Departure Lounge

THE LATEST 130 VERSION OF LAND ROVER'S DEFENDER DANGLES A LOT OF OVERHANG BEYOND ITS REAR AXLE. IS THE ADDED UTILITY WORTH A COMPROMISE IN OFF-ROAD ABILITY?

- ANDY ENRIGHT

LET’S CUT straight to the chase. While the Land Rover Defender 110 and 130 both run on the same 3022mm wheelbase, the latter packages eight useable seats inside thanks to an extra 340mm of rear overhang. Unlike most three-row 4x4s, the overhang is so long that the third row is behind the strut towers, which means that three rather than two abreast is the order of the day. Fold the rearmost row of seats down and you have a five-seater with 1232 litres of space, a healthy uptick on the 932 litres available in a Defender 110.

But what of the departure angle? Fortunately Land Rover has swept the rear of the 130 up a little and that angle now stands at 28.5 degrees. It’s way off the Defender 110’s freakish 40-degree angle, but it’s still better than the 25 degrees on offer from a Toyota LandCruiser 300. So yes, there is a compromise to be made, but, for most people, it’s not going to be a terminally inconvenient one.

SAND COUNTRY

AT THE moment, I’m not so much concerned with departure angles as trying to figure out how to carry sufficient speed to crest a dune without overcooking it and launching $131,650 of Gaydon's finest into low earth orbit… and myself into Land Rover Middle East’s ‘do not invite’ list.

We’re at Telal Resort, a private sanctuary near the United Arab Emirates’ border with Oman. Untouched dunes stretch in each direction, with the odd oryx or mountain gazelle the only interlopers. Because it’s a wildlife reserve, the sand hasn’t been beaten to death by hordes of dune-bashing experience tours out of Dubai.