Disclaimer: IMHO, YMMV, but I hope this will help you to make up your mind as it helped me to make mine.

TL;DR: P300 is more than adequate for both highway and offroad, P400 is an overkill but is more of an improvement that just extra HP and torque.

Now, the same in a long version.

Context: I usually drive either a normally aspirated V8, or a near zero lag biturbo i6 with DCT in manual mode. JK Rubicon I used to have was a 6 speed stickshift.

When I was driving a P400, it was the first time in my life when I enjoyed driving an automatic gearbox. No matter what the car was before, it was always there being stupid and doing the wrong thing at the wrong time - but not this time. My worst fear of using an automatic offroad always was the need to roll over an obstacle and then immediately stop; I can do it with my eyes closed with a stickshift but nothing I tried before could do it smoothly - until this time. This thing did *exactly* what I want it to do; I didn't realize it at the beginning, and only somewhere in the middle of the trail it dawned on me that it just does what I want to. I was shocked.

Today, P300. Like I said, it was more than adequate but something was off - I had to push it to do what I wanted. Then it dawned on me what it was.

Turbo lag.

The engine is capable. But it takes it about a second to wake up and do what I want it to, and it almost inevitably overshoots and I feel this jerk, and have to actively counter it (now I start seeing what people with old turbos were talking about). Sure thing it'll become subconscious with time, but it's a quirk that needs to be dealt with.

On the contrary, P400, being a hybrid, just steals the extra torque from the electric motor whenever it needs it, and that's why it feels doing exactly what I want - there's no turbo lag, and since the extra torque demand is not that high, it can compensate until the turbo kicks in, and with good PID control tuning the damn thing will not even let me notice whether it is using ICE or electric power.

At least this is my deduction, I'd love if someone that knows better can chip in and correct this conclusion.

PS: Needless to say, the complexity of P400 is not a compliment.

 

While my JK rubicon is a 6M also, I have driven it to Moab for a total of 16 weeks in the last 8 years; I’ve also rented similarly built automatic JKRs from Twisted Jeeps, even doing so on the same trip I had my own JK out there once when the motor blew (15,000 miles, under warranty) when I was out for 3 weeks. The conclusion I’ve always drawn: even a 5-speed automatic Jeep is a better extreme offroading tool than my own 6M version. Precisely because you can use your right foot on the brake and let the Jeep idle over most obstacles, placing it with far more precision than you have with the 3-pedal dance. I still love my 6M Jeep and wouldn’t trade it for an auto at all, but I have to admit that it’s a less precise tool for extreme rock-crawling than the same thing with the automatic.

And yeah… the P400 instant torque is addictive. I just crossed 40,000 miles on my 2022. Do I need that power and power delivery? Obviously not, since I also manage just fine with a 268hp Wrangler. But man, is it nice to have, and I tap into all of it with great frequency.

 

At first, the P300 and P400 seem to drive similar. I was very impressed with the P300 loaner I recently had. But sometimes I haul heavy boxes for work and that day I did it with the P300 loaner. The difference in torque and acceleration is far more noticeable with a heavy load. Yesterday I picked up 1200 pounds of bagged landscape stone and I barely even noticed any difference in acceleration in my P400.

It would be nice to get a V8 Defender before V8's are extinct, but I can't justify the $25K upcharge over the P400 for 2 extra cylinders and missing roof rails. Even harder to justify a $40K upcharge over a P300.

 

I wish I had known of this little place where I can get exactly the vehicle I want for an extended test drive back when I was buying the Jeep - I might have come to a different conclusion. But alas, it's history, it doesn't know subjunctive mood.

For me, the choice will boil down to - do I want to trust the extra complexity of the P400 over the obvious fun it delivers? (assuming I can get all the offroad perks I need, not want, with the S trim) YOLO, so I will probably take the bait. The only thing I still didn't figure out is what's the material difference between similarly configured X-Dynamic SE and X which amounts to at least $10k in price - any idea?

 

I configured my P400 in early February 2021, as a 21 model. By the time I went in to order on Feb 25, 2021, the 2022s were in the system and 2021s were closed. So I have a 22, delivered June 2021.

