Carwow’s Mat Watson and his colleague Nick have an L460 Range Rover and L663 Defender at their disposal, so what else could they do than contest each other over the harshest terrain they can find?
Mat and the carwow team are well known for their entertaining videos that not only handle the latest automotive apparitions but also race them in head-to-head drags, track battles, and impromptu off-road competitions. The newest YT feature is of the latter variety, and they are again using the safe environment of that dusty proving grounds to try and find out who is better – Mat or Nick.
Actually, they are there to put the latest and (arguably) greatest L460 fifth-generation Range Rover flagship through its paces against the reinvented L663 land Rover Defender. There are six off-road challenges, but first, let us talk a little bit about the specifications. So, Mat is rooting for and driving the posh Range Rover equipped with BMW’s twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8.
The mill is good for 523 horsepower (530 ps) and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of twisting torque, but the comfy SUV is also a heavy and expensive beast. As it turns out, it is not as burdensome as the Defender packing the JLR-born 5.0-liter supercharged V8, which is also a tad less powerful (525 ps/518 hp and 625 Nm/461 lb-ft), but then also ‘cheaper.’
By the way, I am not going to spoil the fun of watching all the six off-road challenges (which include about everything, from up and downhill ‘drags’ to maneuverability trials) but I am going to say that – just like Mat and Nick, one needs to choose sides and select a favorite, in the end. Also, never mind the surprise brought by the tallied results, we can all agree that the Land Rover expert judge might have been a little (more than) biased…
Arctic Trucks decided the Land Rover Defender wasn’t good enough off-road, so they gave us possibly the most capable new Defender on Earth
Several legendary nameplates have put off-road capability at the forefront of their purpose, models like the Jeep Wrangler or Mercedes G-Class. Of course, Land Rover is also one of the most well-known brands for featuring impressive off-road capability with equally notable doses of luxury and comfort. However, in the automotive world, “impressive” is rarely enough for everyone. So, Arctic Trucks, the company known for fitting massive tires, flared fenders, and generally cranking the off-road potential of already quite capable vehicles up to 11, has gotten its hands on the new Land Rover Defender and made it even more of a wilderness conquerer.
The Land Rover Defender Was Already Insane Off-Road, Then Came The AT35 Pack
The most notable modification is the set of massive tires. Gone are the comfortable all-seasons and in their place are 35-inch (315/60/R20) tires wrapped around 20-inch forged wheels. The tires look like they could get the Defender over anything in their way with the incredibly chunky tread and massive side walls. The latter was certainly a good idea as the last thing you would need on the trail is to ding or to bend one of the wheels that look like they could be from an ultra-high-end aftermarket brand and cost thousands each.
A lift kit has been fitted as well, but instead of altering the suspension itself, Arctic Trucks fitted spacers to the front and rear so the stock adaptive suspension systems could remain. Since the Defender AT35 will more than likely spend much of its time outside and exposed to the elements, the seams have been treated with an anti-corrosion coating. Since fatter tires would stick out from the body and look cheap, Arctic Trucks’ trademark fender flares have been installed, but this time they are much boxier and more geometric than we are used to. Normally, the wider fenders are curvaceous, but since the defender is about as boxy as a car can get, the black-painted angular flares are much more fitting. Other visual changes consist of Arctic Truck’s signature graphics, black mudguards, an electric towbar, and a winch.
The Arctic Trucks Land Rover Defender Has Impressive Performance Specs
The Defender’s standard ground clearance with the more conventional spring suspension setup is about nine inches (228 millimeters), and with the AT35 package, that figure is boosted to 10.6 inches (270 millimeters). However, if the air suspension system happens to be equipped, the ground clearance goes from 11.4 inches (290 millimeters) to 14.1 inches (360 millimeters) with the suspension in the highest setting. The entry and departure angles are all several degrees higher to allow you to drive over even wider gullies, however, the turning radius has suffered. The stock car has a 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) turning radius, and the AT35 takes up 24.6 feet (7.5 meters).
Unfortunately, none of the modifications reach as far as the engine, and the only version of the defender that the AT35 package is available for is the P400 model with a 3.0-liter straight-six hybrid capable of 395 horsepower and 405 pound-feet of torque. Possibly because the massive tires would be too hard on the P300 model’s 2.0-liter turbo 4-cylinder, and the 518 horsepower-capable 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 would be too thirsty and unruly. While Arctic Trucks did not specify how much the alterations to the Defender cost (so presumably a shocking price tag is attached) it is for sale from the Russian division of Arctic Trucks.
