SA Road Tests

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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 probably applies to the models you can get at home.

*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the stories.

We chill in the 2009 Land Rover Defender 90 Ice

 Is this the enda the Defender?

 Land Rover’s basic utility vehicle, currently named Defender, has been around basically untouched for sixty years and like humans of that age, there are mounting cries in certain quarters for it to be pensioned off.

 The most common sign of impending replacement is a rash of facelifts, upgrades and name changes, as happened recently with the CitiGolf and the Toyota Tazz before it. The Defender’s most recent major upgrade happened in 2007 when it was given a new turbodiesel engine, upgraded transmission and improved ventilation and seating to win the ‘New Defender’ moniker.

 Last year saw the introduction of Anniversary and Puma editions and now we have two cosmetic upgrades called ‘Fire’ and Ice.’ Is the end actually in sight, or should we remember that CitiGolf went through about ten years of reinvention before it was officially put out to pasture a couple of weeks ago?

 Whatever the case, the Fire and Ice limited edition vehicles, of which 100 are being marketed in South Africa out of 850 worldwide, consist of your basic Defender 90 and 110 station wagons with eye catching paintwork and trim, and a range of optional accessories.

 They feature striking two-tone colour schemes.  Defender Fire combines metallic ‘Vesuvius’ orange with metallic ‘Santorini’ black roof, bonnet, centre grille and wheel arches.  Defender Ice contrasts the cooler shade of ‘Alaska’ white with the same bold black panels.

 The exteriors are finished off with ‘diamond turned’ five spoke alloy wheels, black side runners, LED rear lamps with clear lenses, and a modernised front light treatment.

 Inside, the cabins feature superior materials and special treatments to complement the exteriors. Seats combine black leather borders with grey Alcantara centre panels and head restraints with embossed Land Rover logos.

 Centre switch panels use the same orange or white paint finish as the exteriors, while contrast stitching on the steering wheel, seats, centre cubby box and carpet mats is coordinated to match.

 To personalise, a range of optional accessories is available. These include an A-frame protection bar, raised air intake, ribbed aluminium undershield, aluminium wing top protectors and a chequer plate protection kit in black, a luggage rack or a roof sports bar system.

 Our test vehicle was the three-door Defender 90 in ‘Ice’ configuration. For those two readers who don’t know, the numbers 90 and 110 refer to each vehicle’s wheelbase in inches, with the longer 110 models having two more doors. We aren’t sure where a Fire or Ice model would fit into Life’s grand scheme, as Defenders are traditionally rugged upholders of the Land Rover off-road adventuring faith, as it were.

 These are the hardy individualists that conquer new worlds, traverse continents and carry emergency aid to the outermost reaches of civilisation as we know it. When they reach the ends of their grand adventuring days, they traditionally become enthusiasts’ toys or ferry tourists around upmarket game parks.

 A pretty version with carpets (even your superlative Range Rover has sturdy rubber mats, for goodness’ sake) and leather upholstery seems a bit odd to me, but who can tell? At least the carpets are synthetic, so a good hosing should return them to their original glory once Dr Livingstone and his muddy wellies have debarked.

 No, there are no official plans to pension the icon off just yet – just me wondering out loud again.

The numbers

Prices: R378 000 (90 SW) and R418 000 (110 SW)

Engine: 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

Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km

 

What We Do

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 central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go 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!

Comments?

Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously. Contact me here

 

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