Had to run by our dealer (Jaguar Land Rover of Houston North) for a registration/plate paperwork issue. dealer called me thursday. They lost paperwork for some TX inspection process to get plates on a new vehicle. This along with covid dmv has had us running paper plates since July 4th (we have just over 5k miles at this point with zero issues). They owned their mistake but needed me to bring disco by. I figured I'd have a little fun with the visit and told them to have a p400 Defender ready for me and the kids to test drive saturday morning lol...

So we show up and they had a Defender X ready for us. My 7 year old liked the usb's below the front passenger headrests where as they are on the lower center console in our 2020 disco Landmark. The accessory hook/hanger things have a plug in built in to the seat rather than being the little bar connected to the headrest posts... that was thoughtful... but not necessary. Everything inside looked nice and well layed out but the disco materials and layout do look nicer.. they are both great though. I did not like the shifter ****... it worked fine but I prefer the rotary **** on the disco for gear selection so much more. the offroad mode selection ****/switches placement I find better on the disco... but those aren't used that much. The tray across the defender looks nice while empty (I'm sure my family would make it look like a junky crap catcher) and the display floating looks nice and is well integrated... it doesn't look like a lot of vehicles that seem to just have an ipad glued in as an after thought). My biggest surprise was the lack of armrests... the adjustable one in our disco (and my company sprinter van)is something I use to keep down arm fatigue during long drives ... the lack of an adjustable arm rest was disappointing to me but most people wouldn't notice. I did like the center mounted review mirrors ability to switch to camera mode. It was pretty awesome. This was a five seater and I realize the Defender is more of a 5+2 even when it has a 3rd row, more like the rover sport and not like the decent 3rd row that the disco offers... so it's already a no go for our family.
the drive.. if you blind folded me and stuck me in it... i would not be able to tell the power, noise, or road feel from our Disco 5 (gas supercharged v6). I did highway and city driving plus thebrover offroad course. It was ridiculously exactly the same despite how different that they look on the outside.

i ran it and our disco through the landrover offroad course at the dealer... again, they were exactly the same. Both were completely competent... and I just drove them both with no spotter. (Without asking lol... i do this from time to time when passing the dealer and I suppose they are used to me jumping on it now).
If I didn't care about 3 rows and wanted a family hauler with the best stock offroadability, the Defender is excellent (wife doesnt like the defender's looks and prefers the disco... I like either). The jeep rubicon is outclassed by the Defender in a huge way in power, noise, comfort, refinement, and just not sucking at everything but offroadability... except for one thing... the Defender needs a top that comes off. Oh well.

 

Pic
Had some others but are pretty much just my kids jacking with stuff.

I think* it also had a place that i sat my phone down and it wirelessly charged it.. wish that our disco had that.

 

Great write up
What's the white square thing in the rear side window? I assumed it was the dealer invoice sticker on the first couple I saw on the road, but I've seen more since and they still seem to have it when sold.

 

It's a "gear carrier".

 

C pillar disguised as a "gear carrier."

 

@BritCars @canon_mutant It's a "design element" that covers the C pillar. You can thank McGovern for that one. It's not the gear carrier that @canon_mutant mentioned - that's an additional box that sits on top of that design element and is there to increase drag, reduce mileage, and allegedly store "dirty or wet gear". I think Lucky 8 is making or has already made a "delete" kit to get rid of it for those who do not like the look of it.

 

I’m surprised you didn’t notice better acceleration on the P400 as the book figures for 0-60 are much better.

Although I haven’t driven one your observations match mine, even the placement of the off road buttons which I noticed too.

 

Great write up. I had similar observations. I don’t much like the open tray in the front but I was impressed by the second row seats vs the disco. Dealers around me are still adding on a Market Adjustment (currently $5k, used to be $10k) and custom rims (for $5k) so I haven’t given it serious thought. It’s close enough to the disco off road that I don’t see any reason to change.

...and oh, better tow capacity on the disco.

 

Seat of the pants I didn't feel a noticeable increase... we have a gas supercharged v6 and this was the p400. I think they both feel muted but completely adquate after coming from our twin turbo Lincoln (stupid amounts of passing power), my v8 Cadillac EXT with an LQ9, and my previous Roush stang. I'm not suggesting they aren't quick... they just don't wow me after spending most of my life around performance vehicles.

 

Agreed. I have the same engine and I’d describe it as”not slow or locking in power but in no way a performance car” and that’s what I expect (or want) from an SUV to be honest. I just don’t associate them with performance even though I know such things exist.

I just thought a sub 6 second to 60 Defender would be a noticeable improvement over the roughly 7 second Disco. That said, maybe the difference is all in the launch due to the hybrid system and once it’s moving there nothing in it given it’s not much peak power or torque and does weigh more I believe?