The largest production Land Rover Defender in history debuted in May last year with up to eight seats but no V8 power available. The Defender 130 is a versatile machine that can easily transport your whole family with lots of stuff in the cargo hold – and even take you off-road. As it turns out, the new Defender is also pretty good at towing.
New video from TFL now active channel YouTube showing a white Defender 130 with a large Aluma trailer attached to the rear. The trailer, in turn, loaded the four-door Ford Bronco First Edition and the total setup weight was about 7,300 pounds (3,311 kilograms). Is the Defender 130 capable of towing such a large trailer which is very close to the limits of an SUV? Let’s find out.
That TFL now the team took the Defender on a 22 mile test lap that included both city and highway driving. Initial impressions on the road are that the family SUV remains very stable on the road and the ride quality is very high, most likely thanks to the air suspension model which is standard equipment. Even on Colorado’s concrete highways, the ride is smooth.
But what’s under the hood? This particular Defender 130 is from the P400 version. This means there’s a 3.0-liter inline-six mild-hybrid under the hood, producing 395 horsepower (290 kilowatts) and 406 pound-feet (550 Newton-meters) of torque between 2,000 and 5,000 rpm. Power reaches all four wheels via an eight-speed ZF sourced automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive system.
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The video answers one more interesting question – what is the Defender 130’s 0-60 miles per hour (0-96 kilometers per hour) acceleration when towing a 7,300 pound (3,311 kg) trailer? According to the speed test conducted in this video, the British SUV takes around 16 seconds to reach 60 mph (96 kph) with a large trailer attached behind. Pretty impressive, right?
How’s the fuel efficiency? Is everything as good as expected? All the answers are in the video at the top of this page.
