I am coming from a BMW X3 and am in my first month of my 90 P400. The other day I was coming up to a light at a decent speed and the light turned yellow. one of those ones where you have to decide if you are going to go through or stop. I decided to stop and the car did not have the same idea. Is it just that this car is so heavy that it is harder to stop? this would never be an issue in the BMW

 

How fast were you going and how much distance did you have from the red light when you decided to hit the brakes? Keep in mind that a defender 90 weighs about 500 more lbs than an X3.

 

The Defender is brake-by-wire, so the pedal isn't actually connected to anything other than an actuator, which controls the hydraulic brakes. The brake-by-wire system can respond twice as fast as conventional hydraulic brakes. The issue with this system is that sometimes you won't have as much braking force as you'd expect based on the pedal travel. 99% of the time it is linear and progressive, but sometimes it can adjust the brake force depending on the situation and it feels like the brakes are broken. Its a weird setup that is mostly figured out, but there are rare occasions where it doesn't feel right. The brakes themselves are very good. P400s on 20" wheels have big 15" rotors and four-piston Brembos up front and 14.3" rotors and single-piston calipers in the rear. If you have 19" wheels on a P400, you have 14.3" front rotors and the same four-piston Brembos and 13.8" rear rotors with the single piston calipers. P300 models have 13.8" rotors with two-piston ZF/TRW calipers up front and 12.8" rotors with a single-piston calipers out back. V8 models have the 15" front rotors with six-piston Brembos.

All of the brakes on the Defender are very good and provide excellent stopping power and braking performance.

 

probably to fast, but it was not an easy stop. will take some getting used to

 

Hmm. Not my experience.

Can you give us a bit more info -- You said you'd had it a month. New or used? The only thing I might think is -- do you need new brakes / how many miles are on your P400 90, do you have air in your lines ? Mine literally stops on a dime.

I've driven X3 (newest Gen, and prior Gen) and the brakes in my P400 110, which are heavier than your P400 90, are just as good or better than the X3. You *may* need to stomp on the brakes harder. X3 is brake by wire also by the way.

P400 has excellent brakes. In fact, I regularly go back to back in my newish Porsche 911 and my Defender and I am surprised consistently how good the Defender's brakes are for a "truck". Mostly because I drive the 911 like a 911, and then I get right in the Defender and tend to try to drive it like I was just driving the 911, and then at some point have a moment where I come to my senses and think "oh crap I need to cool it: and leave more stopping distance or cool my jets off in cornering or whatever... but then the Defender always is fine..

Only other thing that could be the issue is your tires. What tires are you running? Tires are ultimately the contact point and if tires are no good, brakes can do nothing.

Anyway, your comment is surprising.

 

thank you.

 

I know what you mean @stickersteve ... I'm new to the defender myself. I've driven many cars and this is the first time I 'm having to re-learn a bit of my braking methods. Granted I also drove manual for ages so lots of times I never used brakes ... but driving the 130, being a larger, heavier car I had to adjust my braking. To me the first few times I didn't feel like the car was going to stop, even at a slow speed, it felt like I was going to rear-end the car in front of me. that's when I panicked and just pressed the brake pedal harder, which then caused the car to really stop and all my family giving me the evil eye for 'jamming' on the brakes, After driving it around for a month now, I'm getting the hang of it though there are still some cases where I realize I need to press the brakes a bit more firmer.

 

Another vote for the excellent brake performance on the Defender. P400 110 with middle sized rotors. There are three sizes of rotor.

Driving home in dark poorly lit conditions a couple of days ago. A kiddo on a bike went out into the road and I was able to slam on and stop in what to me seemed an incredibly short distance given my speed (30 ish) and wet road (soaking). As it turned out the kid did not continue into my trajectory and I stopped in good time that i wouldn't have hit.

The braking prowess was noteworthy nonetheless.

 

its a brand new 2025 90. 500 miles on it so far. If this had happened with a car in front of me, I assume the car would take over and brake for me with the collision avoidance system, but I dont want to take that chance

 

I think you're just getting used to how the Defender brakes vs the BMW. Meaning the braking force of the vehicle compared to brake pedal distance traveled.

If you're seriously concerned, go drive another one at the dealership and see if yours brakes significantly different.