Land Rover introduced the new Defender two years ago around this time. While it seemed rugged and strong on paper and turned out to be a rather sweet package, a lot of purists didn’t find the old-school charm in it anymore, which wasn’t wrong. But, how does it compare to its predecessors in terms of pure strength? Mat Watson from Carwow decided to find the answer by pitting it against two yesteryear Land Rover Defenders in a tug of war. While one of them featured a diesel mill, the other was an electrified version. Which SUV do you think has the edge?
New Defender vs Electric Defender
It first faced an old Defender with an electric powertrain.
It features a 60 kWh battery pack under the hood and a 40 kWh battery pack at the rear. This is a total of 100 kWh and it also comes from the Tesla. It weighs 4,409 pounds, which makes it over 500 pounds lighter than the new Defender. It doesn't have a low range, but comes with an off-road mode. It also has better off-road tires.
The new Defender was in Grass mode with low range whereas the electric Defender was slot in off-road mode. The old Defender couldn’t do much when the war began and it lost to the modern Defender without a fight. That’s how well the mechanicals and technology work together on the new SUV.
New Defender vs Defender Spectre Edition
Next up, it faced a Defender Spectre Edition.
Power is routed to all the wheels but this doesn’t even come with the one off-road mode that the EV did. However, it holds one big advantage over the modern Defender – It weighs 5,732 pounds; over 800 pounds heavier than the old Defender! This matters in a tug of war.
The new Defender went in with the same settings as before, but it was the exact opposite result. The old Defender manhandled the new one and pulled it away without any remorse. Well, life came a full circle for the new Defender within a few minutes.
Watch this fun video below and share your thoughts with us in the comments section.