New Defender 90 - Air Suspension or Not ?

[Geneve]

Anyone have a view on the relative merits of adding the Air Suspension (and not incononsiderable cost) to the spec of a new Defender 90 ?

We’ve had original Defender 90s for years, so familiar with ‘old skool’ and gradually coming to terms with the new generation.

Accept that it will be more versatile for day to day use, but what benefits does AS add beyond raising and lowering the ride height ?

Thanks

[camel_landy]

For a start, no matter how much or how little you have in the boot, it'll always be the same ride height.

M

[A.J.M]

I think Harry’s garage with his review of a 90 hard top said he wishes his had air suspension.

Coils fixes it at off road height full time.

Personally. Air suspension for me.

[Geneve]

I thought it was principally for towing (self levelling) or off-road (increased ride height)

Are there any on-road ride/handling benefits?

[Phil74891]

I would go air. If you’re going to keep the car long term, then it’s probably the one thing that if you don’t spec it, you wish you did. Or get a 110 which has it anyway

[A.J.M]

The difference for ride heights is a factor.

Access-normal-off road.

Access is 2 inches lower and off road is 2 inches higher than normal.

Then you’ll have extended and super extended, 2 inches each for extra clearance if needed.

Self levelling is also great for carrying loads.
Fill it up, turn car on and let it self level.
No droop from the back and nose in the air.

Also from driving leaf, coil and air sprung landys.
Air is the comfiest for daily driving.

[Dave.]

Does it hunker down above xxmph like the D3/4 (and probably the rr too) does?

[camel_landy]

Dave. said:

Does it hunker down above xxmph like the D3/4 (and probably the rr too) does?

Defender Manual said:

The vehicle height may raise or lower automatically. For example, if the vehicle is travelling at high speed or a request is received from the terrain response system.

FWIW - On the D3/4 & RRSport (L319 & L320), speed needed to be above 100mph for 3 sec but on the L405 I think it only has to be above 65mph.

M

Edited by camel_landy on Monday 14th February 14:59

[Shaw Tarse]

Not sure if this will help

Edited by Shaw Tarse on Monday 14th February 16:55

[Dave.]

camel_landy said:

FWIW - On the D3/4 & RRSport (L319 & L320), speed needed to be above 100mph for 3 sec but on the L405 I think it only has to be above 65mph.

M

[Geneve]

A.J.M said:

I think Harry’s garage with his review of a 90 hard top said he wishes his had air suspension.

Coils fixes it at off road height full time.

Personally. Air suspension for me.

I've looked into this further, and still not convinced about the benefits on the 90.

Harry M thought it might be better for towing, which is probably correct, but he, and others, seem to praise the ride/handling on coils for normal road-use.

Whether you have Air or not, the 'default' is the mid-position. Air allows the height to be raised for obstacle clearance, but only allows it to be lowered for ease of getting in/out.
LR tell me it cannot be driven in the lower setting for, say, motorways or improved handling.

[camel_landy]

Geneve said:

LR tell me it cannot be driven in the lower setting for, say, motorways or improved handling.

I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

It's your money, buy what YOU want but ultimately, you're better off test driving both back-to-back.

M

Edited by camel_landy on Tuesday 15th February 18:47

[WayOutWest]

What about when it goes wrong? I only ask as I saw a Discovery 3 or 4 dumped in the weeds on collapsed suspension the other day and looking really sorry for itself.

Wading depth of flooded roads seems to be another advantage of air over coil but marginal I guess.

[A.J.M]

Geneve said:

A.J.M said:

I think Harry’s garage with his review of a 90 hard top said he wishes his had air suspension.

Coils fixes it at off road height full time.

Personally. Air suspension for me.

I've looked into this further, and still not convinced about the benefits on the 90.

Harry M thought it might be better for towing, which is probably correct, but he, and others, seem to praise the ride/handling on coils for normal road-use.

Whether you have Air or not, the 'default' is the mid-position. Air allows the height to be raised for obstacle clearance, but only allows it to be lowered for ease of getting in/out.
LR tell me it cannot be driven in the lower setting for, say, motorways or improved handling.

If you have indeed had old defenders then the new one is night and day ahead of them.
There’s a few members in my club have both old and new.
99% of the time, the new gets taken out

Try and see if you can drive both with and without air, then you can make a personal informed choice on it.

For me, no air means no sale.
Having driven a 110 with air for over 100 miles on an extended test drive, I wouldn’t get one without it.

[swisstoni]

If I was going to keep the car for ages I’d probably go without air. Less to go wrong.
But as already mentioned, for easy resale, air is probably best to have.

[anonymous-user]

Shaw Tarse said:

Not sure if this will help

Edited by Shaw Tarse on Monday 14th February 16:55

Interesting vid that. Maybe New Defender isn’t quite the Chelsea Tractor it was initially made out to be and from that review I can see commercial users taking quite a liking to it.
Alas I think it’ll come down to a financial decision in the end. Defender isn’t exactly an economy option.

[LouD86]

I've driven both, (Commercial on Coils, Car on Air) and I have to say I felt the Coils rode smoother. However, if i was towing, or taking offroad it would be air every day

[Joscal]

I’ve a 90 commercial and the ride is really good indeed.

[anonymous-user]

Crossflow Kid said:

Shaw Tarse said:

Not sure if this will help

Edited by Shaw Tarse on Monday 14th February 16:55

Interesting vid that. Maybe New Defender isn’t quite the Chelsea Tractor it was initially made out to be and from that review I can see commercial users taking quite a liking to it.
Alas I think it’ll come down to a financial decision in the end. Defender isn’t exactly an economy option.

Unfortunately things like crew cab pickups aren't as cheap as they once were, Hiluxes start at about 30 grand and I've seen one sale at nearly 70 grand.

[anonymous-user]

Newarch said:

Crossflow Kid said:

Shaw Tarse said:

Not sure if this will help

Edited by Shaw Tarse on Monday 14th February 16:55

Interesting vid that. Maybe New Defender isn’t quite the Chelsea Tractor it was initially made out to be and from that review I can see commercial users taking quite a liking to it.
Alas I think it’ll come down to a financial decision in the end. Defender isn’t exactly an economy option.

Unfortunately things like crew cab pickups aren't as cheap as they once were, Hiluxes start at about 30 grand and I've seen one sale at nearly 70 grand.

True, but you’re getting a crewcab pick up.
This is £50k for a two seat box van that can’t accommodate even a 6’ fence post.
The other card that HiLux, Navarra and Ranger can play is that it’s relatively easy to remove the pickup tub to fit a specialist body conversion eg a cherry-picker or tipper.
That was always a forte of Classic Defender. Seems JLR have written off that market in favour of stupid black alloys and pointless little baggage pods stuck on the sides.

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 19th February 14:46