in a follow up to this post we have this
where we get the whole trail.
okay, so I have more information to share.
The Defender is the same one that was used in the other off-road videos I’ve shared. Here is what I know about it. It has “33 inch” duratrac tires, and a 2-inch johnson rod lift. I don’t know the exact tire size, but the person in the comments said that it was a 33 inch tire. The Gladiator has 35 inch tires and a 2 inch lift. The 4Runner has a 2 inch lift and “33 inch tires” though again what size I don’t know. I also discovered that it is NOT a TRD-Pro model, but an SR5 dressed up as a TRD pro. That means it doesn’t have crawl control, MTS, KDSS or rear locker. It’s basically just standard ATRAC and that’s it. So, in a sense worse off than the no locker defender which at least has terrain response II which is the more advanced traction control logic.
I was a little bummed on the coverage with the 4Runner. I guess more is coming (from the owners of the 4runner).
With the ND (New Defender) its clear the johnson rod lift is doing it no favors in the down travel department and it shows. That being said, it clearly needs the height as its still hitting control arms and skids. The 4runner is obviously the most challenged for clearance. (the owner also stated that he was intentionally choosing easier lines to avoid damaging his wife’s car).
I really wonder what a coil-sprung version would be like. Would a taller coil, not a firmer one, allow wheel travel or does the air spring setup with cross-link allow the flex it does have and moving to coil negate that? We’ve seen this setup before on the H1 and flex it does NOT have, but those springs are like boxcar springs, so its hard to say.
I stand by what I’ve said before that when the air springs are raised, the Defender just isn’t natively good in the traction department. It has to rely far more on its traction control to get the job done and that has obvious issues. The best example is the axle twister section at the end where the cars traction control hits and sends the car sideways missing panel damage by an inch.
I will say that mud and ruts was the wrong program for this terrain, it should be in rock or whatever the low slip tolerance mode is as mud and ruts is allowing too much wheelspin.
If you want a little more detail on the old defender there is another video here
I’m glad we are finally seeing this thing in action and not just on carefully choreographed land rover experience drives. I do think that a higher percentage of buyers will actually off-road this compared to a discovery or range rover simply by virtue of its name and look. I’m actually really looking forward to seeing this on the trails around me.
I should also point out that I’m not anti-ND, I think it’s got a lot going for it in terms of cost-effective, good looking heavy hauling step into the Land Rover experience and I realize a lot of people really like the compromise of comfort and capability you get in there. In terms of payload, and towing, you just can’t do better so that’s something. You can tow 8200 lbs, even with the short wheelbase 3 door! That’s nuts. You could happily haul a tube built crawler to wherever you wanted if that was your game or buy a toy hauling off-road poptop and put a SxS on there laugh at the Bronco’s and Wranglers as you do.
I don’t think its going to be a good off-road-focused machine, and I don’t think its for me.