DUBAI – The Land Rover Defender line-up is now complete. Continuing the tradition of naming the variants according to the chassis length the new Defender 130 closes the circle.

Not that the new Defender 90, 110 or 130 have a chassis mind you, because they’re now built around a very strong monocoque structure, but they have stuck with the iconic predecessors’ heritage and history and that can only be a good thing.

The Defender is also the only vehicle in its segment that’s not built on a ladder frame chassis which is part of the reason why it’s so comfortable both on and off-road. Land Rover claims it’s three times stiffer in terms of structural rigidity than its rivals and that’s saying something.

That’s by the by, but it does show what’s possible when the engineers were tasked with a completely foreign concept when Jaguar Land Rover started redesigning the Defender.

The previous generation Defenders 130 were extended double cabs and much loved by the world’s overland community. It was easy to accessorise with a canopy, sliding drawers, fridges, roof top tents and a myriad of other options you could bolt or tie onto it to make life comfortable in the bundus.

This new Defender 130 is a completely different animal that bears no relation to its predecessor. I can already hear the gnashing of teeth and grumbles from the old guard lamenting the fact of times gone by and JLR having “lost the plot”.

But times change, buyer profiles change and if everyone had that kind of thinking, we’d stuff our money under the mattress, well apart from our Phala Phala President, and I’d be writing this on a typewriter.

Land Rover has taken the same Defender 110 chassis and extended the rear by 340mm. Instead of it looking like an afterthought, they have crafted a boat-tail style uplift, a bit like its Range Rover sibling but it has compromised the car’s departure angle which is now 28.5 degrees.

There’s space for eight people but to be fair three adults in the back row of seats will be a bit of a squeeze but it will carry seven adults comfortably.

Comfortable interior makes for a luxury ride in the new Defender.

Land Rover has designed the rear seats with comfort in mind and specifically so that you don’t sit with your knees bent almost touching your ears. I tested it and with my just over six-foot frame I could easily sit comfortably on an extended trip with decent visibility out the windows with the second sunroof adding an extra dimension of space.

Access to the rear seats is still manual and a bit ungainly with the second row sliding and folding forward.

There are USB chargers, heated seats, air conditioning, padded elbow rests and cup holders underscoring the fact that the rear seats aren’t there merely to fit in an extra bum or two.

With the rear seats up, boot space is on the small side with 389 litres and with both rows folded down a cavernous 2 291 litres.

The interior of the 130 Defender continues in the elegant fashion of the 90 and 110. Windsor leather abounds as do various colour wooden veneers that belies the Defender’s off-road capability.

It still pays homage to the original Defender with the dashboard rack and hex socket cap bolts in the doors and like its siblings is completely digital with various views for the driver dials and a larger, easy-to-reach 11.4-inch Pivi Pro touchscreen.

Depending on which mode you’re operating in, the crisp graphics change accordingly. It’s easy to use and intuitive without having to go into various menus and sub menus.

A cool feature is the global location platform, what3words, that allows accurate navigation by dividing the globe into a grid of 57 trillion 3mx3m squares, each with a unique easy-to-remember three word address.

The integrated technology allows what3words addresses to be input directly to the navigation bar on the Pivi Pro system or via the connected car app, working alongside the existing HERE connected navigation and mapping software.

Driving in the Dubai dunes it’s interesting to see on the screen how power is transferred to the various wheels and how the differential locks open and close as you speed along.

Locally we will be getting two engine derivatives; the P400 mild-hybrid six cylinder petrol engine and the D300 six cylinder diesel derivative.

The mild-hybrid uses a 48V Belt-integrated Starter Generator that harvests energy lost under braking and deceleration, and stores it for later use.

The petrol mill is good for 294kW and 550Nm of torque and will get to 100km/h in a throaty 6.6 seconds while the diesel has 221kW and 650Nm reaching 100km/h in 7.5 seconds.

But Defender 130 owners will care little about those times but more about how perfectly linear power is delivered from the eight-speed ZF automatic transmission to all four 20-inch wheels via Land Rover’s Intelligent All-Wheel Drive (iAWD) system, especially the P400 which we drove over two days in Dubai.

Fitted with electronic air suspension with adaptive Dynamics and Land Rover’s advanced Terrain Response system, the desert dunes gave all the electricary a solid workout.

The group of motoring journalists consisted of Australians, New Zealanders and myself from South Africa so you can imagine the banter and rivalry as each obstacle presented itself.

I had just returned from driving the dunes in Namibia at the launch of the new V6 Ford Raptor so my sand driving skills were still pretty sharp much to the joy of my Australian co-driver.

The Dubai sand seems slightly softer but having aired the tyres down and driving in sand mode the big 130 behaved well with only a couple down to the diff incidents.

As an aside, I was one of the SA journalists that drove the new 110 Defender pre-production models on parts of the Namibian Skeleton Coast in March 2020, yes, days before the world went Covid lockdown crazy.

We were told to drive as hard as we could and every night the engineers and technicians downloaded data to see how it performed in extreme conditions and sent it back to HQ. It was here that they discovered a slight anomaly in sand mode and a few tweaks and discussions later the software was updated over the air.

The Defender will raise itself up to 430mm with an additional 71.5mm at the front and 73.5mm at the back if things get really tough and for wetter areas than Dubai it will ford up to 900mm.

Pushing the engine hard it responded superbly with each gear holding on perfectly before switching up as we gunned it over and around the big dunes with rooster tails following us whenever a hard turn was called for. Not bad for a vehicle that comes in at just under 1.6 tons.

The electrically adjustable seating is supremely comfortable and supports all the right places when you're driving hard, fast and doing quick turns.

Next up was a few hundred kilometres on perfect tar, a far cry from whence we came and in a country that our politicians seem to be so fond of but can’t mirror their infrastructure boom or maintenance.

Following a set route on the navigation screen we skirted the city and headed towards a resort called Bab Al Shams with the V6 turbo sound when pushed providing a pleasant accompaniment.

With a strong desert wind blowing across our bow, the Defender’s insulation proved to be outstanding with only the side mirrors wind making a slight intrusion.

Parts of the highways have a speed limit of 160km/h and well, no second invitation was necessary as we mingled with some of the super cars Dubai is known for.

Despite the Defender’s size and a roof rack fitted with an assortment of wind resistant accessories the 130 cruised effortlessly along. Acceleration isn’t brutish but rather smooth and steady with the gearbox matched perfectly to the engine.

The monocoque chassis comes into its own around sharp corners and bends with the car hunkering down determinedly making it one of the easiest proper big 4x4s to pilot.

When the convoy pulled into the resort after a full day’s driving that required some serious concentration my body felt no different than what it did when I climbed in shortly after sunrise, a testament to the Defender 130 to be sure.

The new Defender 130 is unlikely to become the darling of overlanders but that’s okay, it still stands proudly among its peers and siblings as a Defender.

Watch the full video review below.

* Special thanks to Justin Jacobs for the video production.

Land Rover Defender 130 Pricing (April 2023)

130 D300 X-Dynamic HE: R1,754,600

130 D300 First Edition: R1,758,600

130 D300 X: R1,924,600

130 P400 X-Dynamic HSE: R1,798,500

130 P400 First Edition R1,803,500

130 P400 X: R1,974,500

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