LAND ROVER 90/110 AND DEFENDER
THE 90 and 110 were the first coil-sprung utility Land Rovers. The coil springs had been seen on the Range Rover from 1970, but the utility vehicles had sat on leaf springs since 1948. The new suspension was a tremendous improvement to the ride of Land Rovers, but there were other great improvements to the cars too. They looked slightly different to the 'originals', but they had new engines, wheelbases and brakes.
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The first new model to come along was the 110, introduced in March 1983. The 90 model didn't come along for another year and the 88-inch Series 3 was available until then. The new 110 Land Rover had got a slightly longer wheelbase than the 109-inch Series 3 it replaced, but was only 1 inch longer at 110-inches, hence the name '110'. The biggest change was mechanical. It had got coil spring suspension from the Range Rover, |
The 90 was introduced in 1984 to replace the 88-inch. It had coil springs and disc front brakes like the 110. It also had the new front and windscreen, shaped bonnet and wheelarch extentions. Although it was called the 90 it actually had a 92-and-a-half-inch wheelbase. The 90/110 Land Rovers still had the 2.25 litre petrol and diesel engines for a couple for years.
The 110 was facelifted in 1984 and the "County" trim side stripes were re-designed.
The 90 was given the V8 engine; the first time it had been available in a short wheelbase model. The 110 had now got new 2.5 litre petrol and diesel engines, and the 90 had the new 2.5 diesel too. (The 2.5 petrol 90's were special order only, as were the 127 models.)
In 1986 the 90/110's were avilable with a turbocharged version of the 2.5 diesel engine, wich gave nearly 20 bhp extra power and well over 30 lbs/ft of extra torque.
The County side strips were changed once again. The door handles were changed to the 'push button' type, instead of the flush latch type as used on the Sereies Land Rovers. The interior was redesigned, and there was a new dash board. It was very similar to the original one, but it had a space for a radio to be fitted.
The 1988 model-year was introduced in December of this year.
The 1988 models had new black painted bumpers to replace the old silver ones, and there was yet another side stripe change for County models.In 1989 all the models had side stripes, not just the County models. The County had body coloured grille and headlight surrounds.
In 1989 all the models had side stripes, not just the County models. The hard top and Station Wagons were given ribless roof panels and rivet-free upper body sides. The Rostyle wheels that had been used on the Range Rovers were now optional on 90's, but they always had radial instead of crossply tyres.
The 90 and 110s proved just as popular with the miliary as the previous models had been. There were various conversions and demonstaters made by Land Rover to suit the military both in the UK and the rest of the world, including 6x6 variants.
The British Army soon placed a large order for 110's to replace their 109-inch Series 3s. They had special rear bumpers and a side hatch to hold a jerrycan.
Land Rover SVO (Special Vehicle Operations) produced special military models on both 90 and 110 bodies, including desert patrol vehicles with swiveling gun mounts.
A 6x6 model was built for the Australian Army as a large load carrier. They were avalible with the V8 engine or a 4 cylinder 3.8 litre direct-injection Isuzu diesel engine. They were first delivered in 1987.
The Defenders were launched in 1990. They looked almost identical to the 90/110, but were now known as the Defender 90 and Defender 110. The name was changed because after the Discovery
was introduced there was confusion over whether "Land Rover" was a brand or model name. So "Defender" was the model and "Land Rover" was the brand.
1990The Defender was first made available for the public. |
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There wasn't much else that changed when the Defender name came in, apart from the diesel engine. The 2.5 engine that had been used in the 90 and 110's was scraped, as it had received a lot of bad publicity in the late 80's, when the Army had had problems with reliability.
The new engine was known as the 200 Tdi, and the vehicles were badged with 'Tdi', just behind the wing. It was a 2.5 litre, turbocharged direct-injection diesel engine, fitted with an intercooler. It was yet another big improvement. It had been available in the Discovery since 1989. The 2.5 petrol and 3.5 V8 were still available for 90, 110 and 130 models. (The old 127's were now |
The 3.9 litre V8i petrol was introduced to replace the 3.5 V8. The "i" stood for "injection". The new engine had about 50 extra bhp.
In 1994 the new 300 Tdi diesel engine was made available in the Defenders and the Discovery. They also had a new gearbox, known as the R380, which was much smoother than the older ones. The new engine had got slightly more power but, as with the gearbox, it was much smoother. The 300 Tdi was still a turbocharged direct-injection intercooled diesel engine, like the 200 Tdi it replaced.
The all new Defender!
The latest Defender was, mechanically, completely transformed. They look nearly identical to the last models, but under the skin its a different story.
The latest offering has got an all new "Td5" engine, which has got 5 cylinders, instead of 4 - hence the name.
The new Defenders also had much more electronic parts than before. To improve the ability of the Defender both on and off road Land Rover added a lot of the New Discovery electronics to the options list. There is now the option for a package including ABS (Anti-lock Braking System), ETC (Electronic Traction Control), and EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution). ABS and EBD prevent the wheels from locking up under heavy braking, and EBD puts the most amount of stopping power to the wheel that needs it most. ETC prevents the wheels spinning when on loose surfaces or accelerating hard!!! HDC (Hill Desent Control), as used on the New Discovery and Freelander, has not yet been made available on the Defenders.
Keen off-roaders will be pleased to hear that there is still a low ratio and a centre differential lock.
There was also a new cloth interior introduced, called Techno.