Op-Ed: The New Land Rover Defender
It has been a long time coming but the all new Land Rover Defender has finally come among us. After the endless action teaser shots of it in camo doing Land Rover-y things in the wilderness of Africa (and Germany), the all new Defender is now ready to take the mantle where the previous beloved workhorse left off.
However, this being one of the beloved British motoring icons, whereby any changes that have not been approved by the National Trust is deemed treasonous, the early opinions on the new Defender have been polarising to say the least. The establishment of automotive journos love it, meanwhile the keyboard warrior enthusiasts are (to put it kindly) still withholding from praise.
So, here I am putting my own two cents into the ring of debate. To make it easier for the Internet to violently disagree with my opinion I have decided to give my opinion on the 4 most contentious categories of debate regarding this most British of motoring icons (even Land Rover is owned by an Indian conglomerate and the Defender is built in Slovakia).
Disclaimer: This article is not meant to be a review of the defender, there are hundreds of videos and articles already reviewing it, this is just what I think of the new Defender.
Editor’s note: This article carries only the views of the author and that of the author alone and not of Drive Every Day. And as the author is a teen typing this out in his bedroom having not driven it, sat in it or even seen it in the metal, he is as qualified (or even less qualified) as any other person reading this article. The only defence the author has is that the author has read quite a few articles and watched quite a few videos regarding this vehicle so the author is relatively informed regarding this topic of discussion. Also the author is entitled to his own opinion and so is the person reading these words entitled to their own opinion. It’s a free world after all.
1. Exterior Styling
The new Defender doesn’t look too bad. There I said it, don’t hurt me Internet. Please.
On a more serious note, automotive journos are saying that the new Defender is a good looking vehicle. With some more philosophical presenters saying that the styling of the Defender is paying homage to the original design while not being constrained by it. The enthusiast consensus however, is that the Defender looks like a Honda Element. Which while there is nothing wrong with looking like a Honda Element. This being a Land Rover Defender, the old British workhorse, being likened to a quirky Japanese hatch isn’t ideal.
I, for one, quite like the general looks of the Defender. It looks like a giant modern Tonka Toy. It still maintains its boxy Defender outline but its given the smoothed-off treatment Land Rover have been doing to all of their lineup.
Having steelies as the standard wheel choice was also a stroke of genius by Land Rover as steelies helps projects the image that the Defender is still a workhorse. However, if you do spec it up with the optional 22” alloys the Defender then transforms into the dreaded Chelsea tractor. In my eye, the Defender’s duty in life will be determined by the wheels on which it rolls of the production line.
Although I agree with the general looks of the Defender, there are also a few design features that aren’t really my cup of tea.
If I’m being nit-picky, I would say that there is a tad too many design flourishes that makes it just a little bit too modern and sleek. The rear three quarter is particularly too well styled for a workhorse. The previous generation of Defender seems to have taillights that were tacked on as an afterthought, but this current defenders rear lighting situation is just too fancy and dare I say it Range Rover-y.
The same goes with the front headlight cluster, the circle in a square is just a tad too fussy. Furthermore it ain’t even a full circle, which really bugs me for some reason.
I am in the minority here but I also am not a fan of the body coloured panels on the rear three quarter. It looks odd on the 110, but even more odd on the 90. While Land Rover calls it a styling feature (aka Signature Graphic), I just think it is a gimmick too far.
2. Interior
Here is where the die-hard Defender enthusiasts start to be up in arms. “How dare Land Rover inject technology into the simplistic rugged Defender. Simply treasonous, they cry out as they sit in their old Defender which has roots dating back to the second world war.
Yes I see that the new interior, while still looking fairly robust especially in standard fabric seat form, isn’t going to be hose down like the old one, and the new interior probably won’t last 60 years unlike the old Defender, but realistically the new Defender is actually a useable car now. Die-hard Land Rover enthusiasts who go green-laning every other weekend forget that sometimes its nice to have a tool that is able to take them to the shops and back in comfort.
The commanding driving position so integral to the Defender experience is still there but now you won’t feel like you’re driving a combine harvester on the road anymore as there are seats that actually support you.
