 | Home > General & Technical (L663) > Is the defender an off roader? |
 
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| lightning Member Since: 23 Apr 2009 Location: High Peak, Derbyshire Posts: 3317  
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Which vehicle do you think looks better?
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5th Aug 2025 10:38pm |
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| Nuclear Nick Member Since: 21 Aug 2021 Location: Southwest Posts: 310
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I did the 'free' half day experience at Eastnoor Castle, extended to a full day. Then later went back and did the Advanced day. Great fun and a real eye opener and, believe me, the Defender IS an off roader! 23.5MY 90 V8 Carpathian grey
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6th Aug 2025 6:46am |
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| johnlad Member Since: 18 Dec 2023 Location: Blackpool Posts: 95
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From the rear forwards the grenadier looks aggressive and I like the look of it with the utility panel instead of the rear quarter panel. A lot like the old 110 utility, which was my favourite looking defender.
But the front bumper is stuck out to far and I’d have to swop that out if I was having one. But the l663 back with bigger tyres fitted looks great in my opinion. |
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6th Aug 2025 6:48am |
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| mse Member Since: 06 Apr 2008 Location: UK Posts: 5112 
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The defender is very competent - surprisingly so - on all decent tyres, but as said the first most important thing are the tyres.
The set up and design and toys of the defender make it even more capable. The Grenadier is just ugly and pointless in my opinion, sit in it its awful, look at it its awful and im sure the defender will be just as good if not better if you really went to it. I dont take mine off road properly that often, but have and it just does it with all toys and comfort. Mike |
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6th Aug 2025 3:53pm |
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| Jerry Member Since: 13 Nov 2015 Location: Cardiff Posts: 210 
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My only issues with the grenadier are it’s price (2nd hand ones are dropping nicely though), the footwell issue (others don’t seem to be bothered by this), ? dealer support & (most importantly) the fact that I feel that Ratcliffe sold out the (potential) Bridgend factory in favour of France (I think). I shouldn’t be so principled really!
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7th Aug 2025 10:06am |
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| stevemfr Member Since: 18 Sep 2022 Location: Strasbpurg Posts: 159 
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Yes you should (be so principled).
Jim 'The Rat' Ratcliffe not only moved Grenadier production to France (ex-Smart factory), but also moved Ineos to Switzerland and his ugly mug to Monaco. For tax reasons. After promoting Brexit. 'Shole. (IMHO) And the car is... At the price, silly. Look for a really good P38 or D2 for a similar driving experience - likely better. At 1/10th the cost. 
RRC 2Dr, RRC 4Dr, P38, and 2 L322s, 2 FL1s and a L663 on the way |
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8th Aug 2025 11:54pm |
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| zilch Member Since: 11 Sep 2019 Location: Whitsundays & Sydney Posts: 839 
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In Oz it is certainly deemed to be an off roader, many owners including moi get them into the back of beyond and wilds without worrying about its capability. If it has the right footwear there is no reason
why it should not be able to tackle 99% of the weekend or even longer overland requirements.. If you want to aim for the 1% highly technical and challenging stuff, like climbing cliffs, wading up to your roof line.. then nah, nothing out of the factory will do that, hence why in OZ there is a market for extreme modifications followed by the Toyota/Nissan brigade.. In the main the Defender can manage most that your average driver will require it to do.. IMHO yet another pommie bar steward down under MY20 110 P400 SE Defender MY10 3.0 RR Sport |
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14th Aug 2025 2:57am |
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| bynxy Member Since: 08 Feb 2022 Location: magull Posts: 10 
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The Defender more than capable as an off roader and can match the Grenadier especially with the right tiers which goes for any off roader, the problem is most people are afraid to take them off the tarmac even to do a little bit of light green lane driving due to the cost of the car and worry about fixing it if things go wrong due to inexperience/over confidence of the driver especially if its your daily drive.
By the time you spec up a Grenadier they are not cheep and compatible to the Defender in terms of cost I was really tempted only thing that stopped me was the fear that being a relatively new company that the could go the way of fisker and you end up with an unsellable Lemmon!!! The one thing that the Defender has over the Grenadier is the the comfort level when on the road they make driving a pleasure especially with the air suspension, as someone else has said in a few years when the cost of second hand cars come down you will see more Defenders bashing around the green lanes |
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14th Aug 2025 2:18pm |
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| zilch Member Since: 11 Sep 2019 Location: Whitsundays & Sydney Posts: 839
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and interesting snippet from a very recent off road test undertaken by Drive in New South Wales
between a Defender D350 and the Lexus GX550.. Based on ground clearance and traction control the Deffer edges it, but that said the Lexus with its KDSS and the Prado are still quite capable... Some of the off road tracks used in the test are pretty common in OZ in terms of the local terrain and how people use their vehicles at weekends when heading into the wilds.. Enjoy .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or9yEWqpQmw yet another pommie bar steward down under MY20 110 P400 SE Defender MY10 3.0 RR Sport |
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18th Aug 2025 3:06am |
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| lightning Member Since: 23 Apr 2009 Location: High Peak, Derbyshire Posts: 3317
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Great video, both vehicles taken further off road than 99% of owners will ever go. But nice to know how capable they are.
My Defender 90 on coil springs doesn't have the ground clearance advantage over that Lexus, so would probably be similar in capability, but it does have 18" wheels. Sadly most Defenders (and probably Lexus) are wasting away on the school run. |
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18th Aug 2025 8:59am |
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| SteveG Member Since: 29 Nov 2011 Location: Norfolk Posts: 674 
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Interesting how one Defender 110 350 X Dynamic travels over 10,000 miles from Nitra, Slovakia and costs £55K, $114K AUD, and another travels less than a 1000 miles and costs only £78K ~$162K AUD
UK equivalent where Defender comes last (more down to off road experience of drivers) ?feature=shared US equivalent… ?feature=shared and a lightly modified Land Cruiser and Lexus that solve the ground clearance issue 😊😊 ?feature=shared |
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18th Aug 2025 12:28pm |
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| lightning Member Since: 23 Apr 2009 Location: High Peak, Derbyshire Posts: 3317
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l would take any of the three vehicles in that first video. To be honest these vehicles are a bit too wide for some trails, the best off road vehicle l have driven is my missus's 2020 Jimny, it's unstoppable. Being so small and light it will go places my Defender just won't fit.
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18th Aug 2025 1:17pm |
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