Land Rover Defender 110 test drive since 2007 SUV

In the service of Her Majesty

Perhaps, among the cars produced today there is no other, keeping such long and strong traditions. Good or bad, thought Sergey Kanunnikov. Photo: George Sadkov.
 
Land Rover Defender 90
The model made their debut in 1948. Defender received the name in the early 1980s. The car was repeatedly modernized, without changing, however, fundamentally. The next version appeared in 2007. In addition to a short modification of 90, they offer a five -door version -110 (base 2795 mm).
Engine: diesel 2.4 liters (122 hp).
Gearbox: mechanical 6-speed.
Complete: Base, S, SE.
The price of basic configurations: 820 000-920 000 rub. ($ 33 \u200b\u200b600-37 700).
Test car: SE equipment, options, 1019,000 rubles. ($ 41 760)
High-tech, say? Internet, digital television, all sorts of electronic assistants there? But whether you want to squeeze a tight clutch pedal and, by switching the transmission, tuck your left leg under yourself, once again touching the door handle? Having gathered with strength, we will push the gas pedal. Neither this nor the next bump is terrible with the defende-rime! Bah! - drowning out music, the folded rear chair crashed ..
According to the covenants of Sir Winston
It's like a firefish. Like high -society hats on jumps. As indestructible by rumors or scandals, respect for her majesty. In 1948, even before Elizabeth became the queen, strong, simple, all-wheel drive Land Rover blessed Win-Ston Churchill himself. He even posed for a photographer near one of the first samples. After all, the car was an answer to the call of the government to make goods that could find good demand, including outside Britain, and contribute to the growth of the economy weakened by the war.
The car liked the military, travelers, farmers (they managed to fasten even plugs to the car!) - In general, those who could not or did not want to choose roads.
In defender 90, modernized in 2007, much from that legendary car. Say, simple in shape aluminum body panels that delight fans of the style of Ma-Litari rivets. In general, in the number of proudly undisguised screws and bolts, the defender in the passenger world has no equal. An amazing landing - the driver is pressed to the left door (the steering wheel from the glass is hardly on the width of the palm) also from the 1940s. The clue is simple - initially the car was three -seater. Well, why not move the seat back? After all, there is full of space! Apparently, the ideas about comfort were different. And to change them is the same as applying for a five -hour tea. All this, including a large steering wheel, displaced pedals and lack of space for the left leg, calls the tongue ergonomics does not turn.
And yet it seems that behind the low straight windshield with a puny brush, instead of Moscow dank slush, a bright savannah will appear in a moment in a moment inhabited by animals with animals with beasts - a childhood film about Africa with an indispensable landing rover - also a hero, albeit the second plan.
Tribute to the century
Of course, something in the Lend Roover still changed. A completely modern 2.4-liter diesel diesel is very burdened and not well disperses the car. The engine is reproached only in noise. Although the fact that the evil roar fills the salon at any speed, except idle, is to blame, I suspect, not so much a motor as noise insulation.
The mechanism of the new 6-speed gearbox works clearly. The sixth will have to be used only on a flat highway at speeds over 90 km/h. At the same time, the engine develops less than 2000 rpm. And diesel fuel consumption is really small.
A rare driver will want to go on the defender much faster. But the disc brakes are clearly and understandable (the most successful in the algorithm of work in the car pedal!) The car is besieged.
The salon has a lot of what we are used to seeing in a modern car. But the buttons are scattered somehow inaccurate, as if reluctantly; You want excesses - get it! Huge keys of the windows on the panel (you can’t permit them on the door, you are hard to grip the pen with difficulty) reminded the upgrade of the editorial Volga about eight years ago. But there is a proprietary radio, air conditioning (both the option) and even heating the windshield. Very harmful in the defender thing. The stove is good, but the diesel is heated for a long time.
About the airbags, all the more all there are curtains there - do not ask. It is probably easier to design a new machine (which the company has done repeatedly) than insert them into this.
But since 2007, instead of longitudinal benches, two seats, even with seat belts. True, you can get to them only through the trunk door, and in folded form the chair is desperately rattling.
From realities to off -road
Youth illusions scattered into the fluff at the first pothole! Maybe it’s great to go somewhere in the savannah on such a car. Slowly, so as not to scare the beast. But in a stream on a wide unloaded road, you feel what whole bridges and worm steering are. If there are skills, it is not difficult to keep the car in a reasonable corridor, but you will get a small pleasure. Is something reminded? That's right - UAZ. There is more comfortable landing, here - the brakes and acceleration are noticeably better.
Another plus - you feel the dimensions of an angular car very well. Minus is a huge radius of turning. What can be reconciled with this defender? And then it's time to get out of the road
He did not experience fate - he turned on in advance a lower series of transmission and blocking of the center differential. The tires on this defender are not very angry. Nevertheless, along a softened rut, grooves, ditches, and even along a field covered with untouched snow, the car is like a dish. He allowed himself to even stop in rather controversial places, and not to force them. The Lend Rover, growling, confidently, except that a couple of times scrolling through the wheel, touching and continued to persistently plow the pampas near Moscow.
Of course, no newfangled assistants for descent from the hill here! Is it necessary? As a rule, it is enough to turn on the first reduced and, without even slowing down, work as a steering wheel. A short car, of course, is quite rotten, but putting it in place is as easy as to get out of balance. Here, a heavy gas pedal is quite to the place: allows you to carefully dose traction. This is where the loose steering shows its best qualities! This is where the Lend Rover is in his element!
God Save the Queen
Defender and I are again on the highway. We are now going quickly - a little is used to each other. Although the desire to go somewhere around the distant land still did not arise. Rather, I want to make my left leg
Nevertheless, in strict adherence to traditions there is a certain charm: after all, God, keep the queen! And today it sounds modern. And even the smartest electronics is by no means always able to prevent trouble as an experienced driver and an off -road car will do.
Of course, the romantic age, whose heroes were rude and strong cars, passed. But somehow I can’t believe that someday de-Fender will not become (today the numerous modern brothers, although he has been squeezed, did not replace him). Sometimes it seems: he, like a fellow countryman - a secret agent 007, will safely survive several decades, remaining in her service.
Land Rover Defender 90 is the hero of the epic: still courageous, hard and very uncompromising.
+ Cross -country ability, cross -country ability and crossiness again.
- A very uncomfortable landing on the front seats, tight clutch and gas pedals, mediocre handling, noise in the cabin.
For the same money
Hyundai Tucson
645 000-919 900 rub. ($ 26 300-37 500) The car is offered by motors 2 and 2.7 liters. Of course, a typical modern crossover is not capable of off -road exploits, but it will not save on ordinary lane. ZR, 2007, No. 1
Suzuki Grand Vitara
754 900-904 000 ($ 30 780-36 900) decent patency, a 140-horsepower engine, a rather spacious interior, a choice of a mechanical or automatic gearbox. ZR, 2006, No. 5
 

 

Source: The magazine "Driving"