New Defender fares poorly offroad
Discussion
An obvious result, the monocoque chassis and independent suspension on the Defender aren’t great at offroading.
On a Top Gear youtube infomercial and they tried to stress the rigidity of the Defender’s chassis by balancing the car on rocks with two wheels in the air, rocking it back and forth. All this showed was how little articulation the suspension had. A proper off roader, on a ladder frame chassis, with solid axles would have had the articulation to put all its wheels on the ground.
The Wranger has two live axles and the Bronco has one at the rear. Not surprised they beat the Defender on properly gnarly terrain.
On a Top Gear youtube infomercial and they tried to stress the rigidity of the Defender’s chassis by balancing the car on rocks with two wheels in the air, rocking it back and forth. All this showed was how little articulation the suspension had. A proper off roader, on a ladder frame chassis, with solid axles would have had the articulation to put all its wheels on the ground.
The Wranger has two live axles and the Bronco has one at the rear. Not surprised they beat the Defender on properly gnarly terrain.
Edited by wyson on Wednesday 28th July 17:05
Despite owning landies in the past, I'm really not a fan of LR stuff due to its reliability...
But in defence of the Defender here, IIRC this TFL landy doesn't have the off road pack - the one they original had which died at ~ 150 miles did.
The other two vehicles do.
But in defence of the Defender here, IIRC this TFL landy doesn't have the off road pack - the one they original had which died at ~ 150 miles did.
The other two vehicles do.
Edited by take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey on Wednesday 28th July 14:51
bloody auto-correct skyrover said:
Of course. But it's sold as the best "off-roader" and some on here argue that it is a better off-roader than it's predecessor.
I'm willing to bet a stock last gen defender would get its arse kicked by the new one. No one ever think of it like this though, because all old defenders of course have lift kits, huge tyres and are supremely better than the new one...Thread title should read: New Defender with 20inch wheels and low profile tyres, gets two punctures, in extreme rocky offroad trail.
The two other cars had very high profile offroad tyres on 17inch wheels.
In fairness, the group would have optioned a better wheel / tyre combo, but none were available from LR.
The two other cars had very high profile offroad tyres on 17inch wheels.
In fairness, the group would have optioned a better wheel / tyre combo, but none were available from LR.
TheOctaneAddict said:
I'm willing to bet a stock last gen defender would get its arse kicked by the new one. No one ever think of it like this though, because all old defenders of course have lift kits, huge tyres and are supremely better than the new one...
A stock 110 last generation Defender was less capable than the Disco 5, both on M&S tyres. I spent a couple of days at Eastnor in them and was very impressed with the Disco, much more than I thought I would be. The new Defender is considerably better than the Disco 5 and although I've not done a back-to-back with the old Defender, it's fair to say that the new one is way better in every way.There were lots of things with the new one I didn't like (some of the styling, didn't like the information displays, fuel consumption is terrible) but for actual off-roading it's absolutely brilliant.
TheOctaneAddict said:
skyrover said:
Of course. But it's sold as the best "off-roader" and some on here argue that it is a better off-roader than it's predecessor.
I'm willing to bet a stock last gen defender would get its arse kicked by the new one. No one ever think of it like this though, because all old defenders of course have lift kits, huge tyres and are supremely better than the new one...skyrover said:
Love the Bronco. Shame we won't get it over here. Looks great.
t off road. Where as the old one basically only came in wheeled compost bin spec.
That was a pretty fair test I thought, all vehicles stock as supplied by the factory. Although the video doesn't appear to show the Defender in a good light I don't think it will have any effect on its desirability or sales, in the US or Europe. I would have liked to see it do better but can understand why LR haven't manufactured it as an 'ultimate off-roader'.
I can see why LR would bias their vehicles more to on-road handling, performance and comfort; after all that is where it is likely to spend most of its time. I'm sure they could produce a much more extreme off-road version, but how many would they actually sell?
There's a huge recreational off-road market in the US that's why Ford and Jeep can develop and market the Bronco and the Wrangler; the people buying new Defenders are unlikely to be taking them on trails like that.
I can see why LR would bias their vehicles more to on-road handling, performance and comfort; after all that is where it is likely to spend most of its time. I'm sure they could produce a much more extreme off-road version, but how many would they actually sell?
There's a huge recreational off-road market in the US that's why Ford and Jeep can develop and market the Bronco and the Wrangler; the people buying new Defenders are unlikely to be taking them on trails like that.
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