New Defender is magic

LAND ROVER: A VEHICLE SYNONYMOUS WITH ‘GO ANYWHERE’ ABILITY

It will make you feel really good… whether you want to 4x4 or Fourways.

One of the strangest evolutions in the car industry in the last 20 years is how hardcore, utilitarian offroaders have morphed into Hollywood Boulevard cruisers and fashion accessories.

I am not talking here of the Range Rover because, apart from the first incarnation of that vehicle as a workhorse for the landed gentry, it has always been regarded as a luxury vehicle and, because of that, something you can shove in the face of your less fortunate Toyota Land Cruiser-driving neighbour.

The Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen was developed for the military and was

(and still is) one of the most awesomely capable off-the-shelf bundu bashers you can get. Over the years, though, following its discovery by drug dealers and rappers, it has evolved into the must-have accompaniment to gold chains, jewelled rings, hang-aroundthe-crack jeans and the backwards baseball cap.

I had always thought – hoped, maybe – that this civilising change would not happen to the Land Rover Defender, the vehicle synonymous with “go anywhere” ability.

The New Defender, as it was known on launch, turned out to be an awesomely capable vehicle, with a multitude of electronic and mechanical tricks up its sleeve to enable it to negotiate really fearsome obstacles. We had the long-wheelbase version on test last year and it made light of some hectic offroad tracks we took on. Actually, “made light” is actually selling it short. With amazingly comfortable seats, state-of-theart climate control and clever all-round cameras, the clambering over rocks experience took on an almost unreal feel, so far removed were you from the stress. The level of luxury, though, was what set the New Defender apart. Not far off the Range Rover levels of opulence and passenger-cosseting. Which, given how we like our blue chip brands around the southern tip of Africa, has led to it becoming a statement icon. You just have to look at Land Rover’s monthly sales figures to see how popular it is. No doubt, like most of the cars produced by the company, more than half Defenders will never see gravel.

The short-wheelbase Landie Defender was, in years past – and still is, for those who own them – virtual king of the unmodified 4x4 world.

Designated 90, because of the 90 inches between its axles (LR keeps the Imperial measurement flag flying), it was nothing less than a mountain goat. My colleague Willem, who has one (emblazoned with “One Life, Live It”) takes it to places in Lesotho which would give people, never mind vehicles, a nose-bleed.

When the new SWB Defender was launched, I expected that to go more or less back to the roots of the original Defender 90s. And it does. You can kit it out with optional steel wheels (that is correct), as well as accoutrements like jerry cans to give you the wherewithal for heading cross-country into Africa.

But, in the Defender X version we had on test, I was floored by the vehicle’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde personality. It has all the offroading gear that the longer Defenders have and, with the shorter wheelbase, will probably still be unbeatable in unmodified form when the going gets tough. Yet, it has most of the luxury appointments you’d find in a Range Rover.

Most stunning, though, is that it performs like a top level hot hatch, thanks to its 221kW 3.0 litre V6 turbodiesel engine. There are other, even hotter versions with a V6 petrol-hybrid and a V8 which sounds as though it belongs on a racetrack, not out in the sticks. Our diesel Defender 90 will hit 100km/h in 6.7 second, says LR. An old Defender 90 with diesel engine would be lucky to get to 100km/h as a top speed…and you’d probably need a calendar to time that “sprint”.

The Defender 90 is magic for sure – for how else except sorcery, do you manage to cram that much diverse competence into one vehicle? And magic is not cheap – our version came in at just over R1.7 million and the cheapest Defender is over R1.2 million.

If you have that sort of money, though, it will make you feel really good…whether you want to 4x4 or Fourways.