KISSIMMEE, Fla. — We went all the way down to ECD Auto Design to drive its brand-new Jaguar E-Sort restomod, however the people there didn’t allow us to depart with out having fun with one other deal with from its bread-and-butter enterprise: a Land Rover Defender. “ECD” used to face for East Coast Defender, however that’s been modified to ECD Auto Design for the reason that firm produces each Vary Rover Classics and Jaguar E-Sorts. We’ve pushed the varied Defender and Vary Rover builds earlier than, however it’s been a couple of years, so it’s time for a refresher.
Particularly, we hopped right into a Land Rover Defender 110 (four-door) Comfortable High fitted with GM’s LT4 supercharged V8. For the uninitiated, that’s the identical engine that’s below the hood of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, previous-gen Corvette Z06 and way more. To say that it’s a number of horsepower for the unique Defender, what was basically a farm car, is an understatement. In case you handle to get the throttle all the way in which to the ground with out crying uncle, that’s worthy of some commendation. For the much less power-hungry, ECD will promote you Defenders with a lot of different powertrains starting from much less highly effective V8s to a diesel and even an all-electric model. The LT4-equipped model we drove is probably the most ridiculous of all of them.
The sound of the supercharger and totally rocking exhaust is otherworldly coming from this kind of car. In the identical approach {that a} Jeep Wrangler 392 feels prefer it shouldn’t exist, this Defender takes it even additional. Its steering is sluggish and unreactive such as you’d count on, however due to the four-wheel-drive system, it manages to place the facility down with out utterly overwhelming the all-terrain tires. Its suspension is equally well-equipped to deal with all that further energy, as ECD makes use of air suspension paired with Fox shocks for the very best experience. The compliance and luxury over poor roads is shockingly nicely sorted, to the purpose that you could possibly drive round with the automotive repeatedly and never really feel beat up.
The chassis, roof and a few of its authentic (however restored) operating gear is nearly all that’s left over from what this Defender began out life as. ECD imports seven to eight Defenders from the UK each month earlier than utterly stripping them and turning them into absolute beasts. And whilst you may get a contemporary infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and different fashionable facilities, you continue to get the appeal – or flaws – of the Defender. The steering wheel just isn’t even remotely lined up along with your pure seating place. Its pedals create an ungainly leg association, and in terms of NVH … we’re afraid that division didn’t present as much as work.
The worth for such a construct is sort of as extravagant because the E-Sort, with the 110 Comfortable High beginning at $249,995. A two-door 90 is barely cheaper, whereas the 130 pickup is costlier. After all, including an LT4 and all of the suspension and look bits you see within the footage above solely provides to the worth.
We sat down with some people from ECD to construct a Defender of our personal, and the power to customise each final little bit of the car is actually astounding. Each single mission is one-of-one, Wallace remarked on a number of events. One purchaser even selected a particular herd of cattle in Italy they preferred the colour of for the upholstery of their Defender – ECD tells us it was a $70,000 add-on to the ultimate value.
Even when somebody needs to make a duplicate of another person’s construct, the corporate gained’t allow them to as a result of each single car that rolls away is required to be distinctive. It’s an ethos that has served the corporate nicely by way of the Land Rover days and now into the Jaguar E-Sort mission. What comes subsequent continues to be anybody’s guess, however Wallace tells us there’s extra sooner or later than simply previous British vehicles, as he hints at Porsche, American muscle and extra. We’ll simply have to attend and see, however one factor’s for certain, the Defenders are by no means going away.
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