Moving on to the dashboard, which before was a vertical wall of cheap black plastic, but now is leather lined and more importantly actually looks good. It is as if someone actually took time to design the dashboard instead of nailing the switches onto the bulkhead, and because of this the dash is also functional with storage in the form of a shallow tray that is functionally useless (but hey there needs to be some Land Rover quirkiness).
Being a product of this century, there are also luxury features you won’t find in the previous Defender. I’m not talking about the really high tech stuff like the multi-function steering wheel or the touch screen infotainment system and drivers display, but the more mundane offerings that the previous Defender didn’t quite have, like proper sound insulation, speakers that you can hear your music from and a functioning climate control system. This means now highway driving in a Defender might actually be genuinely comfortable and enjoyable, as the Defender should now be able to cope with highway speeds without rattling the driver to insanity.
3. Off-roading
It is not only the interior where technology has been creeping in, technology has also made its way to the drivetrain. While I sympathise with the Defender enthusiast mourning the loss of a simple manual transmission option in the Defender (the only gearbox option is a ZF 8 speed auto ‘box), the idea of a 400hp straight six turbocharged Defender with a 0 — 100 time close to that of a Golf GTI (6.5 for the GTI vs 6.7 for the Defender) does sneak a schoolboy giggle out of me. Note that other more sedate engine choices are available.
The manual transmission isn’t the only old school tech being relegated to the history books, the low range selector and diff-lock buttons have also been replaced with the Terrain Response system seen on all current Land Rover systems. Furthermore, the new Defender follows the footsteps of the current Range Rover and sits on a monocoque chassis unlike the ladder chassis design of its predecessor.
Don’t think however that the Defender has lost any off-road prowess. All the off-roading technology is still present, but instead of the macho ker-thunk of the levers moving bits of metal underneath to keep you going in the rough stuff, now it is an altogether more civilised affair with computers handling most of the thinking.
Apart from the technology, Land Rover also made sure that the design of the new Defender made it a superior off-roading vehicle compared to its predecessor. While all the technical stats are too much to list here, the gist of it is that the Land Rover Defender is still a very capable off-roader so one will now be able to climb even higher mountain, and ford deeper streams compared to the old model.
4. Price
The new Defender starts at £40,000.
Which on one hand seems like a lot for a Defender, which it frankly is, as you could get a well-specced Disco Sport for that kind of money. However, for a upmarket lifestyle luxurious off-roader the price doesn’t seem that bad. Especially in comparison to its lifestyle off-roader rival — the Jeep Wrangler, which is roughly the same price.
While the enthusiasts who are still wearing rose tinted mud goggles argue that the Defender could be bought for peanuts on days gone by, the fact is that the price of the last 110 Defender that rolled off the production line in 2016 was touching £35,000. Which for a car that, to put it in a nice way, “vintage and charming” (i.e. crap) a £10k price increase for an infinitely more usable car doesn’t seem too bad.
Furthermore, car nowadays, even the most basic of workhorses are getting more expensive. Inflation is partly to blame, but more-so due to car manufacturers fitting more tech and luxury into cars due to customer demands for a more civilised driving experience.
The one thing I can’t get my head around is Land Rover offering additional factory expedition equipment ranging from the optional factory winch to the ‘portable rinse system’ that is standard with the Adventure Accessory Pack. This might be the most benign argument but in my opinion these options would have been better left to the aftermarket industry, Land Rover should have instead just built an honest off-roader without it being laden with all these features that a large majority of people who tick these boxes will never use, but hey Land Rover needs to make as much buck off this cash cow as possible so I guess that’s why they’ve gone and done it.
Conclusion:
The new Defender is a good spiritual successor to the old Defender. It might have lost some of its simple rustic charm in the process of moving upmarket and modern but it still maintains the go-anywhere spirit of its predecessor. The Defender is just moving forward with the times and the ever-sophisticated consumer demands. The one slight niggle I have with the Defender as a whole is I would have liked it if it was just a bit more rugged and agricultural. More Suzuki Jimny, instead of Mercedes G-Wagen. There are going to be commercial variants of the Defender which will be much more spartan and workhorse friendly but it would have been nice to have a base stripper spec defender that is more in-keeping with the ethos of the previous generation.
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