Land Rover AR 90: 70 years of adventures but the controversy is not lacking

(To Gianluca Celentano)
18/04/18

Describing the success of a 4x4 vehicle by associating it with a well-deserved tribute to Maestro Ennio Morricone is not as simple as an idea, but perhaps it would become so if, while reading the article from your PC (or tablet or smartphone, ed.), The notes of the famous soundtrack of the film "The good, the bad and the ugly".

A music that will certainly remind you of the Land Rover Defender, the vehicle under examination on this number.

Here then that the notes of the Master take us back in time, to that 1980 when they had become the theme song of a great event of the Land Rover: the Camel Trophy, an adventurous expedition to the most hostile terrain on the planet, such as Borneo rather than Sulawesi or Guyana.

If then listening to the notes of the Master the feeling is to shudder, then we are there and it means that your boundless operational vein has entered fully into the appreciation of the most basic qualities of reliability that the Defender, like a good bottle of wine, has been able to keep unaltered over the years to make them taste true to the connoisseurs of adventure.

History

The idea came from Sir Maurice Wilks in the 40 years. Eight years later, from the British Leyland plant, the first one comes out with the innovative aluminum body Utility, a work vehicle and for military use at 4 gears with permanent traction 4x4 ,. Only in the 1990 will assume the name of Defender.

Several series have followed one another with clearly English denominations starting from that 30 April 1948: Country, Station Wagon, Crew Cab, and the "most recent" 90, 110 and 127, numbering representing in inch the guessed interaxis measures of the modern Defender.

The drivers of the Camel Trophy, were selected in the various nations competing more or less with the same criterion of the most recent Overland mission, many of them were professional drivers with the passion for the 4x4, others came instead from spent in some operational army and quality of engagement could be compared to those of our boys in the elite of the Armed Forces.

Seventy years of history and more than two million vehicles sold have filled the Land Rover Defender news network and perhaps, to avoid repetition, it is better to focus on some more contradictory and questionable aspects of a valid means that one loves or hates. .

AR 90, the arrival in the Armed Forces raises some perplexities

To replace the Fiat Campagnola (v.articolo), she arrived, the AR - Auto from Ricognition - 90 Land Rover Defender that was welcomed in the barracks as a prestigious novelty, even if there were no shortcomings and doubts about the drivers, especially after having been guided and tested both on the road and in the operating environment.

In fact, not only the military but also the enthusiasts to ask themselves the reason for the introduction of an English 4XXUMUM when Italy is the land of motors par excellence.

"The need": this could be the most plausible answer considering that, after the leave of Fiat Campagnola AR 76, it was the VM90 multirole (v.articolo) to temporarily replace the lack of a smaller, manageable reconnaissance car. At that time the 4x4 did not have a big trade and the Japanese were the masters on the national market and any national production was in danger of ending Rayton Magnum Fissore.

It should be remembered that the 90 years mark the sudden beginning of a period of alert and missions for our defense and military motorization, although suitable for a national context, it needed a reorganization of functionality and an adaptation to the standards of the other NATO coalitions present outside the area.

The majority of Defender distributed to the battalions and regiments belonged to the series mpi 2.0 gasoline with appropriate gear ratios, while others were versions 2.4 Td Ford with in-line pump and the less fortunate Td5 common rail.

The Iveco Massif, as we know, would have come much later, although in the meantime the production of the VM 90 resumed after an aesthetic and technical restyling.

But let's know it better ...

Its engines between Rover, Bmw, Ford, there is also the TATA

The choice between petrol and diesel to 4, 5 and 8 V-cylinders is certainly not limited, but the 4 petrol cylinders MPI, albeit lighter for theoff-road it is quite disappointing and despite the technical longevity, it can not be defined as a thoroughbred. It is in fact the 2.0 16 engine aspirated 620 valves of the Rover 5, with a consumption that can touch the XNUMX kilometers per liter and that misses the supercharging, present instead in the car version.

