My FH5 Log: Bronco v Defender

The Ford Bronco and the Land Rover Defender are the two reborn offroaders of the decade that showcase their legendary capabilities in their newest forms in a way never seen before.

Loyalists from both sides have been arguing about which one is the best. Some say it's the Defender because although it's far-fetched compared to the old one, it's still the best offroader full-stop and it's more powerful than the Bronco. Others say it's the Bronco because it is the most off-road capable vehicle known to them, although the Jeep Wrangler can mince them both like pork grinds. For the Bronco Nation, it's E Pluribus Unum because they will go for the Bronco more than any other offroader in the world.

Before the duel begins, it's time for the reborn offroaders of the decade to identify themselves.

The second-generation Defender is a modern take on the most iconic offroader in history. Half a century of adventures has led to this evolution the world has witnessed. Although the styling is too posh for a reborn Defender, it still has the legendary offroad capability from its ancestors. Armed with the all-aluminum D7x architecture, monocoque body construction, offroad-focused suspension setup, Adaptive Dynamics with available Electronic Air Suspension, and the next-gen Terrain Response, the new Defender really works and feels just like the original despite its posh looks. 

The one that appeared in Forza Horizon 5 comes with a 3.0L petrol engine producing 400HP of power and 550Nm of torque. Mated to an 8-speed AT with low gear ratios suitable for offroading, it does 0-60mph in around six seconds and has a top speed of 119mph.

What about the Ford Bronco? Well, when Ford decided to revive the Bronco, they wanted their revival to trace its roots back to the first model. With styling inspired by the first-generation model, the reborn Bronco runs on the same mechanical bits and bobs as the Ford Ranger, meaning there are two kinds of 4x4 systems at bay such as the one with the Part-Time Selectable Engagement or the more advanced 4x4 with Automatic On-Demand Engagement. Staying true to its Built Wild mantra, the Bronco features a Terrain Management System with G.O.A.T. Modes. As the name implies, these modes made the Bronco go over any type of terrain, and with the right mode switched on, drivers can traverse through the harshest road conditions without worry, and with Baja mode (exclusive on the Wildtrak variant) switched on, the Bronco shows its trump card, putting its Built Wild theory into action.

The one featured on the game's cover alongside the Mercedes-AMG Project One is the Badlands version with the 2.7L EcoBoost engine with 330HP of power and 415lb-ft of torque. It's mated to a class-first 10-speed AT.

With their quick introductions done, it's time for the two reborn offroaders to trade jabs at a deserted runway.

Based on the specifications, the Defender is more powerful than the Bronco but because the Bronco is lighter and more off-road capable than the Defender, it's going to be a one-sided MMA match between them. The question is, who will win the cross-country MMA duel? Let's roll the tape.

After an epic fight on a deserted runway, here are the results;

Defender - 1m15.309s

Bronco - 1m14.007s

...and the winner by a 1.3-second gap goes to...the Ford Bronco!

It seems the so-called Bronco Nation was right after all. It seems the powerful Defender got beaten by a lighter and more off-road capable Bronco. Guess the revived Bronco truly is E Pluribus Unum after all. Out of many, one. No matter which offroader you're gunning for, it's always the Ford Bronco that stands out from the rest because it was born to Go On Any Terrain and there's your GOAT for you.

Surely I was going to wrap up this decisive battle but something decisive came up to me. Looks like these two offroaders are onto something decisive; tackling the dirtiest challenges in Horizon Mexico such as The Gauntlet and The Titan. The Bronco will take on The Titan with its GOAT capabilities while the Defender, well, it lost the fight against the Bronco, will handle the longest dirt sprint in all of Horizon. Because of its herculean status, both offroaders need to be prepped up for the longest fight ahead.

My special Defender is ready to take on The Gauntlet with its specifications tweaked to almost match both the Defender V8 and the Bowler Defender Rally Series raid car. I even added some "lick of love" if you know what I mean. Oh, Pepper...

The Bronco, meanwhile, likes to stay it this way, albeit with a minor weight loss to make it slightly more capable on the rough while tackling through the most challenging obstacles The Titan will throw at it. Besides, would a Vivid Star back out from a challenge? Definitely not.

With their assigned targets set, it's time for the reborn offroaders to give it their all, survive, and win. Roll the tapes!

