Hey, this is my first post on the forum. I’m mostly a sports car person, but I’m interested in the new Defender for daily driving + weekend camping and light off-roading. I noticed the upcoming V8 models can’t be optioned with roof rails and have a listed roof weight capacity of zero. And I don’t see anything in the literature about the tow package being included or optional, either.

Does anyone know what’s up with this? If I can’t put a roof tent on or tow with the V8, then that’s kind of a deal breaker and I’ll order one of the P400 models instead. But I really want that V8 sound, LOL.

 

Guess they’re afraid you’ll rip stuff off the roof as you whip around Nurbergring. The V8 seems like a bizarre mix of a giant SUV with sports car performance but none of the functionality of an SUV. Seems like a perfect car for high speed James Bond pursuits; not so much for camping, off roading, or any of the other reasons for buying an SUV. Couple of hundred pounds of gear on the roof might not do so well when cornering at 100mph. Really don’t understand the point of the V8 at all. If I wanted to drive like that, there are dozens of cars I’d pick first.

 

I was speculating with the dealer a couple of days ago and the view is that they won't let you equip from the factory/dealer but you'll be able to install on your own.

 

My guess is that it’s a marketing branding decision. Making the V8 as the urban high performance SV without the U. Hence, the shiny glossy body color trims, hood and other luxurious attributes that are associated with high performance supercar. It’s marketed towards customers who want a high performance urban vehicle that is not a traditional sports car and do not intend to use the vehicle to tow or off-roading/over landing.

 

I posted these numbers recently on another thread

Paying the piper for the V8 in payload (lbs).:

"90 V8 -- 1210 90 P400 -- 1650 90 P300 -- 1760
110 V8 - 1365 110 P400 - 1760 110 P300 --1870 "

That V8 engine and transmission are not light !! Insufficient useable payload to carry fuel, 7 passengers and the roof load.

I will stay with my 110 P300 load. It is 505 lbs. heavier than the V8!

And interestly, both the P400 and the V8 both have a tow limit of 8200 lbs.

It seems JLR knows the V8 is too much engine for the vehicle -- certainly off-road. They are taming the V8 beast (I suspect it cannot be turned off?) using:

"TERRAIN RESPONSE® 2 DYNAMIC PROGRAM Exclusive to Defender V8, Terrain Response 2’s Dynamic Program provides added precision to the off and on-road capability of the Defender. This means even tighter body control with flatter handling and sharper responses*. The engine, gearbox response, steering weighting and V8 powertrain are all tuned by Dynamic Program. This has been specifically designed to optimize performance on low friction surfaces such as tarmac, sand and dirt roads."

I am looking forward to hearing driving impressions of the V8 beast -- and how it sounds, of course. That should be heavenly ...

 

What would be the dozen other cars that could replace a V8 90? I can't think of any really.

 

This clears things up. As much as I want the V8 roar, this means giving up too much utility.

 

In regard to power, I recently test drove two...an SQ7 and X5 M50i. The SQ7 could be driven calmly or provoked into a rocket. The X5 had a constant T-rex growl and was almost difficult to drive in traffic as with any throttle input it wanted to plow through the car in front of you. Both were really fun on a test drive but neither a practical choice for our family motor pool with teen drivers. In conclusion, our P400 has more than enough power.

As for payload, I recently had 2000 pounds of printed materials in the Defender and it didn't drive much different. Putting similar weight in our LR4 made it feel top heavy and I had to slow down on ramps and sharp curves.

 

Those are both 4 doors, for me there isn't anything on the market in a 2 door config comparable to a D90.

 

On the Build & Price tool I noticed I’m now able to spec the ladder and explorer roof rack on the V8.

The tow package is included as standard.