Land Rover Defender 110 test drive since 2007 SUV
Off -road
Land Rover Defender for connoisseurs and experts, the car is as cult as for the Soviet man Volga GAZ-21. It is not surprising, because the good old Def has been produced for half a century and has undergone a minimum of cardinal changes in all this time. Yes, and it is impossible not to note the fact that over 75% of all the defenders ever released on the go. Such amazing reliability is primarily explained by the simplicity of the design and an aluminum body. But first things first
The new Defender with a wheelbase of 90 inches, that is, short and three -door, was officially represented at the beginning of the year at one of the automobile exhibitions in Moscow. At the same time, officials said that, despite many improvements, the design and concept of the car did not fundamentally change. The fact that these words were really similar to the truth, few doubted. But to make sure of this personally, I had to take the car for a test drive. And here we are driving a British legend, which in our country many affectionately call the English UAZ.
First of all, it is necessary to note the color of black metallic unique for such a car. Previously, defects had a rather narrow range of color scheme, but time, as you know, makes its own adjustments. By the way, it should be noted that this coler is very far from a brutal SUV, making it younger and fresh. The funny thing is that one of the colleagues has a personal Defender, but in 2005, that is, just before restyling, so there was something to discuss. So, the new grille of the radiator, although it is striking, for it looks more massive, it is fundamentally not very different from the previous one. But it is impossible to not notice the hump on the hood, as well as the lack of morally obsolete folding cracks for ventilation (if someone is not in the know, then they were located right under the windshield and funny opened out with the help of levers). As a matter of fact, almost all visible external innovations end in this. Unless the tiny rounded houses became white
Much more innovations can be found in the cabin. No, he himself remained the same in size, but nevertheless, some details underwent key changes. First of all, this applies to torpedo and instrument panels. The ducts moved upstairs, became round in the style of a fellow Discovery and settled in the upper corners of the central console. The dashboard itself was also modified, a speedometer and a tachometer received a fashionable steel edging in the Range Rover style. Absolutely new seats, according to the assurances of the creators, are now much more comfortable. Maybe this is so, only now the bus landing itself remained the same, even with the driver’s chair pushed to the end, I want to move even further. In addition, the distance between the left edge of the steering wheel and the side door again remained small, even despite the new design and the thickness of the steering wheel itself
In general, the main problem of all Defender without exception is the cunning organization of ergonomics of the driver's seat. If you transfer to a jeep from another car, for example, then the left leg by default gets to the brake pedal instead of clutch. In other words, the pedal node is shifted to the left than we are used to. There is nothing criminal in this, you can get used to everything, of course, but it is not clear what causes the manufacturer to solve the problem. Good old British traditions, apparently
Everything else is quite familiar and familiar to any holder of Land Rover Defender and a square box of the functions of a large glove compartment, and the seats sticking out from the veneer of an incomprehensible breed, and even the rummage of these very seats in the back, the rear door slamms unnecessarily, and the sliding side side The windows according to tradition with great difficulty push back, at least while the new ones but the entires listed are forgotten as soon as you get behind the wheel of this square defender.
And the point is not at all that there is a certain trick in his management (Land Rover Defender is able to like on the asphalt perhaps really to the auto -gum)
The new engine is a variation on the theme of the good old Roverovsky turbodiesel, by the way, is very reliable. The volume decreased quite slightly (four cylinders have become again), and now it is 2.4 liters, giving out 122 horsepower on the mountain. But to 360 nm, the torque increased the most important thing in the diesel engine. As a result, the dynamics increased, although no one expects BMW agricultural agriculture, for example
You ask: if the landing is so -so, the plastic buttons resemble Lada and all that, why do they love this warrior all over the world? The answer is obvious: turn off on the off -road, because there is a defender of the king! The most powerful frame is lowered below the bottom of the body, all -wheel drive with a self -locking differential and reduced transmission allow you to drive where almost any car of the world will sit down. Unless our UAZ Da GAZ-66 can make up at least some kind of competition, and even then, due to rubber with primerials, the aluminum body made it possible to reduce the mass (Defender weighs less than two tons), and does not rust. Plowed field? Snow virgin lands? A rural road blurry? No problems, you can not even turn on the lock! Not a single jeep in the world has such cross -country ability, and brand fans know this very well. And little will make them change their brutal Defender to a more comfortable SUV.
... There was a time when the Land Rover Defender of the Kaliningrad assembly cost in Russia 23,500 dollars. Then, 36,000 Greens were asked for a native British Def with a wheelbase of 110 inches. Now the price of the cheapest Defender 90 begins at 33,800 green. And the cost of a test machine with options exceeds for $ 41,000, however, even such a car is not able to stop the ardent fans of this car! In addition, with age, these machines are extremely reluctant to fall in price.
Alexey Gusev
Photo: Yan Segal
Source: Mkobil magazine [December/2007]
