An off-road supremo reborn

The new Land Rover Defender: Fit for off-roading enthusiasts and the digital generation.

- Glenda Williams

I’m fleetingly suspended in the air at an angle with only two wheels on the ground, one on the lip of a narrow ledge. The other two wheels are dangling in the air. All I can see out the windscreen is sky. One false move and I’m done for.

In any other vehicle, I would be sweating profusely but I am in no ordinary vehicle. I am in an off-road supremo, the new Land Rover Defender. And the outcome is a happy one.

In 2020, South Africa celebrated the arrival of the new Defender, a famed 4x4 that with the exception of a few years halts in production, Land Rover has been manufacturing since 1948. Its breadth of capability, especially in brutal conditions, has always been legendary. But a luxury, comfy, everyday driving car it was not. That’s not the case anymore.

The posher new Defender comes in two configurations; the long-wheelbase five-door 110 and the three-door shorter wheelbase 90 derivatives. Both are offered in petrol and diesel variants with Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle (MHEV) technology option for the 6-cylinder petrol engine. finweek explored new off-road heights in the Land Rover Defender 110 D240.

Softened boxiness

If you drew a box with a smaller box atop that, added four wheels and round lights, it would pretty much typify the design of an old Defender. The boxy shape remains but its extremities have been softened with modern curves. The silhouette is recognizable, but it is gentler on the eye, more trendy looking and its purposeful stance has been upped.