Land Rover Defender and V8 Jeep Wrangler Go Rock-Crawling to Settle Dispute

If you think about it, the Defender has no business battling any other Wrangler either, regardless of the power gap. The two models are extremely different in nature and, some would say, even in purpose. The Jeep is a true off-roader, whereas the Brit is nothing more than a road-going vehicle that happens to do very well once the pavement ends.

At least that's what the Land Rover detractors would have you believe, pointing out the fact it has a unibody build, independent suspension, and no front or rear locking differentials in support of their claim. However, in doing so, they seem to ignore a few other aspects such as its best-in-class approach, departure, and break-over angles as well as water fording capabilities. As for the diffs, well, who needs them when you have Land Rover's Terrain Response system, arguably the industry's most capable off-road traction control system.

So, while this is by no means an apples-to-apples comparison, it's still going to be very interesting to see how closely matched they are (or aren't) in a real-world scenario where they tackle the rocky trails of the mountains in Colorado. Will the off-roader go where the pretender won't be able to, or will it take more to separate the two?

Considering the pair costs pretty much the same (actually the Wrangler dips its hand deeper in your pocket in this configuration), the Defender is the superior all-round choice. It'll take you over most of the obstacles you throw at it, and when it's done, it'll still offer vastly superior comfort and practicality on the road, which is where vehicles tend to spend most of their time and accumulate most of their miles.

With its locking diffs and, even more importantly, disconnecting sway bar, the Wrangler undoubtedly looks the more capable off-roader. At the same time, the air suspension in the Defender meant that the Land Rover cleared the razor-sharp rocks without any incident, whereas the Wrangler scraped off them on a few occasions. The skid plats took care of it, but it shows you just how versatile the new Defender is out of the box.

Most people who buy a Wrangler with the intent of taking it off-roading will add several mods to their vehicle (starting with a lift kit). Yet, with the 392 model costing more than $70,000, the majority will probably settle for one of the three lesser power options (the Pentastar V6, the four-cylinder turbo, or the V6 turbodiesel, with the 4e hybrid also available). You don't need a V8 out on the trails, though having one is never a bad thing either.

At the end of the day, picking a winner between these two is a matter of personal preference and needs. As we said, they're not two completely overlapped models from different manufacturers, so it's a question of which covers most of your needs. Click the video below to see how their rock-crawling session went.