Battered and bent but our wounded warriors showcased the stuff legends are made of.

Despite their differences, both the new Defender and the new Bronco have showcased their legendary offroad performance in their newest forms. Although not pretty, they were meant to drive dirty because offroading is what they're built for. Modern SUVs cannot go off-road but for them, they still got it and it's about time to give these reborn offroaders a huge respect for their hard work.

It's great to have them both in the line of duty in Horizon Mexico.

Land Rover Defender II 130

Is it possible for a Land Rover Defender to spawn a much longer variant? Judging by the design of the latest generation of the legendary offroader, they can and this is the result.

2023 Land Rover Defender 130

2023 Land Rover Defender 130 interior

Priced at 73,200 Pounds plus additional costs, the first-ever Land Rover Defender 130 delivers the same capability as the normal Defender but with the added wheelbase to make things interesting for everyone around you.

For starters, the styling and the interior are identical to today's Land Rover Defender. The boxy shape, the squarish headlights, and the ultra-high-tech gadgetry involved at the dashboard, but because this is the longest variant in the Defender family, the 130 is 340mm longer than the 110, meaning there's more space for passengers in the back. A longer wheelbase means longer legroom and this eight-seater nearly fits the bill. 

Still, like most three-row SUVs, getting to the third row is more of a drama, especially when the second-row seats are jammed with child seats, meaning you'll have to resort to using the rear to get in. There's your sweet spot gone and that's one minor weakness to the longest Defender variant in existence.

Under the hood, the 130 offers the same choice of petrol and diesel engines as the other variants, sans the V8 sadly, meaning the most powerful version you will find in the 130 at launch is the 3.0L petrol engine producing 400HP of power and 550Nm of torque. Mated to an 8-speed AT with low gear ratios suitable for offroading, it does 0-60mph in less than eight seconds and has a top speed of 119mph. 

Yes, the 0-60mph time got drastically rose due to the added weight caused by the extra wheelbase but because this is a Defender, it was built to tackle various roads, either on or off, on the tarmac, gravel, snow, whatever Mother Nature throws at it courtesy of its all-aluminum D7x architecture, monocoque body construction, offroad-focused suspension setup, Adaptive Dynamics with available Electronic Air Suspension, and the next-gen Terrain Response, not to mention the added offroad tech and safety tech involved.

Despite the ludicrous pricetag, it's surprisingly cheaper to own than the Range Rover, and the Defender 130 is proof that it has something that the Jeep Wrangler and the Ford Bronco doesn't; room for the whole family to take them to the countryside.

Photo: Jaguar Land Rover

Land Rover Defender II

The Land Rover Defender is known to be a living legend in the offroading world because of its legendary reputation that traces back to Series I. From conquering all directions of the world, the Defender truly is a legendary icon that deserves no explanation. After almost a century, Land Rover laid the legendary Defender to rest and in its wake, it has been reincarnated into a brand new Defender. The one that promises to carry on the legacy of the legend while incorporating cutting-edge technology to get through the wind of the times.

2020 Land Rover Defender

Starting at 43,625 Pounds, the reborn Defender comes with two different body styles; the three-door 90 and the five-door 110 which is longer than the first one I mentioned. Whichever style you choose, you will be glad to witness the modern take of the legendary offroader who is revered the world over.

2020 Land Rover Defender

Before checking out, let's observe the design. Weirdly, the new Defender shares nothing in common with the old Defender because while the Defenders of the past are square but tough, the 21st-century Defender is like an old Discovery LR3/LR4, and when you park between them, it's hard to tell the difference. Sounds odd but this is how the new Defender rolls.

2020 Land Rover Defender interior

2020 Land Rover Defender interior

The new interior is pretty much the same story as the exterior because while the old Defender is mostly driver-focused, the new model is pretty much disturbing for purists. After all, it's been festooned with lots of toys to mingle around on the dashboard, which is nice for Gen Z offroad enthusiasts but its highest level of fancy living really ruins the Defender's character in a pinch if you know what I mean. Despite that, it's still as roomy as any SUV in the market today and in the 110 variant, it's family-friendly as well because of the choice of five, six, or 5+2 seats. Very nice but the purists aren't very happy about it.

