It’s one of the most anticipated new arrivals in the 4×4 market in recent memory. It is the all-new Land Rover Defender. We drove the 110 in Namibia on an epic 800km adventure.
The Defender faithful are a loyalist lot, passionate about the vehicle they consider an absolute icon. But if they thought the new Defender was designed primarily to appease them and cater for all their needs, they’d be mistaken.
The motoring world looks vastly different in 2020 than it did in 1948, 1978 and in 2008. Land Rover had to create a vehicle that would not only appeal to a broad range of clientele but also has to conform to stringent safety and emission regulations so it can go on sale in lucrative markets like the United States.
It had to have global appeal, and conform to global safety and emission standards. Yet it still clearly had to appease the Defender partisans too.
Which brings us to Namibia. In an age where many car manufacturers choose to pay a clutter of social media influencers to post images of themselves draped over a bonnet of a car, or behind the wheel with a glass of champagne, conveying only good news, Land Rover went in a completely different direction.
An extremely ballsy direction, to be sure.
Exposing the international media to the all-new Defender in some of the toughest terrains on earth, with only about 2km of actual tar road, was an effort to demonstrate to the Defender faithful that, even though the new Defender may look sleeker and more modern, it can still go the whole nine years in an off-road environment.
It was a major gamble. One inept or irresponsible driver, one river too deep, one challenge too big, could leave the Land Rover marketing staff red-faced.
Mother Nature decided that the week before our arrival seemed like a perfectly good time to release thousands of litres of water from the heavens, adding more fuel to this potential public relations bonfire. In the arid Kaokoland, heavy rainfall equals flash floods. And rivers that run through the desert.
Let’s get down to the gritty business the all-new Land Rover Defender. And a tough and ballsy 4×4 adventure in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Get you some D240
Our first taste of the new Defender was the D240 S.
The new cabin is impressive. It’s refreshingly basic, not nearly as plush and lavish as a Discovery or Range Rover. There are analogue dials, a relatively straightforward LCD screen in the centre console and lots of handles to hold on to, as well as plenty of storage space for odds and ends.
Owners have several options for the front row of seats. Our favourite is the so-called walk-through option – essentially a big gap between the two front seats that allow you to literally walk through to the second row of pews. You can also opt for a big centre console bin, where you can store some large objects. And thirdly, you can have a jump seat fitted too, with a safety belt and all.
The centre of the dashboard also houses the stubby little gearlever for the automatic gearbox, which is flanked by the transfer case button, hill descent control, traction control, air suspension adjustments and, further to the left, the climate control system.
Land Rover’s award-winning Terrain Response 2 system is standard, and you let the system select the best programme for the conditions, or you can manually select between normal selections such as sand, rocks and mud. For the first time there’s also a ‘Wade’ function, for driving through water (the maximum wading depth is 900mm).
Terrain Response 2 also includes a locking centre differential, as well as an Active rear differential lock.
Initially all Defenders will be available only with the independent, air suspension set-up. This allows for 218mm ground clearance in normal mode, and up to 291mm in Off-Road mode. Coil sprung versions, as well as a Commercial derivative, will become available in the future.
Approach and departure angles are also top-notch: up to 38 and 40 degrees respectively, in Off-Road mode. The D240 was kitted out with beautifully retro 18-inch steel wheels, shod with 255/70 R18 Goodyear Duratrac all-terrains.
Traditionalist Defender owners are sure to rue the fact that the live axles have made way for an independent, air set-up, along with a monocoque design. So the question beckons: how did this supposedly ‘soft’ new set-up fair in the tough-as-an-illegal-Joburg-miner Kaokoland environment?
Well… brilliantly, in fact. On the faster gravel sections the air suspension provided a wonderfully plush, comfortable ride. Add the brilliant eight-speed auto ‘box, the 430Nm of torque and the excellent climate control to the equation, and the D240 happens to be one of the most comfortable and accomplished 4x4s we’ve piloted in that part of the world.
The permanent four-wheel-drive system provides excellent grip in normal conditions too, the Defender always feeling unfazed, and solid. Thanks to the very handy approach angle and the air suspension, Namibia’s infamous skelm dips on the fast gravel sections – the undoing of countless tourists in rental 4x4s – didn’t prove an issue. You could hit them square on, at speed.