The Land Rover Defender has roamed the roads and dirt roads of the world for decades. From the insane African heat to the breaking cold of Iceland. It is a vehicle that has provided unforgettable experiences to countless people thanks to its amazing and versatile platform. However, off-road isn’t the only place the Defender shines. Its classic looks have made it an icon that is at home both in the most expensive neighborhoods or in the middle of a farm. Very few vehicles have managed to achieve this. These include the Mercedes G-Wagon and the Jeep Wrangler. Let’s remember the British legend by going over what made it so good and why people all over the world from cities to farms want one.
The Defender Wasn’t Unreliable
Many people say Land Rovers are unreliable and while many of them are, the older iterations of the Defender weren’t. They did get unreliable in later years when the brand switched to Ford powertrains; however, up until the Td5 model, this was a reliable car. We would go as far as saying the 200tdi and 300tdi models are some of the most reliable 4x4s out there. They are insanely simple; therefore, there are very few things that can go wrong with them.
It Was a Great Off-Roader
The first reason why the Defender is so good off-road is its underpinnings. Land Rover equipped this vehicle with solid axles both front and rear, coil-sprung suspension, and suspension geometry that gave it insanely good wheel articulation. When this was paired with the Defender’s relatively lightweight it made up for one of the best off-roaders on the market. Especially once owners added a few upgrades like diff locks and better tires. Furthermore, it is one of the most versatile SUVs available as literally every single component and mounting point can just be unbolted. Even the shock mounts can be changed over for shorter or longer and tougher ones.
It Offered Great Versatility Inside The Cabin, Too
Aside from a troop carrier or normal passenger configurations, the Defender was also sold as a pickup truck; therefore, it came with good payload numbers. This enabled workers, farmers, and travelers to fill up their vehicles with equipment or camping gear. Furthermore, the longer wheelbase variants like the 110 had ample space inside due to the tall cabin. This increased the storage capacity even more while also being able to function as a great outback tour vehicle for companies. The main reason why the most common cars on safari tours are Defenders and 70 Series Land Cruisers is that in many cases they can fit up to 10 people inside. This is due to the troop-carrier configuration with side-mounted seats.
There Are Endless Upgrades On The Market
The Defender is one of the vehicles with the largest aftermarket support. These trucks can be turned into anything you want them to be. From city cruisers to hard-core off-roaders and everything in between. You can find heavy-duty axles, suspension upgrades, interior upgrades, and other accessories that will make the Defender the perfect tool for the job you want it to do. Aside from the modifications, there are also countless companies that take these vehicles and modernize them by upgrading the engine, transmission, suspension components, and interiors. In many cases, these machines cost hundreds of thousands but the craftmanship and result are worth every penny.
The Defender Is A Feeling
This one is true for some vehicles – mostly Italian. You get in them and despite their many flaws they just make you smile. There certainly are more comfortable, reliable, and powerful vehicles out there, but you would not want to be in any of them. This is exactly the case with the Defender. Anyone who owns one will tell you that being squashed in the driver’s seat with your arm hanging out the window wallowing down a bumpy lane listening to that old diesel idling away is about as happy as one can be. We aren’t sure why this is the case with this vehicle, it might be the unique design, the way you sit upright staring down at that gorgeous bonnet, or just the sense of camaraderie you get by driving a Land Rover. In most cases, Land Rover owners are willing to chat with and help other Land Rover owners more than most other car groups.
Which Defender Model We Would Go for
Over the years, there have been countless off Defender variants with different engines, wheelbase options, and specs. However, in our opinion, the best compromise between reliability and usability is the Td5 in 110 or 90 forms. The 90 is small and nimble while the 110 can carry a lot of gear and people. The Td5 was never sold in America but is now approaching 25 years of age so it can be imported. For now, the only options available across the pond are the V-8s or older 300 TDI and 200 TDI models that have been imported. The V-8s are nice and can be reliable if taken care of, but are nowhere near as durable as the older diesels. The diesel models are most commonly found in remote areas. Keep in mind that if you get a diesel in the U.S., you will have some issues finding parts for them. Although, there are some available in Canada.
