New Defender

[fossyant]

3L Petrol, 6cyl, 400bhp, electric supercharger for low down umph and turbo for the higher revs, it also has a mild hybrid system for collecting energy during braking and re-using it during hard acceleration, the starter motor is a electric generator/motor and works with a 48v battery system, all very clever, but to put it simply it's a lovely car to drive, overtaking is easy and fun, and it makes a lovely noise when you press the loud pedal. A brief bit (about 1 mile) of very muddy track on Saturday was fun, hopefully more of that to come, but I hardly noticed we were on slippy stuff.

Nice. I fancy an Infiniti Q50 - only available used, but it's a hot hybrid. The battery is used for punch and that's over 400bhp, coupled to Nissan's legendary 3.5 v6 (no turbo or supercharger for reliability).

 

[Jody]

It's pants because it's not the old one

and

It's great because it's not the old one

Seems a fair review.

 

[GilesM]

It's pants because it's not the old one

or

It's great because it's not the old one


Which side wins ?

IMHO it's great as it has enough of the DNA of the old one to know it's a Land Rover, but with all the modern stuff that makes it (especially long journeys) more enjoyable.

 

[fossyant]

IMHO it's great as it has enough of the DNA of the old one to know it's a Land Rover, but with all the modern stuff that makes it (especially long journeys) more enjoyable.

Psst, you get a radio
How about air conditioning - aka the flaps under the front window.
No soft top though !
Do you have carpets ?

 

[GilesM]

Psst, you get a radio
How about air conditioning - aka the flaps under the front window.
No soft top though !
Do you have carpets ?

I have a funny feeling that our journey from Bassenthwaite Lake back to East Lothian on Sunday evening was a touch more comfortable than if we'd been in an old Defender.

Excellent sound system
Perfect climate control
Lots of sound deadening material, including small easy to remove and clean carpet mats, combined with a very modern engine ticking over at less than 2000rpm at sensible motorway speeds.

Did we wish we were in an old Defender?

Not a soft top, but the roof does open enough to get a proper amount of wind through the cabin, obviously not used too much this weekend

 

[GilesM]

Obviously firmly touching wood as I say this, but the new Defender has been absolutely perfect so far, I've been working in Ireland for the last 10 days, amusingly LRJ tracker monitoring team contacted me when I was on the Cairnyan to Belfast Ferry, the rough sea seems to have looked like somebody trying to break into the car, nice to know they are looking after things. Still smiling every time I get in the car, need to get home and test it's bike carrying ability.

 

[Simple Simon]

Not a Defender, but the new Range Rover which is pretty handy off road too. Great fun!

 

[MrGrumpy]

Had an experience day in a RR Vogue a few years back. Very capable off road and super nice drive on it. Used prices have gone nuts but quite fancied one . Reckon I could suffer the running costs . The V8 economy wise was not as brutal as it would seem compared to my Discovery .

 

[GilesM]

Had an experience day in a RR Vogue a few years back. Very capable off road and super nice drive on it. Used prices have gone nuts but quite fancied one . Reckon I could suffer the running costs . The V8 economy wise was not as brutal as it would seem compared to my Discovery .

I need to book my free day out at one of the Land Rover off road places, looking forward to it, one of the interesting things will be to see how the different cars manage, something that is easy to forget is just how impressive the big RRs are off road.

 

[fossyant]

I'd easily burn the lot of you off on that track on my MTB - it's as smooth as the M1.

 

[Roseland triker]

I'd easily burn the lot of you off on that track on my MTB - it's as smooth as the M1.

They do drive like girls so your probably in with a chance....

...on a battery bike...

 

[fossyant]

They do drive like girls so your probably in with a chance....

...on a battery bike...

Don't need a battery.

 

[Roseland triker]

Lol true enough.

 

[GilesM]

I'd easily burn the lot of you off on that track on my MTB - it's as smooth as the M1.

I'll post some pics when I have my fun day out, hope it's a bit rougher than that, and the water and mud is a lot deeper.

 

[cougie uk]

The storms might well help you. No need to go off-road !