The 4 cylinders is worthy of merit Td4 2.4 turbodiesel from 122 cv (the same mounted on the Ford Transit Tdci), nicely nicknamed "Deforder", of which it is rumored that the Indian Tata wants to produce a similar one from 122 horses for the English house. Will it be Chinese?

Then there is the five-cylinder Td5 BMW, a modern diesel, but that has made a lot of discussion for the reliability of the electronics and maybe a little 'for the slowness in going in pairs before unsheath its 120 horses

It is not very versatile and the diesel propeller Td4 is the most well-known even when, snorkel allowing, the vehicle goes in immersion during the crossings of the fords; in the Camel Trophy, as someone will remember, he often drove with water at the height of the conductor's chest.

The space on board is limited and not very easy and the attitude is certainly not indicated for the stretches of road on the asphalt, especially if wet. Resuming a sudden skid (characteristic of tall vehicles with a rigid bridge) with a counter-steering, it is not a simple undertaking, especially with a very low-geared steering system.

It must also be remembered that the car was born for the right-hand drive market, and the English house only proceeded to move the pedals and steering wheel on the left side for export versions.

The pedalboard offset on the left, could remember the importance, in the professional guide, to use the clutch - which is isolated - only in the departures, in the changes and just before stopping. However, someone says with conviction that on the left side is the distributor, the real likely responsible for the off-set pedalboard. Then the fourth pedal or foot rests on the driver's side wheel pass, useful for anchoring to the seat and counteracting lateral forces.

The air conditioning is lacking but perhaps we are asking too much of this kind of medium that despite its seventy years has wanted to keep certain aspects unchanged.

The driver's seat is suitable for medium-sized conductors and the highest ones have problems with the seat adjustment, having, among other things, the driver's side door excessively close to the left arm. However, this serves to facilitate the handler in facing and controlling the terrain to be overcome. It is to be asked at this point, how are the spaces in the armored version of the Defender.

Understanding your needs ...

Just outside the cities of Great Britain, the territory rich in hills and grasslands is very suited to the characteristics of the Land and perhaps its simplicity reflects in some ways the English rationality; here, however, things are a bit 'different, we look for performance, comfort and comfort, important details when choosing a 4x4 that fall our attention especially on less specialized and more versatile vehicles, such as SUVs.

Off-road vehicle o Trial: a semantic difference, which does not necessarily require that an 4x4 vehicle be omnipotent, able to satisfy the most imaginative imaginary.

'Soff-road extreme, which for simplicity we could bring back to the trial, the elaborations are obligatory and expensive, the homologated kits are not counted as in the case of the particular stabilizing bars Panhard, or increased suspension sets with ample range, winches and changes to the brakes, control units, exhaust and much more.

So if we consider the standard vehicle a sort of compromise of specific characteristics, it is the user who must really wonder what use he wants to do with the means of not being subsequently disappointed.

The variants of Casa Land

If the Land Rover Defender represents the purity of 4x4, over the course of time the English house wanted to offer "softened" variants to conquer a greater audience of customers.

With the same engines have entered the Range Rover, Discovery , Freelander, as we know, have become elegant SUVs

Since 2016 is retired our Defender, after 70 years of service and, as for all veterans, respect is a must, however, from the Land Rover headquarters in England and the dealers, no reliable information is received on which car can replace it, except for some prototypes Online. The unanimous wish of the fans of the brand is that the future new entry may still be a "good, bad and bad" vehicle and therefore still worthy to call itself "off-road" with all the characteristics and limitations that this type of vehicles must have.

Other 4x4 worthy of note albeit of a different class compared to the Land but that passion requires me to remember taking advantage of this space, I am as you can well imagine, the Jeep CJ (Civilian Jeep the evolution of the Willys) our Fiat Panda 4x4 first series, the Russian Lada Niva and UAZ 469 but also the Toyota land Cruiser and the nice Suzuki Jimny.

(photo: web / Dario Ferro / UK MoD)