Land Rover Defender 2009 News

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced its latest round of national recalls, with models from Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Kia, Land Rover and Ram impacted.

Land Rover's new generation Defender is expected to arrive in 2016, and it seems a trayback derivative will be not far behind it. The design director for Land Rover and sub-brand Range Rover, Gerry McGovern, has indicated a new pick-up/ute could appear in 2017, according to UK publication 'What Car?' McGovern reportedly said the Land Rover ute would be a premium vehicle, targeting the upmarket positioning of the Volkswagen Amarok rather than the base-model workhorse market. However it's already been suggested the ute will roll on a permanent four-wheel drive platform and draw on Land Rover's tough offroad ability -- which long made it a vehicle of choice for military and aid organisations entering conflict zones. In fact the reputation and the archaic design of the Defender are such that the vehicle almost stands as its own sub-brand -- albeit something of  a Jurassic marque -- in the Land Rover stable. There's no indication yet of the design for the new ute, and little for the next-gen Defender that will seed it. McGovern admitted at the launch of the DC100 concept that kickstarted the design process in 2011 that replacing the Defender was "one of the biggest challenges in the automotive design world". The Defender's main battle recently has been to add revisions and upgrades that allow it to meet tightening emissions regulations and growing consumer safety and technology feature expectations, while still retaining its tough, go-anywhere attitude. Purists mourned when the Defender's dashboard vents -- opening straight to the outside world -- were dropped in 2007, but took solace from the then upstart new-fangled model still being as slab-sided and largely as basic as the old-fangled one. They would have been relieved at McGovern's reassurance that the DC100 and the ute-like DC100 Sport were just design studies, and far from what would eventually go on sale. But we're still yet to see just how far the Defender has come, and with the ute, how far it can go. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

To be eligible for 4WD Of The Year, a vehicle has to be completely new that year, or significantly revised. By 'significantly revised' we mean a major mechanical change like a new engine or drivetrain, or a new body. Styling, equipment or interior facelifts don't cut the mustard.To be eligible, the vehicle in question also has to have a full-size spare wheel either as standard, or available as an option. No full-size spare equals no start. On this count, the Peugeot 4007, Volvo XC60, Audi Q5 and Mitsubishi Outlander were all eliminated automatically.That left a number of other soft-roaders that do come with a full-size spare to consider. These included the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, Lexus RX350, Lexus RX400h and the Nissan Murano. The fact that so many new soft roaders didn't go down the space-saver route is good news but at the end of the day they are still soft roaders and with so many strong candidates among the ranks of the serious 4WDs, we couldn't warrant their inclusion.The new 'serious' 4WDs included the Prado 150 Series, the Land Rover Discovery 4, the Range Rover Sport and Vogue, the new Land Rover Defender variants, the ML Series Triton, and the revised Jeep Wrangler.   Further culling of the numbers saw the Wrangler and the Defender eliminated on the grounds that they are both variations on well-known themes while the Range Rover Vogue, with its new petrol 5.0-litre V8, was deemed to be too expensive in relation to the new Range Rover Sport with its new 3.0-litre TDV6.In the end it came down to the Discovery 4 with its new TDV6 engine (in SE spec), the Range Rover Sport with the same engine (only one spec level), the top-spec ML Triton as this is the only model with all the new features as standard, and the Prado in both petrol and diesel guise. To us, these five vehicles represented an extremely strong field … a classic Land Rover verses Toyota battle with the wildcard Triton thrown in.Find out which vehicle won in Australia’s leading offroad magazine, Overlander, on sale Wednesday Jan 27.

... has defied reports of its imminent demise and will be around for at least the next five years."We have plans in place to continue the Defender at least until 2014," says Murray Dietsch, Land Rover's product manager. "It is such an iconic model for us that there is absolutely no rush to see it off ... in fact there has been a considerable amount of strategy and planning invested in making certain it is around for as long as possible."Dietsch, an expatriate Aussie who worked on key engineering programs such as Territory for Ford Australia, says the steady demand for Defender is something he is constantly amazed at."Year in and year out we make and sell around 22,000 of them ... it is just a constant unchanging level of demand. The people who own Defenders are a very special group. They are not concerned with aesthetics or refreshes — they just love the cars as they are."The key to Defender's survival — and the likely architect of its eventual demise — is the increasingly stringent government regulations relating to emission levels and overall vehicle safety.The 2.4-litre diesel engine is currently Euro IV compliant and will also meet the Euro V regulations when they come into play in Europe in October. The crunch will come when the far more stringent Euro VI rules are enacted at the end of 2014."We can keep the engine compliant until the end of 2014 but that is when a whole lot of extra requirements start landing — and not just to do with emissions but general vehicle design and safety requirements such as airbags which require considerable investment."I really have no idea where we go then."Understanding why the Defender imbues such iron-clad loyalty amongst owners is difficult for an outsider. Since the launch of Series 1 in 1948 the boxy, no-nonsense workhorse has been unfailingly uncomfortable, cramped, functional and single-minded. Latte-sippers need not apply.Through four generations over 60 years the Land Rover Defender has sold almost 2,000,000 examples, won favour in 130 countries, fought for 60 military forces (sometimes on both sides), taken aid to the world's most desolate places and ensured explorers reached their destination and came home.A day bashing around Land Rover's legendary test and proving facility at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire in a couple of 110s from the Land Rover Experience garage did nothing to diminish the impressions of capability — nor enhance those of any aspirations to comfort.Difficult mud and water terrain was dismissed as unworthy, the impossible became merely difficult.The functionality of the Defender's narrow, tall and boxy style something that has defied trends and the wind tunnel for all of its 60 years is only underscored as the cars slip through narrow overgrown path between trees that would turn aside many of the more luxurious off-roaders more favoured in polite society.However, evolution will not be denied and the bonnet now has what Land Rover, tongue firmly in cheek, refers to as a ‘power bulge’ to accommodate the taller Ford Transit-sourced 2.4-litre common rail turbo diesel (90kW and 360Nm) with high-mounted alternator and air intake.Also a victim of progress in the last update were the iconic airflaps under the windscreen — made redundant, says Land Rover, by an airconditioning unit that heats higher and cools lower with 40 per cent better efficiency.The door seals are still from a simpler time, something noticed as soon as the water crossings became deeper than the sills: water flowed in and water flowed out. It just seemed appropriate, somehow.Land Rover DefenderPrice: 110 wagon $48,990; 130 crew cab $50,990Engine: 2.4L/4-cylinder turbo diesel, 90kW/360NmTransmission: 6-speed manual; constant AWD dual-range with lockable centre differentialEconomy: 11L/100km (110), 11.1L/100km (130)