Just my musings on what I have found so far on a pair of 2021 110 SE Defenders, a Fuji White and a Gondwana Stone;

First, fuel mileage runs about 17 MPG on mostly rural to suburban roads, with a tick closer to 20 on the highway. These vehicles are new and have not reached what I consider the break in mileage time as of yet. Acceleration 0-60 is excellent and while not on a par with sports cars, it gives most a good run in the stoplight Grand Prix. No turbo lag thanks to the electric supercharger, instant throttle response. Transmission is very good although it seems to have some minor lags in shifts at lower speeds and while cornering, occasionally seems like hunting for the right gear.

Ride quality is very good, and even on the Stone 110 with the off road package, the 20" Goodyear Wrangler Adventurer off road tires don't appear to be any noisier or harsher riding than the 22" Continentals on the White 110 without the off road pack. It may be of note that each vehicle has a 34" height from ground to wheel well lip, regardless of wheel size (22 or 20) due to the increased aspect ratio of the off road tires. The off road tires are just meatier!

Brakes are decent, but have taken a bit to get used to. They don't stop with the authority of the Jaguar and I suppose that's just an individual choice. The Defender brakes seem to grab very lightly until a firmer press on the pedal is required. Not bad braking but much different then even the LR4's.

Interior noise is minimal, wind noise is not appreciable and so far no creaks, rattles or groans, save for the drivers side window on the Stone 110 rattling at certain open heights, which is cured by opening or closing a half inch. Neither vehicle has the panoramic sunroof so I can't say how those would contribute to noise. I just prefer that solid roof for heading into the boonies.

Off road capability is excellent. Soft sand, gravel and ruts seem to be a playground with zero problems. No I have not gotten in over a foot of sand...yet, but it appears to handle anything thrown at it with ease. Sadly we missed the snow season, so something to look forward to in the future. Positive is that the summer off road season is here so time for the mountain trails to try out the beast in these vehicles. I think the torque vectoring will be a plus when we get into the rocks in the future...time will tell.

The PiviPro works well and is so much more responsive than the old In Control and In Control Pro displays. Navigation is also better and more configurable. We have the 400 watt Meridians in the vehicles, and although the specs don't show a subwoofer, the PiviPro display shows there is one that can be configured and it can be. Sound is really good, as we expect from Meridian which I have had in 4 JLR products.

I do have some concerns on battery life reading and watching what other say about battery run down. Time will tell but with all the electronics I would suppose battery drain could become an issue if the vehicles are not driven a lot. I did charge both batteries when we got the vehicles and both were about 50% charged even after a 70 mile drive from the dealer.

Okay, what I don't like is minimal. First, we are spoiled having had LR4's with the rotary dial for configuring off road. The Defenders seem to require multiple steps to do anything which takes quite a learning curve. Also the steering wheel buttons are less than responsive; some need multiple presses to function, such as addressing the menu for display, etc. Just seems they are not as good as other vehicles I have had, including a new Jaguar XF-S. Secondly, having to remember how many presses a button requires seems senseless to me. The speed limiter and adaptive speed limiter require one press for one, two for the other and three to turn off. It's not something I need to use anyway, but a quirky thing for those who do. Also the rear cargo door that swings to the curb is rather a PITA in the city if you have to parallel park. Even if you leave room, if the person behind parks too close you don't get to open the door. And in parking lots, you really need to be careful of those passing cars who may not see the open door. (Yes, I know, we all have idiots in every parking lot).

In that vein, I want to get a small bright flashing LED and attach it to the outside of the door so when the door is open it flashes a warning to traffic. Looks like an easy project for the future.

These are just my personal observations on these great vehicles. We love them in every aspect and as time goes by I think they will prove to be the best Land Rovers we have had.

 

Interesting read, thanks.

Our 110 differs slightly. We have the meridian, 7-seats, active diff, but on 19" wheels and the Pirelli Scorpions.

We've only taken it down forests trails to date but on the next few weeks should have it in the sugar sand and dunes of the beach. That will be the real test.

Personally I find the brakes touchy and almost binary (on/off). I'm having problems modulating them gently at times, but I only drive it on weekends with the family so it might just be inexperience.

I'm still shocked at some of the features it appears to not have that our 1/2 price Jeep GC did, but I'm enamored with much of what I've found.

The memory seats are one of those question marks. But the third setting has become a source of amusement. I've set it up for ease of cargo loading and as a trap to the unaware. "Why don't you check out our new Defender, have a seat, press #3 and hold your breath as you're crushed against the steering column bwah ha ha you fell for my evil plan".

 

Great feedback. I am about two months away from receiving my car. I had wondered if wind noise around the door mirrors gets annoying. I noticed during test drive when sat in passenger seat. It wasn’t loud—just noticeable.

One thing to point out is that the Pivi Pro has its own battery which keeps the system on all the time. So it should not run down the main battery. It would be interesting to know how long the Pivi battery actually lasts if the car is not used in a while. I suspect you would know if the Pivi Pro battery is dead if booting up takes much longer than normal.

I went with 22” wheels on my order mainly because I liked the look of them and that the first couple of years I don’t expect to do much, if any, off roading—mainly high east and town. The tire wall depth is actually greater than on my RRS stock 20” wheel/tires and I thought the ride was ok. That being said, we have done land in the Texas hill country, so when the time does come to go off-roading, I think I will get a set of 20” wheels and off road tires for that kind of activity.

 

LOL...the unsuspecting errant driver crush! I agree on the brakes, they could be improved. We are fortunate on the 110's with the P400 to have the larger calipers so that is a big plus. That is the reason the P400 vehicles don't have the 18" wheels available, they won't fit due to the oversize calipers.

 

Interesting you noted the wind noise on the passenger side. I too noticed that on a test drive on a vehicle we did not purchase. Maybe the angle of the mirrors has something to do with it as I don't notice it in either of our vehicles. The PiviPro battery is a backup only simply to assist with fast startup, and the system runs off the main battery after startup, but my concern is overall battery efficiency. We also owned two BMW 535 GT's and they were constantly dead with the "efficient dynamics" where the battery charged only when coasting. Drove an 800 mile trip and the battery went dead in a day because the trip was on freeways with constant speed. Between electronic gremlins and batteries, both cars were trash and ended up being sold within a year. That ended any thoughts of BMW for us.

The 22's with the Continental tires look really nice and seem to ride well. We had the Conti's on our LR4's and they lasted well. Only downside is when turning in tight places you can send up scuffing as my spouse did on backing from the garage. Just turned the wheel a bit too far...ugghh.

 

Yeah even these 19" wheels on our P400 are HUGE (and I already found out HEAVY when the wife got a flat with only 2k miles on the damn thing). I do like the strength of the brakes and have no worries about possible future towing, though we don't currently have plans for another boat or the likes. Still it's always nice to have options.


EDIT - oh yeah on the wind noise thing. I noticed it a little bit on our first road trip, but not any of them since. Don't know if it had to do with a temperature difference or if I just literally got used to it right away. <shrugs> Still worlds quieter than my Jeep (even with the lined hardtop on, no real surprise there either).