Final Thoughts
So, the Defender isn’t famous just because of its looks. It has served as an important truck in the development and exploration of our world and will certainly be loved and remembered forever. It is by no means perfect, but there is something about it, that fizz car guys talk about. Once you fall in love with it, you will spend countless hours (and money) making it better and keeping it on the road because frankly, it makes you smile. If you are planning on getting one, we would highly recommend you do so. It is a vehicle that oozes character and capabilities.
ECD Automotive Design lets you build your dream Defender from the frame up.
With only 9,000 cars rolling out of Maranello each year, buying a Ferrari makes you part of an exclusive club. But even then, there’s still the off chance that you pull up to the Monaco yacht club during race weekend and someone has the exact same SF90 as you. The same Rosso Corsa paint job, the same Sabbia Nappa leather, and even identical wheels. How embarrassing.
Many well-off customers realize that, even among the rare ranks of Ferrari, that “exclusivity” still means sharing paint, parts, and engines with your fellow one-percenters. That’s why some have turned to specialization shops like Singer to build them a vehicle that literally no one else on planet Earth owns.
ECD Automotive Design is one of a number of names in the booming restomod business. Located just outside of Orlando, Florida, customers can come in, design, and watch the classic Land Rover, Range Rover, or Jaguar E-Type of their dreams be built from the frame up. I drove up to ECD’s massive new facility and got a small taste of what creating a one-of-a-kind Defender is like.
Designing Your Dream Defender
The design process starts before you even arrive. Sales and Design Lead at ECD, John Price, takes customers down a rabbit hole of customizable options over the phone. With over 100 pages to choose from, speaking with a buyer for the first time takes anywhere from two to four hours, he says. In each of these phone calls, John walks customers through every possible option, ranging from the finish of the exterior paint to the stitching of the seats, and even the weightiness of something as small as the volume knob.
I got the condensed 20-minute version of the call, which netted me a lovely matte Cool Khaki Gray exterior finish, 18-inch wheels, and a dark leather interior for the virtual Defender 110 pickup of my dreams (pictured below).
That customization carries over to the powertrain, too, in which buyers can select a base four-cylinder engine, four V8 options – up to a supercharged Corvette LT4 – and even a Tesla powertrain sourced from partners in the UK.
Once it’s all said and done, ECD takes your one-of-a-kind design and turns it into a rendering that allows you to “see” your vehicle in a virtual studio before they even start building it. ECD uses advanced 3D modeling technology and Unreal Engine software to bring that build to life, and soon there will even be a version of this technology that allows customers to see their cars driving on the road.
Here’s what my custom Defender 110 ended up looking like in that software when it was all said and done:
After customers get a virtual glimpse of their Defender, they can still go in and tweak specific details. Instead of a matte finish, maybe they want something glossier, or instead of retro-styled wheels, they prefer something more modern. And when the final decisions are made, ECD sends each customer a gift box that contains paint and leather samples as well as a piece of the original Land Rover being used in their build – be it a hinge or a bolt. It’s a small but meaningful memento that helps get customers excited.
The Production Line
Once buyers decide on their final look, it’s time for production. Although ECD, like Singer and Icon, is a restmod operation by definition, walking into its new 100,000-square-foot facility feels more like standing along the production line of a genuine auto manufacturer.
One of the three founders, Scott Wallace, gives me a tour of the shop, taking me through each and every step of production from start to finish. Two lines – North and South – handle the builds. The North Line is exclusively for Defender and classic Range Rovers while the South Line takes care of E-Types, which just kicked off production in the last few months and should be on the road early next year. There’s even room for a third line.
“Now we’ve designed the building so that if you move everything three feet that way, this is the third line,” Scott points to a narrow walkway between the South Line and the open garage doors. “We can essentially build 180 units per year; the north line does 60 units per year and the south line does 60 units per year.”
A complete Land Rover build takes about 100 days from the start of production (not including design time), with ECD tearing every vehicle down to the frame. Wallace and his team have a list of 642 individual tasks to complete on each vehicle before it heads out the door. And each individual station has a checklist the lead engineers managing said station need to complete before the project can move on to the next step.
Wallace pulls out his phone and shows me a dashboard app that has every one of the 642 tasks of each build in detail, displaying where the progress of each one currently sits. This is the type of attention to detail you typically don’t expect of a restomod operation.
”There’s definitely a wrong way to do this cheaper and quicker,” he says. “We get clients that come in and say, ‘well someone has offered to do this for $180,000.’ Well, you can do it for $180,000, but it’s going to be wrong.”
