Range Rover Fights Land Rover Defender, Are Six Off-Road Challenges Enough?

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…