Land Rover & # 39; s Mountain Climber Defender comes in a PHEV version
Land Rover has not said much about the specifications of the PHEV, but according to Top Gear it will have the same driveline as the Range Rover PHEV. That means a battery range of just 30 miles and a 400 horsepower. It will take you from zero to 60 km / h in over 6 seconds and to a top speed of over 1[ads1]30 km / h, if you want to do so in a Land Rover for some reason.
At the top of the PHEV is a mild-hybrid Defender that will pump out 397 horsepower and hit 60 km / h in 5.7 seconds, less than half the time of the latest Defender, a 2015-only model in Europe. Cheaper versions will pack 237 horsepower and 197 horsepower diesel engines, and at least one of these models should arrive in the United States.
Let's face it, if you buy a Defender for straight line acceleration or top speed, the point is really missing. Defender was always Land Rover's true 4×4, compared to Discovery and other models aimed more at posh urban cowboys. It retains the overall look of the original, and to prove the point of off-road prowess, the Land Rover vehicle drove down a 42-degree ramp when it launched the vehicle at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
As I discovered for myself at the exhibition, Defender is impressively comfortable on the inside and quite high-tech for a vehicle designed to cope with goat trails. It's a 10-inch infotainment system that is located in the dashboard and it works out of the box with Android Auto and CarPlay.
It has driver assistance technology like other exclusive cars, but some of the features are designed for off-road driving. For example, if you need to cross a stream, Rover's optional "wade sensing" drive mode automatically locks the driveline, raises the ride height, and displays an image that shows the depth of water on the infotainment screen. It will even partially use the brakes to dry the rotors, allowing you to regain braking power faster.
Other features include the "ClearSight" ground that shows the ground in front of the Defender, and a feature that allows drivers to set their preferred terrain settings. It also comes with a towing assistant which makes it a quick backup with a trailer with a control knob in the center console.
Defender comes from Land Rover and is obviously not cheap, but it's not as much as you might expect. It comes in two- and four-door versions starting at $ 50,000 and top versions over $ 80,000. There is no word on PHEV availability yet, but other versions should begin arriving in the United States in the spring of 2020.
