Month: February 2015

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The last Land Rover Defenders are noisy and unrefined but still make me sigh

current Land Rover

Last day with the Defender and mixed emotions. Sad that this is pobably the last time I will drive a ‘new’ model of the old kind – happy to look forward to a new Audi A6 Avant in the morning!

However much kit to attach to a Defender it is still a basic Land Rover underneath. No different to what you see on farms and towing trailers to the market.

Buying a Land is an emotional choice for many people – something I totally understand having one myself. But really and truly this is NOT a car for everyday use in the new millennium.

The bling of the Black Pack and features like heated seats and a thumping stereo just can’t hide a serious lack of refinement. It will annoy the hell out of most 4×4 drivers but will has a special place in my heart because it is, first and foremost, a Land Rover.

 

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A bass box in a Land Rover Defender? What will they think of next!

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The young and sharp-eyed among you might recognise the unit in the picture above. It’s something more likely to be fitted in a modified Vauxhall Corsa than a Land Rover Defender – a bass box.

The Defender is so noisy in the cabin once you reach 50mph that the hi-fi system needs all the help it can get to force music into your ears. Hence the mega-watt Alpine system – what would Maurice Wilks the original Land Rover designer think of that, I wonder?

Having discovered the manual aerial, I’m now benefitting from Radio 4 in deep bass mode. Not sure that’s what this piece of kit was created for but even The Archers theme tune is ‘kicking’ with bass.

Luxuries like this, plus electric windows and heated windscreen seem a little out of place in a Defender but it’s still way off the sophisticated interior of it’s closest rival, the Jeep Wrangler Overland…

 

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Remember the days when car aerials were not electric? Land Rover still use them on the Defender…

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Know any good jokes about car aerials – the kind you have to manually extend from the bodywork? No, neither do I but I did have a funny moment with a Ferrari radio once.

Mention this because I’ve just discovered why the Defender’s radio reception is so crap. Because it has an aerial you need to extend in the old-fashioned way. Yes, it’s been so long since I’ve had to do this that I didn’t have an inkling this would be the reason.

Back to the Ferrari. I was once at a party in Ireland with a friend who had never sat in a Ferrari. There was one parked outside and I asked the owner if he would mind if I showed my pal over it. Not at all, here’s the key.

Off we went. I opened the boot to show him the engine, he sat in the driver’s seat and started the car. The electric aerial went up by the boot hinge and immediately broke against the lid. It dangled like something that has been abused and then dangles limply afterwards in a pathetic way.

The ‘cool’ owner turned out to be a less impressed and sent me a bill! He was a prat (you know who you are) and was the sort of bloke who walked around with his flied always half down.

You can’t do that sort of damage to the Defender aerial. At last I’ve found it now…

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The New Land Rover Defender Can’t Come Soon Enough…

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Driving the Defender is like stepping back in time. Yes, the top spec XS on test at Car Couture does boast electric windows, heated windscreen and bum warmers but there are few creature comforts to make life more bearable.

It’e even equipped with one of those CD/radios featuring a front panel you have to remove for security. Our test car has a radio upgrade, which means the unit features Bluetooth and a aux in jack. However, despite the beefed up speakers, I was forced to turn the system off at 70mph on the M40 because it was too loud in the cabin with engine and road noise!

As a Land Rover owner, I’m fascinated to see how the replacement for the Defender will fair. It’s said to be aimed just as much at urbanites as country folk – I bloody well hope they don’t turn it in to some twee machine  aimed at lifestyle buyers.

The key point is that it will be a whole lot better than what we’re driving this week. Complete with eight-speed automatic gearbox and an aluminium, monocoque chassis. It can’t come soon enough…