Thread: My Old Girls - Nice article on Range Rover/Defender

And Page 2 of the article....


It’s still the most recognisable vehicle on the planet, while having no parts in common with its 1948 progenitor. The new 2.4 common rail diesel (shared with the Ford Transit) requires a bonnet bulge, and the model tested had air conditioning, six gears, electric windows, a heater that heats, a rev counter and forward-facing rear seats. My old Landies — all seven of them — had aircon, albeit via gaps where the doors were supposed to close, but that’s about all. Could this really be considered the genuine article? Then when it rained there weren’t any leaks. Can a Land Rover be a real Land Rover without that defining characteristic?

Another reason for suspecting this to be an impostor is that it goes like other cars. That free-revving engine takes you easily to 70mph at under 2,500rpm, at sound levels permitting speech. Very suspicious. On the plus side for the traditionalist, though, elbow room is still cramped, rear legroom is short, the wipers remind you of the 1950s, the handbrake is inconvenient, you can get the gears wrong (albeit because they’re close rather than a yard apart), the turning circle is even wider than its ancestors — perhaps because of large tyres — and the rear door lacks a catch to keep it open.

But when I took it on a course used for the national off-road championship this Defender more than confirmed its continuing identity as the world’s best production 4X4. Precipitous banks, impossible departure angles, torturous turns, bogs, ditches, anthills, ridges — we climbed, straddled, swam and barged through them all. Just stick it in second, select diff lock and low ratio and let that tolerant and torquey engine do the work, aided by a touch of traction control. That’s when you get the point of this machine.

Granted, my old girls would have done the course, too, but you’d have sweated to get them round whereas this beast does it almost by itself. Odd that it should confirm it’s still the genuine article by being so talented that it felt almost unreal. Just like its young 40-year-old sibling.

I can relate to page two even though the predecessor to my Defender was a good old 300 Tdi Disco and not a RR.

The Disco required much more work to go where the Defender goes on and off road. Perhaps some of the driving challenge has gone...but hey a step up I say.

It strikes me reading the first post on the Rangies that the heir to the RRC is the Range Rover Sport. Similar size, excellent ability, and when depreciation cuts in will be in a similar price range as a ten year old Classic was in 2000. I'm not sure that the current Range Rover will ever be as popular as a ten plus year old vehicle as the classic was.
Bring on the modified TDV8 goodness

Regards,
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