2012 Land Rover Defender Gets New Engine, Options

Land Rover has updated its iconic Defender with a new, greener diesel engine for the 2012 model year.

The Jaguar Land Rover fans amongst you may have spotted that the unit replacing the EU4 3.4 litre diesel (from the Ford Transit)  is the Ford based  four cylinder 2.2 litre diesel that also does service in various other JLR products, such as the Jaguar XF.

Retaining the same power and torque levels as the egine it replaced, this new EU5 compliant unit manages to make this the most efficeint and least polluting Defender in Land Rover’s 63 year history.  CO₂ emissions on the combined cycle are consistent at 266g/km for the 90 and 295g/km for the 110 and 130.

Despite the smaller capacity and reduced emissions, the new engine produces the same power, 122PS@3,500rpm and torque, 360Nm@2,000rpm, as the outgoing 2.4-litre engine. Performance remains similar too, though the top speed has been raised to 90mph compared to 82mph for the previous version.

At the same time, Land Rover is also announcing two new option packages for the 2012 Defender:the ‘Comfort Pack’ offers air conditioning, a CD player with auxilary input and remote central locking for £1,650; or you can add the ‘Off Road Pack’ which provides ABS, heavy duty wheels with MTR tyres, a tow ball and under body protection for £1,500.

The 2012 Defender is available from £20,995 on the road and will be on-sale in the UK from November 2011.

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