Switch off the stability and traction control system, and you can even hang the Defender’s tail out some. However, the system will only allow a certain amount of hooliganism – if the slip and yaw exceeds a certain point, the computer will override the driver’s inputs, and steady the ship.
It’s not all moonshine and roses. In certain 4×4 conditions the D240 feels like it needs more horsepower, more instant thrust. Make no mistake: it’s certainly more fleet-footed than any previous-generation diesel Defender. But the new Landy is heavy, and there were a few moments where we longed for the twin-turbo V6 diesel, as employed in the Discovery (with 190kW and 600Nm).
Another small detail was the lack of paddle shifters for the gearbox on or near the steering wheel. If you want to go manual with the gearbox, you have to shift the dash-mounted gear lever up or down.
Get you some P400
In case you have not put two-and-two together yet, the numerical reference in the names refers to the horsepower of the specific vehicle. In this case: 400 horsepower.
But this is no ordinary straight-six engine that happens to produce a whole lot of horsepower. This is a so-called mild hybrid, with several kinds of technological gadgetry going on in the engine bay.
The three-litre engine features Continuous Variable Valve Lift and is fitted with a twin-scroll turbocharger. It is also supercharged, with a 48V electrical system powering the electric 7kW eSupercharger to ensure that there is, theoretically, no lag whatsoever. The supercharger can spool to 65 000r/min in half-a-second, thanks to the advanced electrical system, apparently providing instant thrust.
The 48V system consists of 14 8Ah-lithium-ion pouch cells that can store up to 200Wh of usable energy, and that is charged via a Belt-Integrated Starter Generator (BiSG). This generator harvests energy as soon as you lift your foot off the accelerator and sends it to the battery pack. It can redeploy that energy as torque (up to 100Nm) to assist the drivetrain to aid fuel consumption and acceleration.
Drive is also transferred to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox, and the P400 gets the same off-road tricks as the D240.
In Off-Road mode the air suspension increases the ground clearance to a handy 291mm. However, because the system is extended to its maximum setting, it doesn’t provide such as plush ride anymore – a previous generation Defender would actually be more comfortable on rocky sections.
This does not mean the new Defender is not highly capable in a tough environment. With wheels regularly in the air, the Terrain Response 2 computer would lock the centre and rear differentials as needed, always providing grip. It never faltered, never felt out of its depth in this harsh environment.
Interestingly, the driver can also create up to four individual off-road settings. This includes all parameters, from the air suspension to the traction control to throttle response to the locking differentials.
A cool new Defender trick is Land Rover’s All-Terrain Progress Control and ClearSight Ground View technologies. Especially handy in tight and technical 4×4 conditions, All-Terrain Progress Control allows you to select the ‘outside view’ of your Defender – literally the outside view of your vehicle, in the environment you are driving in. Just imagine all those new Defender owners on the 4×4 trail, staring intently at the screen in the cabin, instead of looking where they are going.
Maybe more practical is the ClearSight Ground View tech. It solves that age-old issue of not being able to see over the bonnet when cresting a steep ascent, the vehicle’s nose pointing up to the stars. Press a button, and ClearSight offers a view of the route ahead. It works very well.
On the steep downhill sections selecting first gear via the centre console-mounted gear lever ensured that the hill descent control remained on the reserve bench. Engine braking was really good, the Land Rover crawling down the steep sections.
More modern tech
Comparing the old to the new is like comparing a Spitfire fighter plane from the Second World War to the latest Eurofighter Typhoon.
The new Defender is not an evolution of the nearly 70-year-old legend that preceded it. It is brand new, featuring a brace of new technologies in a shape that pays some homage to the original. As Land Rover states: it’s a reinvention an icon for the 21st century.
It is based on Land Rover’s latest D7x architecture, a light-weight aluminium monocoque construction. The new air-suspension system offers an excellent ride on all surfaces and, along with a duffle bag filled with 4×4 tricks, the Defender can go anywhere the older version could.
The brand’s new Pivi Pro infotainment system sets new standards in this field. You can have your 110 with five, six or seven seats, and there really are acres of space in the new cabin – rear legroom is truly impressive.
