Video: Car Showroom "Review" of 2009 Land Rover Defender

 The narrator has an Australian accent I cannot quite understand. Parts of this transcript within square brackets are where I could not tell what the narrator was saying. Kind of humourous! If you can tell what he is saying, please add it to the comments below.

[Was it been ford??] a nation is defended on the back of the Defender, which has been sold in Australia since 1949. The Land Rover Defender makes youngsters like the Toyota Land Cruiser and the Nissan Patrol seem like lightweights. It's powered by a 2.4 L something turbo diesel engine which is the same unit fitted to the Ford Transit commercial [van?], maximum power is 90 kW, and peak torque is 360 [neutra??] meters, with a combined fuel economy of 11.1 per hundred K's for the 110 wagon. Land Rover fitted a new six speed manual gearbox with a wider spread of gear ratios which gives genuine stump-pulling go-anywhere off-road ability.

The 110 wagon we tested was painted in a nice metallic blue color and featured a body color roof and wheel arch [something- flares?.] Of course, there's the familiar square front ends which laugh at conventional [something slippery idana mix], and the trademark roof mounted skylight windows that were a feature of the first Land Rover Discovery, and naturally there's the trademark workmanlike rear end and massive mud flaps. The current model Defender has a new dashboard layout that borrows heavily from the Discovery 3 - the gauges and controls for the audio system and the air conditioning which is now standard. The individual third row seats are separate and sit next to the rear window sides with space between them to access the cargo door. When not in use, the third row seats do consume some of the Defender's cargo space, but the layout works well.

Some things haven't changed, including the old style handbrake lever, which is still too close to your left leg, and entry and exit is still quite difficult due to the high sides and no side steps. Around suburban streets the clutch, gearbox and steering are noticeably heavy. On the freeway engine and road noise are quite loud and the ride is harsh.  Land Rover could make the Defender a little more quiet on the road by fitting road tires, but that would limit its offroad capability, which is where this baby shines. Car Showroom.