I went with X-Dynamic SE after looking at the X and deciding that whatever it had as standard that the X-Dynamic didn’t have that I wanted could be easily optioned onto the X-Dynamic for a lot less than $10,000. But what those things were, I can no longer remember. But I did tons of research and thinking and the X-Dynamic made the most sense for me as a very nicely-optioned boulevardier as well as having every off-road option LR offered at the time, except the Warn winch, which was a victim of supply-chain issues. But fortunately i had a Zeon 12k on the garage shelf and I prefer the Lucky 8 winch plate and grill mod anyway, so I just went that direction.

 

one of the main diff with the X dynamic and the S is the ability to get the extended black pack and the upgraded sound. The X also has those options plus it has the black hood along with some of the upgrades as standard. And with the 2024 you could only get the larger screen with the X, but with the 2025 you can get it with other models too. I have the X Dynamic on order.

 

We have a P400 and a P525 in the garage, so the comparison isn't quite as applicable, but for those deciding between the 300 and 400....go 400 all day long. The engine is great. It gets up and goes and can tackle anything that you put in its way. We love it.
I will say that if you are debating between the V8 and anything else....it should be no debate.....the V8 wins in every category. I love the raw power of this engine along with the refinement of the Defender ride on any surface.

FWIW, YMMV

Jim

 

This is usually the killer argument for me - all of our vehicles have it.

Looking at my old notes as of January 2023 - that was correct for MY 2023, however, the MY 2024 X-Dynamic SE vehicle I have just driven has the big screen, so they must've changed it somewhere in the middle. Having experienced the difference - yep, the small screen is no go for me. I also suspect that X-Dynamic SE has more buttons on the steering wheel than S does - by the time I paid attention to it, X-Dynamic SE was no longer reachable so I couldn't compare.

 

Nice word, "boulevardier" Even though "the right tool for the right job" - having an extra vehicle for hauling stuff (even a beater) is not practical for me, so it's the Defender that will end up hauling wood, bricks, rocks, earth, and all that stuff. As well as going grocery shopping if the other trunks are not big enough

Now, about research... I did the same back in January 2023 (here) and have just done it again (a lot of things have changed), will publish the result after a final review but for now - yeah, almost identically configured X is still, in my case, $13,525 more expensive than X-Dynamic SE. I can tell you exactly what the elements unique to X are, here:

• Orange brake calipers
• X Badge
• Narvik Black Front and Rear Skidpans
• Gloss Black Grille
• Bar Gloss Black Hood Lettering
• Gloss Black Tailgate Lettering
• Gloss Black Hood Chequer Finisher
• Darkened tail lights
• Bright metal pedals
• Illuminated metal treadplates with Defender script
• Ebony Windsor leather and Kvadrat™ Seats
• Nubuck edged carpet mats
• Orange exposed rear recovery eyes

The last item irks me for the second time (first time it was in 2023) - the default is the orange recovery eyes, but wait, there is an option to get them in black for extra $250!!!

No, no X for me. There's nothing essential that can't be configured into lower trims. And I don't like gloss. And they don't have the refrigerator as an option, my family will strangle me if I don't get it, being in the middle of the desert. (I stand corrected, they do for $700; overlooked).

See for yourself:

• https://build.landrover/EBA83AD2 - X-Dynamic SE, $88,070
• https://build.landrover/C3B482DF - X, $101,595

Of course, there are "invisible" options like the undershield (which can't be had for X-Dynamic SE with this configurator), wheel arch protection (I'm very surprised I can't get that as an option for neither X-Dynamic SE nor X, I suspect "black" stands in the way), integrated air compressor, side ladder, that will have to be taken care of separately. And I feel tempted to get rid of the Explorer pack - I don't need the mudflaps, as you helped me to figure out, but it may be cheaper to just throw them away than to buy those items piecemeal - need to calculate.

Side note, a very similarly configured P300 110 S build turned out to be $81,790 - the price difference with X-Dynamic SE is not that significant, if one is looking for less parts to break. And, one can remove the air suspension to improve that further, as well as the price, but I wouldn't, given the rough roads I usually end up traveling for extended periods of time (Sarek challenged me on that last time this topic came up, and his arguments are valid, but *I* can take a beating my other family members can't, so that's a sacrifice I'll have to make, lest they strangle me in my sleep ).

 

The configurator (see the links in the previous post) lists "Meridian™ Sound System" for S, and "Meridian™ Surround Sound System" for other trims in "Standard Options". Looks consistent with what I saw back in 2023.