After Years Of Scarcity, 2019 Land Rover Defender Is Finally Set To Cross The Pond
Weekend warriors, back-country adventurers and aspiring gentlemen farmers, rejoice. After decades of deprivation, the Land Rover Defender will finally be available in Canada. Why is this a big deal? For those unfamiliar with the legacy of this burly, boxy and beloved British four-by-four, here鈥檚 some essential background. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Maurice Wilks set out to develop a new kind of off-road vehicle. Wilks鈥檚 vision was for a simple, tough and reliable vehicle like his Willys that could go anywhere. The vehicle he unveiled in 1948 at the Amsterdam Motor Show, called simply the Land-Rover, was true to those ideals. Here in Canada, however, Defenders have always been in excruciatingly limited supply, resulting in the vehicle becoming a much-sought collector鈥檚 car. 鈥淎 difficult task, replacing an icon,鈥?observes Gerry McGovern, Land Rover鈥檚 chief design officer. His solution to this challenge was to acknowledge the vehicle鈥檚 rich and storied past while moving unapologetically towards the future.
While the turbocharged diesel 3.0-liter V-6 produces 254 horsepower, the smallest figure in the Range Rover stable (excluding the four-cylinder Evoque), it also stirs up 443 lb-ft of torque at just 1750 rpm. That torque figure is 18 lb-ft shy of the 461 lb-ft shoved out by the Range Rover鈥檚 510-hp 5.0-liter supercharged gasoline V-8, and it peaks at 750 fewer rpm. Land Rover pairs the diesel with the same eight-speed automatic transmission that鈥檚 standard across the full-size Range Rover family, which shuttles torque to the ground via the same all-wheel-drive system with multiple terrain settings. Although it can鈥檛 be paired with either the long-wheelbase body style or the higher-zoot Autobiography trim level, the diesel can be had on the humbler base Range Rover or the HSE model. We鈥檇 consider an un-optioned HSE to be perfectly adequate, but this is a Range Rover, and its option sheet presents too many enticing goodies to ignore. 2500 Vision Assist package brought fog lights, bixenon headlights with automatic high-beam control, interior mood lighting, blind-spot monitoring, All Terrain Progress Control (Jaguar Land Rover鈥檚 low-speed traction-control function), and an enhanced Terrain Response system.
What鈥檚 left is pretty, maybe almost anodyne, but a better fit with other Land Rover and Range Rover models. Most 2019 Discovery SUVs get a 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 with ample power to shove it to 60 mph in 7.7 seconds and a prodigious appetite for fuel. The optional turbodiesel鈥檚 better in most ways, except for the existential ones (not to mention the price of fuel). The Discovery鈥檚 heavy, but doesn鈥檛 drive that way. With the available air suspension and off-road package, it鈥檚 blessed with enormous ground clearance and sensational mud-plugging talent, with extra kudos to its drive modes and digitally managed traction. On the road, it鈥檚 a crossover with decent steering and a quietly composed ride, something we never said of its predecessors. The Discovery鈥檚 cabin falls shy of Range Rover standards, but for the price and the job at hand, it鈥檚 lavish. Wood and leather mingle in a clubby atmosphere with excellent front seats and very good second-row seats. A power-fold third-row bench comes whether you like it or not on most top-end models, including the ones with the best off-road gear; it tucks out of the way, at least, out of sight, out of mind. No crash-test data exists with the latest Discovery but all models have parking sensors. Full-speed automatic emergency braking is an option, and shouldn鈥檛 be; so is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, and it only works with infotainment above the base Discovery SE鈥檚 pay grade.
You can see the compression barrel master cylinder mounted in the box. The later pedal box eliminates the angle, keeping the master cylinder level. The later master also has a larger capacity bore and a fluid reservoir independent of the clutch master cylinder. It is a snap to bleed. The rectangular hole in the bulkhead need to be enlarged for the new pedal box. The new box is longer and requires two retrun springs, so the hole must also be wider to keep the springs from fouling on the edge of the hole. I used a jigsaw to cut the hole. The edges are not arrow straight, since I had no desire to pull the steering box, which makes for tight cutting quarters. Anyway, the hole was cut big enough to work and in the end you won't see the edges. The bulkhead has a bracket for a stiffening rod, but this bracket is in the way of the new pedal box. It had to go.
Under the hood will be two versions of turbo-4 power mated to a standard 9-speed automatic that powers all four wheels same again there, too. The differences are in the details. The base engine is a 246-horsepower 2.0-liter turbo-4 up 9 hp from 2019 versions that can be upgraded to a 296-hp mild-hybrid turbo-4, which is a first for Range Rover. The automaker hasn鈥檛 yet divulged details on the hybrid system beyond its 48-volt framework and 鈥渃oast鈥?feature that shuts off the engine at speeds 11 mph or slower to save fuel in stop-and-go traffic. The 2019 Range Rover Evoque is rated up to 25 mpg combined and it鈥檚 likely a hybrid version meets or exceeds that figure. The Range Rover rides on a standard suspension that uses MacPherson front struts and an integral rear link, or optionally, an adaptive setup that can change dampers to temper fussy roads. The latter system will nearly be required for the tall 21-inch wheels that rode stiffly in the last version. The Range Rover Evoque鈥檚 dimensions are nearly identical to the outgoing version, although the 2020 Evoque promises scant more knee room for rear-seat passengers less than inch more compared to the old Evoque. Land Rover promises fab interior fittings including leather hides, or optionally available, premium cloth seats made from recycled fabric. The Evoque also gets a dual-touchscreen infotainment system borrowed from the Velar, called Touch Pro Duo, that stacks two 10-inch touchscreens on top of each other for entertainment and navigation on top; vehicle functions such as climate control on bottom. The Evoque will offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility as a spend-up extra, which was new on other Range Rover models this year.
