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The Land Rover Defender 130 is the perfect off-roader for a family excursion

Or for carrying a lot of cargo (the choice is yours)

No need to bring two off-roaders on your next expedition. PHOTO FROM LAND ROVER

Have you ever had the problem of your Land Rover Defender not being able to fit your entire family or cargo for your next excursion?

Fear not, as the chaps from Coventry have got you covered. Meet the Defender 130, and it’s exactly what you think it is: a stretched version of the 110.

Despite the stretched dimensions, it still manages to look elegant. PHOTO FROM LAND ROVER

To accommodate eight people or up to 2,516L of cargo, its body has been stretched by 340mm behind the rear axle. It’s still a very capable off-roader, but with a longer rear overhang, expect departure angles to be slightly worse.

The already great-looking styling didn’t need to undergo a radical redesign even when stretched, but a few changes were made like a subtle boat tail-style uplift at the rear and a redesigned taillight surround.

However, it loses the iconic “alpine windows” found in the smaller Defenders in exchange for a panoramic sunroof with a second sunroof above the third row.

That ruby-red finish works really well with the Defender's physique. PHOTO FROM LAND ROVER

It also comes with a model-exclusive finish of Sedona Red with the Extended Bright Pack, which features a Ceres Silver satin finish for the lower body cladding as well as Noble Chrome front and rear skid plates.

Bring the entire expedition crew or their equipment along. PHOTO FROM LAND ROVER

In case you’re wondering, the seating configuration of the 130 is a 2+3+3 setup for the eight-seater. If you want the luxury of hauling more cargo, you can get the 130 as a five-seater.

According to Land Rover, the third row has enough width, headroom and legroom to comfortably seat three adults at the back, which is complemented by heated third-row seats with their own climate zone (with the optional quad-zone climate control).

Plus, the standard air suspension should not only improve ride comfort but also make ingress/egress and loading cargo at the rear much easier.

The infotainment also grows in size, but that's par for the course for modern vehicles. PHOTO FROM LAND ROVER

It’s still pretty much the same cabin inside, with new color and material options. But the Pivi Pro infotainment screen now grows to 11.4 inches, and a cabin purification system comes as standard.

Small, medium, large. Just like picking a drink size, right? PHOTO FROM LAND ROVER

Just like the other Defenders, it will come with a choice of four mild-hybrid Ingenium powertrains—two gasoline 3.0-liter in-line-sixes (P300 and P400) and turbodiesel 3.0-liter in-line-sixes (D250 and D300).

All are mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission, and Land Rover’s intelligent all-wheel-drive system ensures you can go anywhere with ease.

You can configure your Defender 130 at this website. The SUV starts at £73,895 (P4,895,000), and will also come in S, SE, HSE, X, X-Dynamic, and First Edition variants. We don’t know if Land Rover Philippines will bring in this model, but we feel it’ll be a popular choice on our shores.



Sam Surla

Sam used to be the youngest member of our editorial team when he was our managing editor. He specialized in photography and videography, but he also happened to like writing about cars a lot.



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