New Defender News

[Blaise]

If you're running 35s at the expense of suspension travel... yea, it does make it wrong unless you're just trying to look cool. From a capability perspective it's always better to have more travel.

Morrisdl: I was able to fix the variances via the tool for my truck electronically. And I hope you're right, if he just wants GAP support, I'm all about it. But no short rods.

 

[TexasTJ]

If you're running 35s at the expense of suspension travel... yea, it does make it wrong unless you're just trying to look cool. From a capability perspective it's always better to have more travel.

we’ll yes and that is all most Americans care about. It’s an Instagram world today.

 

[Blaise]

It's not just Americans, it's most everyone. They'll do stupid lifts all day long to run stupid tires and then claim that a stock vehicle can't go anywhere.

I still have yet to find anywhere I can't go with my stock LR3 - unless we're talking Golden Spike or worse in Moab.

 

[naks]

rescuing a truck in Namibia:

 

[naks]

from Leisure Wheels magazine

"Defender adventure in Namibia, done and dusted. We piloted the new Land Rover Defender for 800km through Namibia's tough as nails Kaokoland. This was no la-de-da gravel road drive - we traversed some really tough 4x4 terrain. Full adventure and a comprehensive Defender 4x4 driving report in the upcoming May issue"

 

[naks]

"800km done and dusted in Namibia in Land Rover’s new Defender. Land Rover didn’t hold back on the difficulty of the terrain either - there were some gnarly 4x4 tracks along the way. No worries for the Defender"
By @leisurewheels_4x4mag

 

[morrisdl]

+2" (+50mm) Bigger tires get me into situations that are beyond what Land Rover engineers designed for, and sometimes it even get me back. ;-)

Old saying: "More fun to drive a slow car quickly, than a fast car slowly" applies to offloading too. Id rather be challenged with a stock truck though 90% of the trails, than drive a rock crawler on 10% of the trails that could be challenging. The guy with the most "built" rig in the group is also the most board. I am still running the smallest tires of my group (D1, FJ80, and JKU-rubi) and manage to keep up just fine and usually have a bigger sense of achievement.

Land Rover designs these for 99% street use and max EPA ratings. Many people here use their land rovers more as recreational vehicle and not daily-driver, the rest just add big tires and short rods for cool looks.
Sock or modified for form or function - none is really wrong.

 

[soflorovers]

If you're running 35s at the expense of suspension travel... yea, it does make it wrong unless you're just trying to look cool. From a capability perspective it's always better to have more travel.

Morrisdl: I was able to fix the variances via the tool for my truck electronically. And I hope you're right, if he just wants GAP support, I'm all about it. But no short rods.

Agree to disagree. The larger tire provides additional ground clearance and additional capability. As for travel, it doesn't restrict travel except for when the system is maxed out; I imagine rods being important when an SYA style kit comes out for these. Most of the time, you're not running in "extended" mode where travel is restricted. Assuming you do get into a situation where you do need extended mode and you're bouncing all over the place, I'd rather have the additional ground clearance provided by the 35". FWIW, LR engineers have stated that a 35" will fit with a simple re-calibration. Sometimes vehicles are sold at a certain ride height for different reasons such as fuel economy, occupant crash safety, and pedestrian safety. The fact that LR's development team has tried to stuff a 35" and is telling people that it will fit tells me that the detriment isn't as large as you think it is. It has nothing to do with being a poser or looks. Sometimes people just want more sidewall and additional clearance, which is the primary reason I put a Proud Rhino lift on my first LR3 with 32" Duratracs.

 

[TexasTJ]

The New 90 6 seater on 37's will be Sexy!!!

 

[FLMotero]

Why in the hell would you want to ruin the suspension on a brand new rover?

You realize that it takes thousands and thousands of engineering hours of design and testing, etc to create an optimal suspension setup. You can't "upgrade" this by tricking the sensors. You also realize that tire selection is ANOTHER thing that engineers do. If the duratrac is what is selected, there's a good chance its for performance reasons as the price/unit is very similar compared to a KO2. Esp for a flagship car.

Think about this: It's like when people claim a 20hp upgrade from adding some fan into your car intake. If it worked, GM/Ford/JLR/VAG/etc would have done it LONG ago. The people working these systems from inside are the best, they aren't leaving 'free' performance on the table***

**(the exception here is when mandated by regulation, such as the enormous low-end power improvements on certain turbo engines which are illegal from an emissions compliance standpoint but otherwise have minimal impact on engine longevity)

Since when did putting Johnson Rods on a EAS equipped Rover become “ruining the suspension”?

And no I don’t want Good Year tires that gum up in any type of sticky mud/clay. Or the same Good Year tires that crack to hell and back in just a few years in the Florida sun where I live.

 

[Red90]

You won’t have much choice as they used a tire size that is only used on this vehicle.

 

[naks]

The 90 is now available to order in the UK: https://media.landrover.com/news/20...e-following-unprecedented-demand-defender-110

 

[catmann]

Interesting, they claim "unprecedented demand" following a successful 110 launch, yet not one Defender has been sold yet that I am aware of...I know there are orders on the books, but highlighing how many online configuration have been made makes me think they are trying to paint a rosy picture over a difficult situation (middling sales, pending coronavirus issues, etc).

Order books for the Land Rover Defender 90 have opened following the successful launch of the Defender 110. New Defender is the toughest and most capable Land Rover ever made and delivers 21st century connectivity with unstoppable off-road performance.​

​

The first Defender 110 models will be delivered to customers from spring this year with three-door, short-wheelbase Defender 90 models due to arrive later this summer. ​

• Success story: Defender 110 orders have exceeded initial targets and customers have completed a record 1.21 million configurations on the Land Rover website

I hope it works out for LR, and I sure hope the launch is mostly problem free. I am ready for a test drive in this thing already.

 

[Blaise]

Agree to disagree.

I'm good with that. Your truck is also really really really far outside of what anyone else is doing with their LR3. You're a big exception and I shoulda stated that.

Since when did putting Johnson Rods on a EAS equipped Rover become “ruining the suspension”?

And no I don’t want Good Year tires that gum up in any type of sticky mud/clay. Or the same Good Year tires that crack to hell and back in just a few years in the Florida sun where I live.

It's been like that ever since people started putting hockey puck lifts on their Jeep/Toyota/etc. If you reduce travel/articulation, you're ruining the suspension, which is designed for compliance. Same if you trick the truck into extended mode. LR didn't leave 'hidden' capability in the truck. That wouldn't make sense.

Goodyear works fine in the mud. There's no magic sauce that a company named BFG or Toyo has that Goodyear cannot. It's a simple game of design tradeoffs. Next you'll tell me Chevy is amazing but Ford is garbage. Come on.

 

[naks]

Video of the Namibia trip from Leisure Wheels: