To cater for this new growing market, The
Man for Land Rovers have launched a new website www.tunemydefender.com, so now you
can now tune your defender online from anywhere in the world with The Man for
Land Rovers supplying the parts and accessories. Ben explains this new simple
process. "Our plan to come in at a very competitive price. You start by
clicking on to a section of the website such as silicone hoses, interior,
exterior, lighting, suspension, wheels or exhaust. You find what you want, buy
it and then we send it to you. Simple. The other option is to make a tuning
package and we will fit the goodies that you have just bought. This is for a
fee of course." So www.tunemydefender.com
has done the hard work by sourcing all the products needed to tune your
Defender and put them onto a website in the format of a cone-click tuning shop.
"It's
like giving Chuck Norris a boob job"
I got to drive the Sport Edition first and
it does not look like anything I have ever driven before. The only thing I am
vaguely familiar with is the snorkel and the only reason I has one is because
it was there when they bought it! The Sport edition has a KBX grille but what
gives it the racer boy look are the two grey Viper Stripes from just above the
Daytime Running Light (DRL) Bumper all the way over to the back door. As a man
from the land of the bull bar, which I have been told is not very PC in these
parts, I do like the look of thus bumper.
The one thing that did take a little
getting used to was the Momo Jet Steering Wheel. Anyone who has spent a
significant amount time in a Defender will know that it is possible to drive
hands-free style using your knees while opening a map or doing some other
expedition task. With this small racing-type steering wheel you cannot do that.
The full red leather and trim is striking if anything and the diamond stitching
on the seats and cubby box do help take Defender driving to a whole new level
of clientele. To top it off, interior decorating did not stop there: the
Alcantara roof lining has a velvet like feel and as a result won't react kindly
to mud.
The
full red leather and trim is striking if anything and the diamond stitching on
the seats and cubby box do help take Defender driving to a whole new level of
clientele
For rubber, the Sport Edition has low
profile Cooper LTZ tires, which tie in with its sportier look and stance, while
the Maximal Edition has gone for something more Defender-like with BF Goodrich
ATs.
This is far removed from a standard 2.4 90
TDCi XS. The Serck Motorsport intercooler, SFS silicone hoses and performance
air filter help increase the bhp to around 180. Chuck in the Janspeed
straight-through exhaust system and suddenly you have an extra 5 bhp.
When I climbed into the Maximal Edition,
every little bit of Defender DNA in my body needed a reboot. Imagine taking the
white (they call it Magnolia Hide) interior of a new Range Rover and
transferring it into a Defender. That is like giving Chuck Norris a boob job.
The great thing about living on this diverse planet of ours is that there are
people out there who will like that sort of thing.
The
Range Rover-like interiors are all appealing
I would be a liar if I said that I did not
enjoy driving these two Defenders for the afternoon. The screeching sound of
the Janspeed SS Exhaust system, the different ride on offer due to the dropped
suspension, the massive increase in bhp and, lastly, the Range Rover-like
interior are all appealing. The only problem is that they are in total contrast
to the very foundation of all of my previous Defender driving experiences,
which is as slow as possible and as fast as necessary.
I love the story of how these special Land
Rovers came to be crated. It all began with Neil driving his Series IIA to work
in central London before trading it all for an independent dealership down
south. Now, after selling thousands of Defenders, he is re-inventing himself
once again, with the help of his sons, this time as a man who pimps Defenders
by tuning and upgrading them.
How ironic that those very same banker
types, who once abused Neil for his mode of transport, are now lining up to buy
Defenders from him.
Before we speed off into the Brighton
sunset, Ben gets in the final word: “This is the new way now. Lifting vehicles
and off-roading them is becoming a thing of the past in the UK. Lowering and
upgrading them is the way forward. They have got so much character people are
buying them because it is a bit of a cult thing. People like the look of them,
the way they still look old but they are new.
"All we are doing is filling them with
the creature comforts and making them drive faster due to the nicer
suspension."
While the bucket styled racing seats and
speed on tap do give me some sort of thrill it is not me. I am a first-Gear-low-range-built-a-road-if-you-have-to-kind-of-guy.
Each unto his-own.