Owners will be able to personalize their Defenders with cool, extra cost adventure packs. Additionally, the new Defender will be available with the widest choice of individual accessories ever assembled for a new Land Rover. This will include kit like roof-top tents, inflatable water-proof awnings, a remote-controlled electric winch, and many more.
The previous Defender could not be sold in countries like the USA because it never conformed to that country’s strict passenger and pedestrian safety requirements. In short, the previous Defender’s antiquated architecture was designed for a lot of things but passenger and pedestrian safety were not two of those things.
The new Defender sets that record comprehensively straight. Besides the more rigid D7x aluminium underpinnings, it features a brace of the latest in safety technology that includes an army of airbags, ABS braking and new features such as autonomous braking and lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control (standard on some models). It now completely conforms to the USA’s strict safety standards.
The bank has spoken
The new Land Rover Defender 110 range will kick of with the D240, selling for R999 000. That’s without any options whatsoever. Some of the off-road tricks like the automatically locking rear differential will only be available as part of various aftermarket packages. The range-topping P400 X will set you back R1 498 400.
The Defender has moved up in the world. It’s no longer a legendary 4×4 overlander with acres of character and some obvious design and safety flaws that nevertheless make grown men wax lyrical around a campfire (shortly after they fixed a few maladies and replenished the diminishing oil supply).
The new Defender is a different beast, sharing only its name and some quirky design features with the original. This new Defender is highly capable, refined, comfortable, spacious, powerful, modern, safe, fashionable – and it can still carry 800kg payload.
But the new pricing strategy (it’s the same across the globe) has effectively forced the Defender to abandon its famous playing fields of yore.
Instead of a barefoot man with a wild beard perched atop his 110, on a distant African plain, watching the sunset over a lion kill, the new Defender is more likely to be personified with a fancily dressed, perfectly manicured executive dropping the kids of at a private school, or transporting a R150 000 mountain bike on a roof-carrier.
Yes, as our Namibia expedition proved, you can take the new Defender to the wild African plains (albeit with a number of accessories and additions). And although it doesn’t seem entirely out of place in a place like Kaokoland, it also doesn’t seem quite at home there either.
Not like a previous generation Defender does.
Follow this link for the full SA line-up pricing.
Verdict
So, will the average previous generation Defender enthusiast be impressed by the new version’s off-road prowess? We certainly reckon so. And thanks to the independent air suspension set-up, the ride quality between those few extreme 4×4 obstacles is so much superior than in the old Defender.
The numbers:
Land Rover Defender 110 D240
- Engine: 1 999cc four-cylinder turbodiesel
- Power: 177kW
- Torque: 430Nm
- Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
- 4WD system: Permanent, transfer case, Terrain Response 2
- Driving aids: Stability and traction control, hill descent control
- Suspension: All round independent (air)
- Standard ground clearance: 218mm
- Maximum ground clearance: 291mm
- Approach angle: 38 degrees
- Departure angle: 40 degrees
- Wading depth: 900mm
- Wheels: 19-inch alloy/18-inch steel
- Tare weight: 2 323kg
- Gross vehicle mass (GVM): 3 150kg
- Legal weight carrying ability: 827kg
- Fuel tank: 85 litres
- Maximum towing (braked trailer): 3 500kg
- Maximum roof load with cross bars: 168kg
- Top speed (claimed): 188km/h
- 0-100km/h (claimed): 9.1 seconds
Land Rover Defender 110 P400 MHEV
- Engine: 2 996cc straight-six, turbo, supercharger, BiSG
- Power: 294kW
- Torque: 550Nm
- Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
- 4WD system: Permanent, transfer case, Terrain Response 2
- Driving aids: Stability and traction control, hill descent control
- Suspension: All round independent (air)
- Standard ground clearance: 218mm
- Maximum ground clearance: 291mm
- Approach angle: 38 degrees
- Departure angle: 40 degrees
- Wading depth: 900mm
- Wheels: 19 and 20-inch alloy
- Tare weight: 2 361kg
- Gross vehicle mass (GVM): 3 165kg
- Legal weight carrying ability: 804kg
- Fuel tank: 90 litres
- Maximum towing (braked trailer): 3 500kg
- Maximum roof load with cross bars: 168kg
- Top speed (claimed): 208km/h
- 0-100km/h (claimed): 6.1 seconds