DRIVING IMPRESSION
The new Land Rover Defender has a number of rivals, but its biggest challenge is to fill the shoes of its predecessor.
The previous generation Defender has a reputation for unreliability. Whether this claim is true or not is open to dispute, but we think it’s unmerited. One of our editorial team members drives an old Defender and he always arrives on time for work and there’s never a trace of oil or grease under his fingernails.
It’s far too soon for the new Defender to have gained a reputation, but typically the first batch of a new vehicle has a few niggles – this applies to all brands.
The old Landie certainly wasn’t posh. It resembled an agricultural implement more than a luxury vehicle – and that was perfectly fine, because that’s what Defender owners wanted. The new Defender, by stark contrast, is lavishly styled as attested to by nods of recognition from other road users.
The old Landie certainly wasn’t posh. It resembled an agricultural implement more than a luxury vehicle
that the unibody frame is stronger and more rigid than the ladderframe chassis of the old Defender. Prospective buyers can therefore load up to their hearts content for overland expeditions. You can, for example, load 168 kg on the roof of the new Defender compared to 150 kg on the old one.
The wading depth has also been increased from 50 cm to 90 cm – from knee deep to hip height– but the new Defender’s ground clearance (218 mm) is 10 cm lower than that of the old Defender. The air suspension can lift the bodywork to 292 mm, but it’s still lower than the old Defender’s 323 mm.
On the inside
The touchscreen in the new Defender replaces quite a few buttons and switches, and while sitting in the driver’s seat there’s a sense of accomplishment rather than adventure. It is lovely inside and you wince at your own muddy footprints, even though the carpets are easily removed so you can mop the floors.
The Alpine windows – the little windows on either side of the old Defender’s roof that allowed rear passengers to see mountaintops – are still here, but they’re now narrower and of questionable use.
There are plenty of power points, so you can charge gadgets and run fridges. We approve!
What we don’t like is the digital rear view mirror that shows the image recorded by a camera. The perspective of the image feels unnatural because of the camera’s placement on the roof. You see everything from high up rather than straight behind you. And we now know how Count Dracula must feel when you hold a mirror up to his face, because you can’t see your own reflection in it!
And the drive?
We drove over dunes along the sea (see p 58) where we tested the electronic sand-driving mode and we tackled Bonniedale’s challenging 4x4 trail where we successfully completed rocky obstacles with the help of rock crawl mode. On highways and in towns, the difference between the old and new Defender is like day
and night, but that’s not what this test is about.
We found the ride gets surprisingly bumpy on twin-tracks when you switch from comfort mode to any of the off-road modes. Here it is sometimes better to switch back to comfort mode, but then the air suspension deflates and you need to lift it again to prevent the underside from banging on a rock.
The electronic traction control works well, but it’s annoying when the system makes weird noises for 20 seconds while the wheels scratch around tentatively until the computer decides on the best course of action to pull you up a steep hill covered with loose shale. The system definitely works, make no mistake, and it’s certainly a good way to protect tyres and components from careless drivers, but sometimes when you step on the pedal you just want to go forward without a computer giving its opinion as well. Here, we definitely prefer the simplicity of the old Defender.
In theory the new Defender’s unibody and independent suspension should perform worse in off-road conditions than the previous Defender’s good old ladder-frame chassis and live axles, but ultimately this wasn’t the case. Yes, a wheel sometimes hung uselessly in the air while it would have been more useful if it were on the ground to help push us forward, but the traction control compensated for this, even if we had to wait for the computer to go through its cautious motions.
A bigger problem is the approach and departure angles of 38 ° and 40 ° respectively, even with the air suspension fully raised. It’s less than the old Defender’s 47 ° and 47 °, and despite our best efforts during our test drive, the front bumper of the
test car scraped on Bonniedale’s obstacle course.
The many hidden cameras with which you can keep a beady eye on rocks and branches around the bodywork work great, but they don’t replace an actual person who points out the best line through a riverbed. As a result, the back left wheel rim got a scratch.
Wear and tear, I guess you could say, but we almost felt like crying because of the little marks (which no doubt cost thousands of rands to repair). It’s not something that would have concerned us had we been in a previous generation Defender. In fact, a dent in an old Defender adds to its appeal as a rough-and-ready vehicle.
Conclusion
Despite our criticism, the new Defender impressed us. It went everywhere we wanted it to go, even in places that made us a little nervous. No, it doesn’t have to stand back when it comes to off-road capability.
After all these years, however, it still feels like a special event when driving an old Defender. The new Defender also feels special, true, but in a different way. On our test drive from Cape Town to Mossel Bay and back, a journey of 1 400 km in four days, our thoughts were often “Look at them staring at us” while it should maybe have been: “Where does that road lead to?”