I find the brakes in my ‘22 110 to be very capable in all conditions. There are many factors contributing to braking distances: road type and surface, temperature of the roadway and that of the tires (cold tires vs, hot or warmed up tires), tire type and age, speed of course, and each driver’s perception of speed and ability to stop in time and their reaction time when assessing whether to hit the brakes or go through the light. That split second in one’s mind whether or not they should reach for the brakes or gas pedal, while determining the traffic around them and approaching the intersection they are about to enter is crucial. While we are everyday drivers, a professional driver can probably make those critical decisions in a nanosecond. Reading up on how braking distances are determined in braking tests by entities such as Car and Driver, Tire Rack.com, Edmunds, etc., they perform numerous tests over a range of conditions and speeds, and note the temperature of the tires as they heat up and cool down. Then these stopping distances are often averaged as ten stopping tests in a row will not always be the exact same distance from 60-0 for example. And straight up comparing how one vehicle stops in relation to another vehicle, i.e. BMW vs. Land Rover vs. MB is not always a good indicator of one vehicle’s braking potential over the others.

 

The defender has solid enough brakes (given its high tow rating it would have to) but I agree sometimes you can catch the computer off guard and it doesn’t feel consistent.

An SUV can have perfect brake feel and amazing performance; I have one in my garage with 17.5” carbon ceramics that will throw out the anchor for 1.5G worth of de-acceleration… which is honestly only useful on the track or for getting pretty much any other car on the road to ram right up your tailpipes.

Even with that comparison for what my Defender is used for with its chunky off-road tires I still wouldn’t change it much as I feel JLR picked a good compromise despite making the 18” wheel purists angry.