V8 Roll Call
Rock Crawling
Joined: Dec 2021
Posts: 303
Likes: 162
I am officially in the.V8 club. It was dark at pickup and then has been raining ever since so no pics yet. I can’t tell you how happy I am with this vehicle. The V8 is how the defender should be. What an absolute beat. Engine sound is an absolute major factor to my smiles per mile calculation and the V8 defender scores an 9 out of 10 for me over the cars I have owned. X5M was a 10 out of 10 and X3MC was a 8.5 out of 10 as a comparison. The V8 makes it a very nice mix of sport, muscle, comfort and agility. I have owned faster but not as smooth riding with muscle. What an amazing combo.
The P400 was no slouch but it was way too quiet for me. Sometimes I felt like I was driving an EV. Plenty of power just not noise and not fun. Just adding paddles to the P400 would help. Even if they were just plastic buttons. I also love the look of the quad pipes.
things I would like to improve.
The transmission shifts pretty fast going through the gears but is lacking a bit down shifting. Especially if you want to drop more than 1 gear. Say you are in 6th lugging along and you want to quickly drop to 3rd and hammer it. The time it takes to drop to third needs to be half of what is now and it still would not be as fast as an ///M car.
The steering wheel needs to be much thicker. Why make is suede leather and keep it so skinny? A big fat wheel screams performance.
My gosh this thing sounds so good! Makes it so much more of a joy to drive. It’s also my daily and will be used to art customers around AO while I am sure you guys with aftermarket exhaust have awesome machines I am good with the factory set up.
So Happy!
The P400 was no slouch but it was way too quiet for me. Sometimes I felt like I was driving an EV. Plenty of power just not noise and not fun. Just adding paddles to the P400 would help. Even if they were just plastic buttons. I also love the look of the quad pipes.
things I would like to improve.
The transmission shifts pretty fast going through the gears but is lacking a bit down shifting. Especially if you want to drop more than 1 gear. Say you are in 6th lugging along and you want to quickly drop to 3rd and hammer it. The time it takes to drop to third needs to be half of what is now and it still would not be as fast as an ///M car.
The steering wheel needs to be much thicker. Why make is suede leather and keep it so skinny? A big fat wheel screams performance.
My gosh this thing sounds so good! Makes it so much more of a joy to drive. It’s also my daily and will be used to art customers around AO while I am sure you guys with aftermarket exhaust have awesome machines I am good with the factory set up.
So Happy!
Mudding
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 110
Likes: 47
I am officially in the.V8 club. It was dark at pickup and then has been raining ever since so no pics yet. I can’t tell you how happy I am with this vehicle. The V8 is how the defender should be. What an absolute beat. Engine sound is an absolute major factor to my smiles per mile calculation and the V8 defender scores an 9 out of 10 for me over the cars I have owned. X5M was a 10 out of 10 and X3MC was a 8.5 out of 10 as a comparison. The V8 makes it a very nice mix of sport, muscle, comfort and agility. I have owned faster but not as smooth riding with muscle. What an amazing combo.
The P400 was no slouch but it was way too quiet for me. Sometimes I felt like I was driving an EV. Plenty of power just not noise and not fun. Just adding paddles to the P400 would help. Even if they were just plastic buttons. I also love the look of the quad pipes.
things I would like to improve.
The transmission shifts pretty fast going through the gears but is lacking a bit down shifting. Especially if you want to drop more than 1 gear. Say you are in 6th lugging along and you want to quickly drop to 3rd and hammer it. The time it takes to drop to third needs to be half of what is now and it still would not be as fast as an ///M car.
The steering wheel needs to be much thicker. Why make is suede leather and keep it so skinny? A big fat wheel screams performance.
My gosh this thing sounds so good! Makes it so much more of a joy to drive. It’s also my daily and will be used to art customers around AO while I am sure you guys with aftermarket exhaust have awesome machines I am good with the factory set up.
So Happy!
The P400 was no slouch but it was way too quiet for me. Sometimes I felt like I was driving an EV. Plenty of power just not noise and not fun. Just adding paddles to the P400 would help. Even if they were just plastic buttons. I also love the look of the quad pipes.
things I would like to improve.
The transmission shifts pretty fast going through the gears but is lacking a bit down shifting. Especially if you want to drop more than 1 gear. Say you are in 6th lugging along and you want to quickly drop to 3rd and hammer it. The time it takes to drop to third needs to be half of what is now and it still would not be as fast as an ///M car.
The steering wheel needs to be much thicker. Why make is suede leather and keep it so skinny? A big fat wheel screams performance.
My gosh this thing sounds so good! Makes it so much more of a joy to drive. It’s also my daily and will be used to art customers around AO while I am sure you guys with aftermarket exhaust have awesome machines I am good with the factory set up.
So Happy!
Last edited by Defenerauug; Jan 9, 2023 at 11:52 AM.
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2023
Posts: 32
Likes: 24
Congrats ! Welcome to V8 land…I am with you on the X5M and 110 V8 ratings…I love the X5M (and may go back), but the Defender is a pretty solid alternative that is “more practical” as a daily. I’d love a wheel similar to the RRS SVR in the defender V8 - I’ve come to really like the Alcantera, but a thicker wheel with thumb bumps would be nice…
Rock Crawling
Joined: Dec 2021
Posts: 303
Likes: 162
I hate to be repetitive but this thing sounds amazing. The defender is already a great vehicle to drive, it having the acceleration and aggressiveness of the V8 really makes it damn near perfect. Currently my favorite vehicle ever. Are the defender SVR rumors still out there? If so, sign me up.
Also, I have been driving pretty aggressive with limited interstate miles and averaging 12.9mpg. Not bad at all.
Also, I have been driving pretty aggressive with limited interstate miles and averaging 12.9mpg. Not bad at all.
Last edited by Nuckle; Jan 13, 2023 at 12:00 AM.
Mudding
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 110
Likes: 47
I hate to be repetitive but this thing sounds amazing. The defender is already a great vehicle to drive, it having the acceleration and aggressiveness of the V8 really makes it damn near perfect. Currently my favorite vehicle ever. Are the defender SVR rumors still out there? If so, sign me up.
Also, I have been driving pretty aggressive with limited interstate miles and averaging 12.9mpg. Not bad at all.
Also, I have been driving pretty aggressive with limited interstate miles and averaging 12.9mpg. Not bad at all.
Driving this in dynamic mode to me is perfect. It really does feel very different. I wish you could default to dynamic !
Three Wheeling
Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 90
Likes: 98
It’s the old supercharged JLR 5.0 V8