Late last month, the Mail & Guardian celebrated Freedom Day with a special Freedom Day edition. Unfortunately, I was not part of that edition because I took some leave to welcome my daughter to the world. Nevertheless, our editor-in-chief Japhet Ncube asked the newsroom to pour into the paper what freedom meant to them.
When I got back to the newsroom, I read the incredible edition and felt like the opportunity passed me by to express what Freedom meant to me but I was also driving the Land Rover Defender 110 X-Dynamic HSE that week and realised that maybe I can still capitalise on the theme of freedom but from a motoring perspective.
You might wonder how but the Defender is always a car I’ve classified as freedom on wheels. That’s because it is a car that is built to do what you want, when you want to.
The variant I had came with a 3 litre twin-turbo inline six cylinder diesel engine that produces 257kW of power and 700Nm or torque.
That means that it has no shortage of power on the road. Because the car has an immense amount of ground clearance and you sit in an elevated position, the vehicle absorbs road imperfections with absolute ease.
The vehicle is also equipped with an array of advanced off-road hardware and software systems. This configuration combines the high-torque output of the 3.0-litre straight-six diesel engine with Land Rover’s iconic all-terrain architecture.
A wading depth of 900mm is assisted by wade sensing which uses ultrasonic sensors in the door mirrors to display real-time water depth relative to the vehicle’s maximum limits on the Pivi Pro infotainment system.
The electronic air suspension can raise the ground clearance to 291mm which is incredible for off-roading and features like the electronic active differential, all terrain progress control and the 3D camera with a clear sight ground view just gives you confidence to go wherever you want and tackle any terrain.
Not to mention, the Defender is a Land Rover at the end of the day, which means that the interior is always going to be executive level, despite the rugged nature of the car.
The seats are upholstered in Windsor leather combined with Robustec ribbon accents. Land Rover’s 11.4 inch floating infotainment screen is present and even though it is a seven seater, all three zones have climate control. The only downside I will say is that when all seven seats are up, you lose a significant amount of boot space.
It also features an immersive 400W Meridian Sound System which just makes the music sound better. Most cars are good at a few things but cannot do everything and it is exactly why I have likened the vehicle to freedom. It’s commanding, it’s quick, spacious, luxurious and can tackle any terrain comfortably.
I suppose the only irony about this article is that freedom in this sense costs a lot of money. Priced from R2 033 000, it’s a dream vehicle to jump into but it’s also out of budget for most South Africans.
While the boxy shape has become a fashionable design within the automotive sector now and there are cars that certainly resemble the Defender, there is none that actually does it like the Defender.
Is that a bad thing?
Absolutely not. Cars like the Jetour T2 might be built to look like it and have some off-road capabilities and while it may never match what you get from the Land Rover Defender, it certainly offers enough for a third of the price to make South Africans feel like they own something like the Defender.
I suppose the only irony about this article is that freedom in this sense costs a lot of money. Priced from R2 033 000, it’s a dream vehicle to jump into but it’s also out of budget for most South Africans
