The Carwow team had what looks like illegal amounts of fun racing a new V8-powered Land Rover Defender (L663) against its older Chevy-swapped cousin and a vintage soft-top Def running all-electric on Tesla hardware. Trust us, “who won” has never sounded as irrelevant as this time around.
Let us review the combatants. First to the line is a new Defender V8 with five liters of displacement, 525 PS (518 hp / 386 kW) and 625 Nm (461 lb-ft) of torque. It is the most powerful of the trio, but also the heaviest at 2,471 kg (5,448 lbs).
The cloth top is an older Defender model with a Tesla powertrain, AWD, 500 PS (493 hp / 368 kW) and 675 Nm (498 lb-ft) of torque. Tipping the scales at 1,930 kilos (4,255 pounds), it isn’t light, but isn’t that heavy either by EV standards.
Rounding off the list is a classic Def with a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 heart transplant. This one exerts 436 PS (430 hp / 321 kW) and 475 Nm (350 lb-ft) of torque and weighs the least of the bunch at 1,860 kg (4,100 lbs).
Make sure to find time and watch the entire 16-minute video, which dozens of YouTube commenters have called ‘the most enjoyable in years’.