ECD uses only the finest materials in each build. The carpet in each Defender comes from the Bentley Continental, the leather is the same Nubuck used in every Singer, and because ECD tears each vehicle down to the frame, engineers are able to improve sound deadening and damping to a level that Scott says is better than a Cadillac Escalade or BMW X5.
Even the paint is more premium than what you get from some luxury manufacturers; these Defenders have similar high-end hues found on the nicest (and priciest) Porsche or Ferrari paint jobs. A dedicated paint shop with genuine paint-to-sample technology handles each customer request; you can literally pull a piece of cloth from your favorite shirt and turn that into a matching color for your Defender.
ECD let me step into the booth myself to try my hand at one of the samples ECD sends its customers. Let’s just say it’s much harder than it looks.
If you think this attention to detail sounds too good to be true – see for yourself. You can visit the ECD YouTube channel where six cameras stream live from the production facility and allow you to watch your truck being built. “We’re transparent… it’s not arrogance, it’s transparency. Look at the cameras and see what we’re doing.”
Driving The Electric Defender
After getting the full tour and trying (and failing) in the paint shop, ECD let me behind the wheel of one of its completed Defender projects. Specifically, a Tesla-powered Defender 110 with a 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack and an available 450 horsepower.
This version of the Defender can hit 60 miles per hour in about 4.0 seconds, and depending on how you spec it (wheels, body style, etc.), estimates suggest you’ll get around 200 miles of range at its most efficient. But in reality, most ECD customers only cover about 50 to 60 miles a day, so going all out on options is still par for the course – even among EV shoppers.
As I grab the weighty metallic handle of this all-electric Defender and hop inside (literally, since it sits so high up), one thing remains clear: quality over everything. Swathes of high-end leather cover the cabin, aluminum dials dot the console, and even the steering wheel is a wonderfully oversized thin-rimmed wooden fitment that feels fantastic in my hand.
But setting off for the first time is a strange experience. ECD wanted each build to still drive like a classic Defender – and after a few minutes on road, this one clearly does. Lots of body roll, truck-like steering vagueness, and a very tall ride height. But the immediate torque from the Tesla powertrain and the whisper-quiet acceleration (apart from some tire noise) is entirely unique to any other Defender. Simply point and shoot.
Granted, the acceleration isn’t electric hypercar-quick considering there’s only 450 hp moving this massive body. But this Defender hustles from a standstill with more verve than any of its V8-powered counterparts likely do.
The Tesla-powered Defender is only a small part of the larger business. Soon, we’ll see Jaguar E-Types – both gas and electric – roll out of ECD’s Florida facility, and who knows what else the company has planned down the line. But one thing is for certain, if you want a quality custom Defender or a fantastic E-Type, call up the folks at ECD.
Gallery: ECD Automotive Design Electric Land Rover Defender Restomod
Just recently we found out that Jaguar Land Rover is on a hiring spree with former Meta and Twitter employees as big targets since it wants to create “the car of tomorrow.”
Sounds like they just came back from the Tomorrowland festival and heard Mark and Elon just dropped the axe on the human resource department. Well, perhaps those close to 800 available career opportunities need just one position fulfilled – the one fitting for a renowned virtual automotive artist.
So, here is London, UK-based pixel master Al Yasid, better known as al.yasid on social media, unknowingly applying for the Defender modification department – albeit only virtually, for now. After all, the CGI expert seems keen on clashing any controversy opportunity after he recently went out on a digital limb and created a bagged L663 Land Rover Defender as the posh opposite of a rock-crawling, dune-bashing SUV.
Quickly enough, he also presented the CGI flip side of the Landy coin, complete with a Defender (110 or 130, it’s not entirely clear) riding on a heavily lifted suspension kit, meaty all-terrain tires with classic-looking white aftermarket Aerodisc-style concave wheels (aka the modern equivalent of steelies), and with a bunch of other modifications.
Of course, the digital Land Rover Defender project, complete with its wide fender flares, protruding roll cage, and rear door delete to make way for the spare wheel, is also roaming around a natural-looking CGI background. It’s like this author forgot that winter is coming, and he is already dreaming of cool, spring-based Defender adventures.
Thus, should we give this ritzy SUV our CGI hall pass because it somehow reminds us of the old Defender’s rougher and tougher nature, or does the author need a wake-up call from his sweet Land Rover dream? I am leaning towards the former case, just so you know…
