SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8
This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you can get at home.
Land Rover Defender 90
Still the yardstick by which other off-roaders are judged
I am in culture shock. Having recently experienced Land Rover’s upmarket SUVs, the Range Rover and the Discovery, the Defender 90 base model is positively utilitarian by comparison.
This is despite driveline upgrades and improvements to the interior in response to legislation, customer demand and the need to wrest sales back from competitors offering squishier rides and fancier accessories.
While not yet “21st century” in all its appointments, the New Defender, as it has been dubbed, is at least “welcome to the 1990s.” Die-hard fans will probably object, just as they did in 1975 when the cushioned plastic dash was introduced, but the result is a much more user-friendly vehicle than it was previously.
The engine is a 2,4 litre turbocharged common rail diesel, snatched from the Ford parts bin, that puts out the same power as the previous Td5 unit and 20 percent more torque at a low 2 000 rpm. More than 87 percent of this is available over a wide range, from 1 500 to 2 700 rpm. It is also quieter, more fuel efficient and cleaner, easily exceeding the European EU 4 emissions standard.
A Honeywell-Garrett variable nozzle turbine (VNT) turbocharger helps minimise turbo lag by directing incoming exhaust gas onto different areas of the turbine wheel. This results in a small and lightweight unit that can achieve very fast turbo responses at low engine speeds, yet still deliver large amounts of torque further up the rev range.
The technology provides more immediate and progressive accelerator responses than can be achieved with conventional, fixed geometry turbochargers. The variable nozzles can also close the turbo down at high engine speeds, eliminating the need for a potentially unreliable turbo waste gate.
The New Defender's transmission retains the highly capable, dual-range, permanent four-wheel drive configuration of its predecessor, but all the major components have been upgraded or replaced to match the new engine's improved performance.
These include a new six-speed manual gearbox, as well as detail improvements to propshaft layout and driveline joint specification, all in the interests of off-road performance, improved refinement and enhanced durability.
The changes provide better control when towing or driving off road, reduce cruising noise, lighten clutch loads and improve gear change precision. They not only provide the Defender with even broader capability but also make everyday use easier.
Inside, improvements to the ventilation system allow for greater warmth when needed and also make things cooler, more quickly than previously, when the need arises.
Seating is more comfortable, while improved layout of controls has made day-to-day living more user-friendly than previously. There is even a radio/CD unit in the dash, although more on this later.
The result is a car that travels well, cruising easily at about 2 400 rpm at 120 km/h in sixth, handles as well as your average pickup if driven intelligently and is more comfortable on wash board surfaces than some of them, to boot.
Maximum speed is governed to 130 km/h for safety reasons because, according to Jaguar Land Rover SA managing director Andrew Daniel: “We have a safety responsibility to limit the speed, given the vast range of applications the Defender will be used for: the way it may be loaded and the various wheel and tyre combinations employed."
He added that while the issue has been raised worldwide, the global customer base has not really perceived it as a negative. "It is not deemed a big issue – not even in Germany, where speed is a matter of national pride."
It is still a noisy beast though: at 120 km/h the combination of tyre rumble and wind whistle around those thin aluminium doors makes the radio/CD player really intrusive. I eventually decided that music was just an unnecessary added distraction and switched it off. While whingeing, I feel that the interior door handles are sited too far forward, with insufficient knuckle space between door and dash, making opening a chore.
When all is said and done, though, one doesn’t pay for what the Defender is, one pays for what it does. It’s still the yardstick by which other off-roaders are judged and the car that mountain goats might flag down when the going gets too rough for mere quadrupeds.
Amazingly enough, by the time my tenure with the Defender 90 ended, culture shock was sufficiently overcome for me to actually consider having one around permanently (Lotto permitting, of course).
The numbers:
2 402 cc DOHC inline four-cylinder, turbocharged diesel
Power: 90 kW at 3 500 rpm
Torque: 360 Nm at 2 000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 17.6 seconds
Maximum speed: 131 km/h (governed)
Fuel index: 12.6 l/100 km
CO2 gm/km: 330
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Price as at 2009.03.14: R345 000
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day to day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to in order to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and visit to kick back and relax. So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8