiff upper lip, post-war, make-the-most-of-what-you’vegot style, British bare-bones battler it was. But oooooh it’s nice. It’s very nice indeed.