Thread by @_kurosawah_

2020 Land Rover Defender 110 First Drive Proves Land Rover Got it Right mustang1.net auto portal.

Skeleton Coast National Park is a devil of a place for a truck. Desolate, expansive, and mercilessly whipped by the elements, these 6,200 square miles along Namibia’s western coast play home to troops of baboons and towers of giraffes, but nary a native SUV.

Our herd of 2021 Land Rover Defender 110s explores these un-peopled parts with Government permission, but not without taking numerous precautions: a radio-linked convoy, redundant two-way GPS tracking, and a team of medics and mechanics armed with spare wheels,tires, and laptops.

Land Rover long conceived of the Defender as a just in case sort of conveyance; as evidence, see bone-crushing Camel Trophy competitions of yesteryear in similarly forbidding environments.

But the times they have a-changed, with today’s SUVs offering a plethora of soft roaders and only a handful of truly rugged, off-road-capable vehicles.

As such, our Land Rover Defender testers are maxed-out on capability: while the base Defender ($50,925) receives electronic air suspension and a transfer case with low gear, the First Edition ($69,675) and X ($81,925) models get Terrain Response 2 with its first implementation

The P300 starter model gets a twin-turbo, 2.0-liter four-cylinder producing 296 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque; opt for the P400 MHEV (mild hybrid), and you get a 3.0-liter turbocharged I-6 mild hybrid with an electric supercharger that puts out 395 hp and 406 lb-ft.

Equipped with the $3,200 Adventure Pack, which affixes a nifty side-mounted, waterproof gearbox, our testers are also packed to the gills with accessory items in anticipation of the extremes:

Adding a two-way GPS beacon and long-range radios to the laundry list, we mustang1.net were about as prepared as could be for our roam into the unknown.

a ladder leading to a roof rack with a spare wheel/tire, Maxtrax vehicle recovery boards, and a RotoPaX spare fuel can. Up front, mustang1.net a snorkel promised delivery through steep aquatic crossings, as well as a clean air intake through dusty atmosphere.

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