The new Defender was a phenomenon at launch almost four years ago - how does it fare as a used prospect?
When is a Land Rover Defender not a Land Rover Defender? The answer to that, in the eyes of many traditionalists anyway, is when it’s the D7X aluminium-platformed unibody L663 rather than the body-on-frame ‘icon’ that LR sold under the same name from 1983 to 2016. And of course for an even longer time before that under other names, not all of them polite.
While we’re on this sort of thing, now is surely the time to tell you that the Defender was the first Land Rover to include a domain controller that consolidated a number of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and driver convenience functions built on top of the QNX Hypervisor, which as you may know was the first ASIL D-certified QNX Hypervisor. Fascinating stuff.
An Outbound version was revealed at this time, too. This had a new seat configuration with a wide gap between the two rear seats to accommodate a bonkers amount of cargo. The Outbound’s starting price for the D300 130 version was around £80k. D300s in 110 length and SE spec began at just under £62,000.
In 130 guise the D300 would return cruising mpg figures in the low 30s, dropping to high 20s overall in mixed use, hardly spectacular and quite a bit worse than the mid-40s you might expect to get in an identically-engined Range Rover Sport. It was mainly down to the Defender’s extra weight and, more pertinently, its inferior aerodynamics which kept the D300 130’s top speed down to 119mph, compared to the D300-powered RRS’s 135mph.
There has also been the odd gearbox control module issue which would allow you to select drive but then drop back into park when you tried to go anywhere. Many owners noted a jerkiness when re-applying throttle from a near-stop, and magazine road testers noticed a bum-clenching delay in the return of power when entering roundabouts. A recall was issued to change the airbox on the D sixes because the original part was rubbing on the radiator top hose.
On the downside, who can think of an air-suspended vehicle that hasn’t had expensive problems at some point in its life? Sure enough, air Defenders haven’t escaped scrutiny in this area. Some have had the words ‘Suspension Fault’ flash up on the screen, quite randomly, accompanied by a refusal by the suspension to respond to inputs and leaving the car in the ride height it was last in until you turned the car off, locked it, and left it for a few minutes to consider its options.
Problems with the lane assist system have been reported, but it could be easily turned off. If you habitually drove a Defender on poor roads you might eventually hear a clunking from the front end. That would usually be a failure of the front lower control arms. Some owners have experienced an odd vibration when travelling at between 50mph and 70mph on cruise control going uphill, or when overriding the cruise for an overtaking squirt.
The external trim piece on the A-pillar could either start fluttering at speed or fall off entirely. Door seals could squeak annoyingly. One owner said that the right rear door wasn’t closing properly and that there was a fault with the outside door handle. With the L663, JLR became the first global car maker to use CloudCar’s latest cloud-based services platform.
Before folding the rear seats forward you were supposed to remove the centre headrest, but it wasn’t immediately obvious how to do that so some owners didn’t bother. This inevitably led to rubbing and in the worst-case scenario tearing of the upholstery on the back of the headrest. One owner had to wait six months for a new headrest to arrive, with a promised bill of £400 to go with it, but in the end LR did it for free under warranty.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Range Rover security: what Land Rover did nextHow JLR is treating the Land Rover security fears: CAR magazine gets a deep dive on the measures being taken to make Range Rovers safer and harder to steal
Read more »
NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Spots Ingenuity Helicopter at Its Final Resting PlaceScience, Space and Technology News 2024
Read more »
NASA Ingenuity Mars helicopter, broken and alone, spotted by Perseverance rover on Martian dune (photo, video)Brett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more.
Read more »
Dublin-born defender's LinkedIn message leads to international call-upRoberto “Pico” Lopes, a defender born and raised in Dublin, received a life-changing message on LinkedIn that led to him representing Cape Verde at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Read more »
Kamas family sells 834-acre ranch to Summit County after 130 years on landA graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Jenna has a degree in broadcast and digital journalism and a minor in Spanish (she's fluent!). Before heading to Utah, Jenna worked in Green Bay so she's no stranger to the cold and snow.
Read more »
Sugar Land employee killed after being hit by chase suspects on Highway 90A, officials sayThe 56-year-old Sugar Land Public Works employee was sitting inside his work truck when he was hit by the car full of suspects being chased by Missouri City police, according to officials.
Read more »