More familiarity comes from the steering, which we would have to call vague in modern parlance – but it wouldn’t be a Defender without it.
Our short test starts with a drive through Farnham town centre. Power delivery is really well modulated via your right foot.
There’s an urgency to the acceleration that makes it easy to take advantage of gaps in traffic, but there’s none of the overwhelming torque from which many an EV suffers – you would not want to have to deal with that in an old Defender…
One-pedal driving is a boon, too, with well-judged regeneration: a Defender has never been so easy to drive in traffic.
It gets up to speed nicely out of town, and you’re left simply to steer and feel every bump delivered softly through your backside. There’s still charm in the way it handles: the essence of the Defender remains.
We venture onto some green lanes, and being an EV makes the Defender feel like the ideal off-road learner car. There are no drive modes either via hardware or software; instead, just your right foot controls the accelerator and brakes. You can’t tell motors are mounted in-wheel, either – not that there’s much grounds for comparison. The terrain is pretty tame, yes, yet the Defender just glides over everything in silence, saving you all of the heavy lifting.