Land Rover: The Defender 130 in the desert test 🎥
DRIVING IN ANOTHER WORLD The 5.36-meter Defender 130 completes the British off-roader series. It had to prove what it can do in the Dubai desert.
The display behind the steering wheel shows 42 degrees. The air shimmers above the red-gold sand dunes that line up as far as the eye can see. Our caravan of five brand-new Land Rovers burrows through the soft desert sand. The wheels struggle valiantly with the loose ground, spooling, swirling fountains of sand through the air, and finding some grip again as the sun burns mercilessly from the sky.
Car does the job without any problems
A sweaty affair - you'd think. But on board the new Defender 130, it's not only pleasantly cool and enormously comfortable, it's also very relaxing to drive. We rock over the dunes on luxurious leather armchairs, while the air suspension smoothes out bumps and jolts with ease. Sure, it shakes now and then, sometimes throwing the occupants from right to left, but that's part of the fun. But the car does all the work.
The off-road driving program - here, of course, in Sand mode - orchestrates the intelligent all-wheel drive, regulates throttle response and sets the shift points of the automatic transmission so that you don't get stuck if possible. In the new Defender model, off-road driving is now really no longer a great art.
34 centimeters change the Defender
The only thing new about this model variant is actually its length: the Defender 130 is 34 centimeters longer than the 110, which has been available for some time - together with the short 90, the British have now completed the traditional Defender range. These extra centimeters, which fully benefit the rear, create a different kind of vehicle.
With a length of 5.36 meters and eight seats in three rows, the off-roader becomes a huge luxury SUV. No wonder the car was presented in Dubai, where the Defender 130 fits in wonderfully. In the U.S., too, the model won't attract much attention on the roads - here, however, the big Landi scrapes the limits of what can still be driven through a parking garage without breaking a sweat.
Little driving noise in the interior
The Defender 130 also does an excellent job on the road - no comparison to its bumpy predecessors, which had little competition off-road but could quickly become uncomfortable on asphalt. Of course, the high weight of 2.6 tons is noticeable during fast corner changes, but basically the Land Rover rolls very manners, lets only little driving noise penetrate into the interior and is easy to control in curves.
Diesel or gasoline depending on demand
Unlike the Defender 110, the 130 does without the four-cylinder. The choice is between a 3-liter inline six-cylinder diesel with 249 hp (D250) or 300 hp (D300) and a 3-liter inline six-cylinder gasoline engine with 300 hp (P300) or 400 hp. Prices start at 101,000 Swiss francs for the entry-level Defender SE D250, while the top model Defender 130 X P400 is available from 140,000 Swiss francs. Top model is only temporary. Because there will be a more powerful version a little later - we can already reveal that much.
