78 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | OCTOBER 2019
are beyond measure. Imagine original Series Land Rovers had followed a
more conventional seven-year model cycle – the new Defender is what they
would have become.’
Add to that an entire dictionary of driver-assistance systems – emergen-
cy braking, lane-keep assist, cruise control and the standard (in the UK)
360º parking aid – and it’s like leaping straight from a rotary-dial telephone
to an iPhone without so much as a Nokia to ease you in.
9
We’ve had a passenger ride
Readers fearing the new Land Rover Defender has gone soft can
rest a little easier. Not only is Andy Deeks leader of the new Defender’s
durability and robustness programme, the 10-year Land Rover veteran has
also previously owned five Defenders, still contests off-road trials in a V8
and was once UK champion. We’re hitching a ride in a camouflaged De-
fender 110 as Deeks demonstrates its capabilities on some of Land Rover’s
‘developing world’ off-road route at Gaydon, plus a loop of test track like
a battered B-road. These surfaces, and those at the Lommel test track in
Belgium, have been crucial during development.
We’re quickly up to speed on a dirt road – it’s rough, but wouldn’t come
close to troubling an old Defender’s off-road prowess. One thing is imme-
diately obvious: how serenely the new Defender sails over the pockmarked
surface, and how casually Deeks twirls at the electrically assisted steering.
Any other Defender would rattle and shake, its slower steering would
demand a higher work-rate from its driver, but bar the odd thunk in the
really gnarly stuff, the new Defender glides over the surface, and Deeks’s
steering inputs are economical, even as the Defender languidly oversteers
on the loose surface. It’s clear this will be a far less taxing SUV to drive long
distances over dirt roads, and it’s much more comfortable for passengers.
As expected, Deeks says the 110 rides more comfortably and is more
stable thanks to its longer wheelbase, while the short-wheelbase 90 has the
better off-road capability, ‘purely down to its geometry’.
The speed at which the Defender can cover rough ground places even
greater demands on durability. ‘It’s given us a bit of a headache,’ admits
Deeks, ‘because the more capable and refined the vehicle, the faster people
will drive, and the more durable it has to be, so all our durability targets and
standard requirements have been uplifted.’
When I ask Deeks if the gains are larger on or off road, he says there are
leaps across the board. ‘Versus the old car there are huge improvements in
NVH [noise, vibration, harshness], off-road capability and on-composure,
but without losing that core DNA of Defender,’ he says. The Defender cer-
tainly handles the ragged B-road section very ably, feeling composed and
comfortable where an old Defender would shimmy, bounce and clatter.
We’ve had the Terrain Response system in Auto for the entire drive, and
as we pass over one particularly fragmented if very short section, it feels
like the road surface has changed, only it hasn’t – the continuously variable
dampers have quickly processed the surface, and adapted to suit.
It’s an impressive introduction, but our final verdict must wait until we
put the production Defender through its paces on and off road, and up
against its key rivals, in the months ahead.
It feels composed and
comfortable where an old
Defender would shimmy,
bounce and clatter
New Defender
Middle ‘jump’
seat harks back
to pre-Defender
Land Rovers
Short front
overhangs key
to design and
off-road skills
