I was over that way and so I looked at one.
Driving the I-6 defender, holy smokes. Insane instant power. Feel, ride, handling are all unbelievable. Super smooth. Interior is dead quiet. Feels big but is quite nimble. Low range 1st gear is pretty good crawling and you can definitely tell when you raise the suspension it feels A LOT taller than a LR3/LR4.
My main issue is how they've been specified and price. $78k for a car with that interior does not compute. Sure its rugged and utilitarian. Fine but not worth it. Also I asked about defenders with the rear locker and those seem few and far between. Same with a tow hitch. Talked to one guy who got a "deal" on installing a tow hitch on his new defender...it was 4 figures. So yeah, no. Not paying stupid money for a trailer hitch.
Off road it'll feel like all the other big SUVs. When it starts sliding sideways it feels like the ship is sinking...
They keep saying that the defender has "two stage air shocks" which is a great idea. But I looked under the L405, the shocks seem exactly the same. So I guess the question is: Does the D5 and L405 and 2nd Gen RRS also have two stage? If so then I'd walk right past the new defender for a used L405...that has all the 4x4 goodies on it stock and many with trailer hitches.
Driving the I-6 defender, holy smokes. Insane instant power. Feel, ride, handling are all unbelievable. Super smooth. Interior is dead quiet. Feels big but is quite nimble. Low range 1st gear is pretty good crawling and you can definitely tell when you raise the suspension it feels A LOT taller than a LR3/LR4.
My main issue is how they've been specified and price. $78k for a car with that interior does not compute. Sure its rugged and utilitarian. Fine but not worth it. Also I asked about defenders with the rear locker and those seem few and far between. Same with a tow hitch. Talked to one guy who got a "deal" on installing a tow hitch on his new defender...it was 4 figures. So yeah, no. Not paying stupid money for a trailer hitch.
Off road it'll feel like all the other big SUVs. When it starts sliding sideways it feels like the ship is sinking...
They keep saying that the defender has "two stage air shocks" which is a great idea. But I looked under the L405, the shocks seem exactly the same. So I guess the question is: Does the D5 and L405 and 2nd Gen RRS also have two stage? If so then I'd walk right past the new defender for a used L405...that has all the 4x4 goodies on it stock and many with trailer hitches.