`
It’s not as simple as the
original but it’s tough enough
to be worthy of the name
a
ENGINES
Launch engines
will likely be JLR’s D240
diesel, P400 straight-six
petrol and P400e four-cylinder
petrol/electric hybrid. Test
prototype had straight-six petrol.
It’s reasonable to assume that
237bhp four and 296bhp six-
pot diesels will appear
in the mix, too.
Δ will expect and say about the
Defender,” he says. “This is a much
more complicated car than the old
one, that’s true. Engineering in the
durability, the capability and the
lightness we wanted would have
been easier with less complexity.
But nobody said this would be an
e a s y c a r t o m a k e .” He t a l k s w it h t he
determined look of a man who makes
that particular point quite a lot, then
describes in detail one of the sources
of his confidence.
There’s a testing rig used by Land
Rover during the development of its
modern cars. Company engineers
r e fe r t o it a s ‘6D OF ’, w h ic h , a s D e e k s
explains, stands for Six Degrees
of Freedom. It is, in effect, a very
advanced, electronically operated,giant robotic tool than can move a car
through every dimension in which it
c a n b e mov e d , e it he r on t he r oa d or
off it. The six degrees in particular,
if you’re interested, are heave, surge,
sway, pitch, yaw and roll. Sadly, Kevin
Bacon is not involved, but all you’d
need is a Ronan, Robbie or Romeo
and you’d have a winning boy band
line-up, I reckon.
“The testing mileage we do in
person, here on the Developing World
but also on Tarmac handling courses,
on special surfaces like Belgian pave,
and also during kerb strikes, jumps
and bottoming impacts, is logged
digitally. For ‘L663’, our ‘6DOF’
input calibration was tougher and
more punishing than any we’ve
u s e d b e for e. T he n w e fe e d it i nt othe computer and the rig repeats
the inputs, putting the equivalent
of 150,000 miles and a decade of
extreme stresses and strains into
the car, running 24/7, in a matter
of w e e k s. W he n it ’s f i n i she d , w e
tear down the car, see where the
weaknesses are and redesign or
respecify as necessary.”
A s w e c omple t e one l a s t l ap of t he
muddy lane we’ve been chewing up
for a good half an hour, Deeks says
he w a sn’t a l w ay s s u r e t h at r e pl a c i n g
the Defender was a good idea. He also
appreciates that the car his team has
replaced it with is quite a different
prospect than the Defender once was.
“Before this project started, I went
back and forth on the ‘should we,
shouldn’t we?’ question,” he admits.
“But h av i n g s p e nt s o lon g w ork i n g on‘L663’, I’m glad we did.
“It’s not a car of the same simplicity
as the original, granted. It has its
own character. But it’s easily tough
and capable enough to be worthy
of the name: more than, in both
cases. The old Defender was a car
that was durable because it simply
wasn’t comfortable enough to drive
it quickly off-road. This new one
absolutely is – and trust me, it can
t a k e w h at e v e r pu n i sh me nt y ou’r e
prepared to ask of it.”
Does that mean the infotainment
system will always work, I wonder,
or that the engine management
warning light won’t blink on at 6am
on a n av e r a ge Tue s d ay, or t he pa rk i n g
heater won’t start smoking like Dot
C ot t on on w a sh d ay. W i l l t he ne w
D e fe nde r b e r e l i a ble i n t he b or i n g,
d a i l y-g r i nd s or t of w ay t h at L a nd
Rovers are fairly widely regarded as
not really being? We’ll see, won’t we?
There’s certainly plenty to prove.
This clearly won’t be a car you
can take spanners to yourself, with
easily changeable body panels and
the like. But it should inherit some
known-quantity reliability from
Land Rover’s existing platform
me c h a n ic a l s , a nd it s ou nd s l i k e
it’s been through the toughest
development process that Gaydon
c ou ld c ome up w it h i n orde r t o ba n i sh
whatever nasty surprises might have
b e e n le t i n at t he s a me t i me.Just as Deeks clearly knows,
people will think what they’re going
to think about this car. Pretty soon,
though, we’ll find out whether the
new Defender might just be a car
t o r e m a k e a r e put at ion , ju s t a s it s
famous forebear once made one from
scratch out of mud, grit and graft. L
CHASSIS
All-aluminiummonocoque based on the
Range Rover, Range Rover
Sport and Discovery’s ‘D7U’
platform. Two wheelbase lengths
- although they say the longer
one will be almost as capable. No
ladder frame or live axles, then,
but with air suspension it
doesn’t need either,
says LR.
NEW DEFENDER FIRST RIDE
7 AUGUST 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 47