2012 Land Rover Defender gets new diesel

The 2012 Land Rover Defender gets a new, cleaner, 2.2 litre diesel engine

It’s hard to decide what to do with a motoring icon icon like the Land Rover Defender. Do you keep on evolving it or do you have a radical re-think?

All that’s up for discussion at Land Rover at the moment, with Project Icon taxing the brains of Land Rover’s best. But in the meantime the current Land Rover needs to be kept viable, so in comes a new diesel engine for the 2012 Land Rover Defender.

The new diesel engine Land Rover’s 2.2 litre four-pot with a set of figures that are remarkably similar to the old 2.4 litre (which has to go because it’s not Euro 5 compliant). That means 120bhp at 3500 rpm, 255lb/ft of torque and fuel consumption the same.

But the important new Defender stuff – for Euro5 – is emissions of 266g/km for the Defender 90 and 295g/km for the Defender 110 and 130, and lower levels of NOx, CO and HC thanks to better combustion, better engine management and a diesel particulate filter(DPF).

The existing GFT MT 82 six-speed ‘box stays, with its crawler first gear making towing a doddle and its cruising top gear making noise comfortable on a run – helped by a new full acoustic engine cover.

Two new options are available on the 2012 Defender. The Comfort Pack offers AirCon, CD with AUX, electric windows and remote locking for £1650, whilst the Off-Road Pack throws in ABS, heavy duty rim and MTR tyre, tow ball and under-ride protection for £1500.

The 2012 Land Rover Defender isn’t exactly an icon reborn, but it is a very sensible move to keep the Defender alive whilst Land Rover decides how radical a rebirth of the Defender needs to be.

The 2012 Defender goes on sale in November from £20,995.

By Cars UK