Land Rover Twisted Defender V8

Can a built-to-order take on the perennial 4x4 favorite be worth $210,000?

We haven’t even sat down and Charlie Fawcett, MD of Twisted Performance, is preparing me for disappointments. There are squeaks and rattles, he says. The engine is highly tuned and might stall at idle, he says. It has a manual gearbox rather than the auto it’ll get later and its action isn’t particularly refined, he says. It’s a prototype, you see. But let’s have a drive, shall we? Yes, let’s.

It has been 20 years since a petrol V8 comprised part of Land Rover’s regular Defender line-up, and 15 since one last officially appeared, in a 50^th anniversary limited-edition model.

But Twisted, now a fairly prolific modifier of Defenders (more than 100 new-builds a year, 150 upgrades through the workshop and a lot more mail order besides), has found there’s natural demand from countries where they don’t much go for diesels.

So here we ware, at Twisted’s HQ in Thirsk, Yorkshire, about to sample a 520bhp V8 in what is unmistakably – a Land Rover Defender.

Unmistakably? Yes. But the changes run deep. Body and chassis structure aside, not much has been left alone. There’s a GM LS-series 6.2-liter V8, mated (for now) to a five-speed manual gearbox, still driving all four wheels but without the low-ratio transfer box and with, well, a list is easier: new differentials, drive shafts, prop shafts, drive flanges and CV joints, bushes and fuel tank. There are new springs and adjustable dampers, different anti-roll bars and upgraded brakes, too.

Bigger wheels still give a compliant ride

Inside, you get what you see: leather trimmings everywhere, all done in-house, including unique coverings for some truly exceptional Recaro seats. And soundproofing – lots of soundproofing. This is luxurious like no Defender I’ve ever sat in. And that, coupled with the mechanical upgrades, is why Twisted is asking $210,000 for one.

Fawcett’s concerns about squeaks, rattles and refinement seem pretty unfounded. Attempting to remove every squeak in a Defender must be like trying to manually tag every ant in a colony, but by gum, this is a proper job. There are still noises – wind, road, the odd interior niggle but this is a Defender, after all.

Leather-lined cabin and Recaro seats put a luxury gloss on the Defender's utilitarian appeal; extra soundproofing adds refinement

It even rides. Twisted fits variable-rate springs – softer in the very first part of their travel, stiffer thereafter – which take the edge from high-frequency road inputs. And despite bigger wheels, there’s some compliance in the high tire sidewalls.

They all go to allowing this Defender to make better use of that engine. The ‘small block’ V8 has long been a default aftermarket choice and it’s easy to see why. It’s refined when you want it to be, yet it revs when you don’t. Here, second gear stretches to 70mph, yet it’ll pull at 30mph in fifth. That extensive range makes it great for overtakes without gear-changes, which is just as well. The shift is fine, but it’s long.

A 6.2 liter V8 and extensive chassis modifications serve up some serious performance, but this is still very much a Defender

So you choose a gear, use the exceptional visibility to line up a pass or a stretch of road, and enjoy what this Twisted Defender offers: 6.0sec-to-60mph kind of performance, fine body control (for a Defender), well weighted, if a little slow, steering (a faster rack is an option) and quite keen road holding. A softer front anti-roll bar and a stiffer rear one allow the front to settle on an outside wheel. The Defender threatens to under-steer a touch, and the stiffer rear might tighten the line on the way out of a corner, but you’ll have probably backed out of it by then. I know I had. After all, you can’t change, fundamentally, what this car is. It’s fast, it’s luxurious, it’s expensive and rare (a dozen or so V8s a year), but it’s still a Defender. And that’s exactly the point.