2020 Land Rover Defender

If the new look disappoints purists of the original Defender, is the new model still as tough as the legend itself? As a matter of fact, it is. Armed with the all-aluminum D7x architecture, monocoque body construction, offroad-focused suspension setup, Adaptive Dynamics with available Electronic Air Suspension, and the next-gen Terrain Response, the new Defender really works and feels just like the original and despite its posh look, it can still tackle all directions of the earth just like the original.

The new model offers a wide range of Ingenium petrol and diesel engines with a PHEV to follow later but the most powerful offering at launch comes with the 3.0L petrol engine producing 400HP of power and 550Nm of torque. Mated to an 8-speed AT with low gear ratios suitable for offroading, it does 0-60mph in around six seconds and has a top speed of 119mph. Slow but the new Defender doesn't care because going anywhere is what this new model's born for and it's not afraid to take on risky shortcuts in case of heavy traffic ahead.

Because this is the most technologically advanced Defender ever made, it features a wide array of features not only on the road but off the road as well, meaning this new model has all the eyes it needs to study the conditions carefully and use whatever means necessary to get through any path safely and confident. Those offroad tech and safety techs really put the new Defender a class apart from the competition.

So, what can I say about the new Defender? It may not look the same as the original but with all of the tech, the performance, the comfort, and the legendary Defender reputation carried over, this is by no means the greatest offroader at the turn of the decade and if you are willing to get your hands on one, do so now because the new Defender is worth the envy of anyone wishing they want to drive one someday. Why wait?

Photo: Jaguar Land Rover

Forza Horizon 4: Defend and Conquer

Forza Horizon 4 is one of the few games that pay tribute to Land Rover's 70th anniversary and this Defender, a descendant of legendary Land Rover offroaders in the past, is the icing in the cake that celebrates the best of Britain's legendary utility vehicle maker known for go-anywhere offroaders like this to their luxury offerings such as the Range Rover.



The Defender is Land Rover's legendary masterpiece that helped shaped the name into the offroad specialist we know today and for almost seventy years, this tough, go-anywhere legend keeps writing its own stories even when Land Rover stopped making one in the UK a few years ago. As a descendant of the first Land Rovers in history, the Defender is long remembered for its toughness, ruggedness, strength, and capability that can't be matched by other offroad legends.



It's an honor for the producers to make the Land Rover Defender one of the cover cars of Forza Horizon 4 apart from the downforce-hungry McLaren Senna hypercar because both these cars are role models of what made Britain great and as Britain is on the brink of exiting the European Union in the springtime, rest assured that the cars made by the Brits for the Brits will be long remembered by their neighbors and it's hard to miss these machines when Britain closed its doors to all of Europe because of the Brexit stuff.

As a matter of fact, that gives me an idea. Because Forza Horizon 4 pays tribute to Land Rover's 70th anniversary, I want to give the Defender a very special task to show that it's made to go "above and beyond."





Me and the Defender are taking on The Gauntlet, which is the longest Cross Country race in-game, and due to its length, it's difficult to film such a feat with the capture feature of my Xbox One because it is limited to 10 minutes to record it, so what I do is tune the Defender to the max so I can film its glory at ease, well sort of. Anyway, after numerous doublethink, it's time to roll the clip to see what the Defender is made for even if it's tweaked to the highest degree.



You know what? If they update the Xbox One to increase the recording limit by another five minutes, I wouldn't have to pause the game when the recording ends and then unpause it for part two. Still, despite video issues, the Defender accomplished The Gauntlet and we won. Just.



The Defender is one of the key offroaders in Land Rover's 70th-year history and its legendary offroad capability has been shared with numerous offerings such as the Discovery and the Range Rover. The Defender might be gone but its legacy lives on and rest assured, there's no substitute for the legend itself. That is the bottom line.

Goodbye, everybody!

Meet the 2,000,000th Defender made...in style

The 2,000,000th Land Rover Defender

Despite the end of the legendary Land Rover Defender is fast approaching, production of the offroader has reached 2,000,000 units from the Solihull plant in the United Kingdom and to commemorate the occasion, the 2,000,000th Defender is a bespoke one, in collaboration with numerous famed personalities including adventurer Bear Grylls.

It's set to debut at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed at the 25th to the 28th of June, 2015, and the 2,000,000th Defender is set to be auctioned at a prestigious charity auction house in New Bond Street, London, on the 16th of December, 2015, and proceeds will go to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Born Free Foundation.