The 2020 Land Rover Defender 110 being exceptional off-road shouldn’t be a surprise, but it kind of is. Going against decades of conventional wisdom, the new Defender eschews body-on-frame construction, live axles, and, in its most capable spec, even steel springs. So how was the Defender 110 able to tackle the challenge of overlanding in Namibia’s barren and sparsely populated Kunene region? Read on as we break down the pieces of the puzzle that help make the new Land Rover Defender 110 so capable off-road.
Tidy dimensions
We’d be doing Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern a huge disservice if we didn’t first acknowledge the hard work he, his design team, and the engineering team did in ensuring the new Defender both looked like a Defender and was also capable of being driven like one. Say what you will about its styling, but there’s no denying it affords the Defender impressive capabilities off-road. The Defender 110 sports a 38-degree approach, 29-degree break-over, and 40-degree departure angle—the latter two angles beat the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon’s 20- and 37-degree breakover and departure angles, respectively. (Wranglers do win on approach-angle at 44-degrees.)
The Defender also boasts an impressive 11 inches of ground clearance and 35.4 inches of wading depth with its air suspension in its highest setting. Its completely flat underside is also well-protected and doesn’t put any of the drivetrain at risk of getting hung up on obstacles.
Four-Wheel Drive
Land Rover’s permanent four-wheel drive system is the heart of the Defender. Like the Discovery, Range Rover, and Range Rover Sport, the Defender sports a full-time four-wheel drive system that blends the best of an all-wheel drive system with the capability of a four-wheel drive system. Whether on road or off of it, the Defender’s four-wheel drive system is constantly vectoring torque back to front and side to side, balancing performance, efficiency, and traction. Should you need it off-road, shifting the transfer case into four-low and utilizing its 2.91:1 ratio will help with extreme obstacles.
Automatic-locking differentials
I’m usually the first to hate on automatic-locking differentials. Our old long-term Chevrolet Colorado Z71 Duramax had an auto-locking rear, and I found it slow to actually lock up under moderate off-road obstacles, making the actual act of off-roading harder than it needed to be. So, I was a bit skeptical of the Defender’s auto-locking center and rear-differentials when hitting the trails in Namibia. Turns out there was no reason for such skepticism; the Defender’s two diffs are capable of acting as both limited-slip and locking-differentials, and they frequently (and more importantly, quickly) lock and unlock while driving. They actually lock and unlock so quickly that you end up using them far more than you would with manual lockers, which could be a minor inconvenience to toggle on and off.
The Defender is missing a locking front differential and instead relies on a brake-based electronic “differential” that automatically grabs the brake of a spinning wheel to force power to the wheel with traction. The system works quickly and effectively, but I wouldn’t mind a real mechanical differential for added peace of mind.
Air Suspension
Air suspensions are usually huge no-nos for off-roading—despite the fact Land Rover has been using them for years. The issue is simple: At maximum travel (which is necessary for maximum ground clearance) the air bag becomes stiff and unwieldy, making impacts harsh, slowing you down, and increasing the odds that something goes wrong.
Where the Defender’s optional air suspension differs from prior systems is that it uses multiple stages in its long-travel air suspension. This means that even at max off-road height there’s still plenty of travel and impact absorption left in the suspension. The four corners of the air suspension are also cross-linked. This means that when one corner of the air suspension has fully compressed, it pushes the air to the opposite side of the truck, pushing the wheel down and back on the ground like a live axle vehicle would, thereby increasing traction.
Terrain Management system
And lastly, tying everything together is Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 system. While it has dedicated modes for different surfaces such as sand or rocks, its “Auto” setting is arguably the best. The system samples the Defender’s surroundings up to 500 times a second, constantly—but also subtly—changing throttle response, steering, stability control, and the four-wheel drive, differential, and air suspension settings as you go down either the road or the trail.
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