New Land Rover Defender 130 premieres as an eight-seater bruiser

New Land Rover Defender 130 premieres as an eight-seater bruiser  

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Finally, Land Rover has lifted the heavy camouflage off its Defender 130 following a number of official teasers on the internet that left us speculating. 

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The new Land Rover Defender 130 joins the 90 and 110 variants as the flagship model in the British marque’s range and offers seats for up to eight passengers. It is available in SE, HSE, X-Dynamic and X specifications as well as the First Edition. 

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Available as a five, or eight-seater, the Defender 130 spawns an extended rear overhang that has enabled engineers to fit a third row of seats and a load area. Land Rover has also tweaked the surrounds for the rear LED lighting clusters to maintain the distinctive rear design of the Defender. 

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Decent accessory list

As standard, the 130 features Narvik Black roof rails and buyers can choose between a full range of accessories including the Explorer, Adventure, Country and Urban packs. The 130 can also be had with the optional Extended Bright Pack that adds Ceres Silver Satin to all lower-body panels providing a distinctive finish on vehicles finished in Hakuba Silver, Fuji White and Yulong White.

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Inside, the new Defender 130 comes standard with a 10.25” infotainment system and a 11.4” instrument cluster display. For the first time in a Defender, the 130 is equipped with a Cabin Air Purification Plus system. All Defender 130 models are fitted with a panoramic sunroof as standard, with a second sunroof above the third row. 

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It’s all about space

Ingress into the third row is done by folding and sliding the second row of seats while loading stuff at the back can be done by lowering the Defender’s air suspension with buttons inside the load area.

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In terms of luggage space, the Defender 130, with all seats raised, offers 389 litres, and  a 1,232-litre loading space with the third row folded flat. With all the back seats folded, it offers 2,291 litres.  

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Power

Powering the new Land Rover Defender 130 is a range of petrol and diesel powerplants including a P300, P400, D250 and D300. 

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The P300 employs a 3.0-litre mild-hybrid turbocharged petrol engine with 218 kW of power and 470 Nm, while its petrol counterpart, the P400 houses a more potent 3.0-litre six-cylinder unit with 290 kW and 550 Nm.  The D250 variant wields a mild-hybrid 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine with 183 kW and 600 Nm of torque. The D300 features the same unit but with 220 kW and 650 Nm of torque. 

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Power is sent to all four wheels via Land Rover’s all-wheel-drive system and an 8-speed automatic transmission developed by ZF. Every Defender 130 comes standard with air suspension and the Terrain Response system. 

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As initially speculated, there isn’t any V8 variant at this stage, however, we expect it to join the range at a later stage. 

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