Still a Defender of the faith
NO, YOU’RE not seeing things. Little more than two years ago on January 29, 2016, the last of the classic Land Rover Defenders rolled off the production line in Solihull – some two million units and more than 67 years after it started. So what on earth, you might rightly ask, is this “new” Defender Works V8 suddenly doing in showrooms?
The answer is both simple and complicated. Firstly the Midlands firm wanted to introduce a high-performance version of the Defender in limited numbers (just 150 of these Works V8s will be built) to celebrate Land Rover’s 70th anniversary and also to pay homage to past petrol V8-powered Defenders in all their guises.
There’s also the small matter of price. At more than £150,000 each, these 150 Works V8s will fatten up Jaguar Land Rover’s piggy bank to the tune of £22.5million.
The other answer is rather more complex. With a new Defender unlikely to be in showrooms until at least 2020, Land Rover can’t afford to lose any of its potential customer base. That’s especially so with all of the aftermarket tuning companies still doing such a good trade in the original Defenders.
So we have this Defender Works V8. Available in both three-door short wheelbase and five-door long wheelbase forms (the latter adding a further 10 grand to the price tag), at least the Works V8 looks the part with its 18in alloy wheels (the largest ever seen on a Defender), black roof, front grille and wheel arches, machined aluminium door handles and LED headlights. Then again, at that price you half expect the steering wheel to be made of solid gold.
Much of that sum goes under the bonnet of course, where there’s an eye-watering 5.0-litre V8 petrol engine. And if its 405bhp wasn’t scary enough in a car of this type, just remember that the outgoing diesel Defender produced just 122bhp.
All that’s enough to get it from 0 to 60mph in just 5.6 seconds and on to a 106mph top speed. That’s the kind of acceleration to embarrass many sports cars, albeit connected to some of the Defender’s underpinnings that are about as modern as an oil lamp. Yes, Land Rover has uprated much under the skin of this Works V8 and fitted new steering and suspension but the last time some of this technology was seen, Noah was getting busy with a hammer, some nails and lengths of two-by-four.
But maybe we’re being unfair. The reality is that none of those 150 Works V8 customers are buying their cars expecting the very latest in automotive technology, in fact many are probably buying it