The new Land Rover Defender that will be available in south Africa
was on show at the Auto Africa motor show. As we know there are no
major changes from the outside except for the subtle removal of
the vents and the raised bonnet. So it was with curiosity that we
snooped around the inside to see what was happening there. This is
what we found.
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Under the bonnet the engine looks a lot less ominous than the
outgoing TD5. No big plastic cover hiding everything. It
actually looks quite promising especially for the more
mechanically minded types who like to see what is going on
with the engine. It is a taller engine and hence the raised
profile on the bonnet. The Defender was quite an attraction at
the show, more curiosity than desire though, although there
some droolers around. |
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Clever designing left the grooves in place for the front air
vents. So it still looks like they are there, although they
aren't. Sitting in the front seat there does appear to be more
room. Mainly because the aircon has been removed from where it
used to bang your knee caps, so now there is more space. The
dash also sill has the vertical type look so that keeps it out
of the way. Some things don't change though, as can be seen
from the steering column connection to the dash. It is the
same as it was, grey plastic and all, which is not great
because it looks a bit tacky and will have a bit of a wobble
and squeak after a few hundred kms |
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All round the
seating has been improved, using more modern seats from a
comfort point of view as well as folding and fitting. Moving
on to the rear where the inclusion of the forward facing rear
seats has meant some changes to the wheel arches. In order to
fir the seats in and make space for the passengers feet the
wheel arches have been made smaller. It is not evident until
you lift the rear carpet and see the step up in the once
square wheel arch. |
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First Drive Defender 2007
The first new Defender rolled off
the production line in the UK with not much fanfare. No new
chassis numbers or anything like that. It was pretty much business
as usual although the assemblers did stop to savor the moment.
The vehicle is almost on the road
in the UK now and the word from those that have driven it is that
the improvements are well worthwhile. Unlike the big noise and
little change from the Tdi to TD5 upgrade, this one seems to have
been well thought out. The Puma engine is apparently significantly
quieter, probably a combination of a quieter engine and longer
ratio gearbox keeping the engine revs down.
The gearing from the new 6 speed
gearbox seems to be the biggest improvement, not only has it
increased the cruising speed but it had also reduced the gearing
in 1st gear low range. So much so that 2nd gear low is now the old
1st low and 3rd gear low is the new "I can do anything, catch all"
2nd gear low of before. also all these new ratios means that the
pulling power through the gears is more spread out so it pulls
better in all gears.
A bunch of great engineering
improvements has refined the vehicle and made it better off road
without losing anything. In fact it now appears to be better off
road than before and better on road. That is refreshing because
the Defender is the ultimate off road Land Rover so it needs to
keep that ability.
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