RE: Bowler Defender 110: Spotted
Tuesday 21st November 2017
When production of a vehicle surpasses two million units, it enters a new echelon of significance - think the Citroen 2CV, Ford Fiesta and VW Beetle - and among those greats sits a British legend, the Land Rover Defender. Over the years, Land Rover has tickled and tweaked its off-road icon to make it better on road and more capable off, but when it comes to improving the performance of the venerable 4x4, you have to look elsewhere.
Enter Bowler, the Derbyshire based tuners and augurs of the Defender's true potential. Well, sort of. See, they weren't merely out twist the thing into a flashy Chelsea tractor, quite the opposite in fact, and that meant rather a lot of alterations were necessary. Starting with the lesser known Tomcat, built using a Discovery chassis with Defender body parts, they soon moved on to the vehicle which put them on the map, the Wildcat. With a tubular space frame and Defender-esque fiberglass body panels, the Wildcat used a 5.0-litre V8 engine to reach 60mph in just 4.8 seconds, exactly what was required to compete in events such as the French Baja, British Hill Rally Championship and Dakar.
Beyond that the Bowler stays lean with lightweight motorsport wheels wrapped in all-terrain tyres, and the interior has been improved with SVX bucket seats, a perforated Alcantara headliner, Momo Alcantara steering wheel, and Bowler gear shifter and transfer lever. Lights were never the Defender's strong point either so the company has fitted Lazer ST4 lights to the roof and front bumper too.
Bowler Defender 110: Spotted
What could be better than buying a motoring icon? Buying one tweaked by a Dakar team, of course...
Today's Spotted hasn't required quite such drastic changes, but it does have that same Bowler DNA throughout. This Defender 110 has been fitted with the firm's fast road suspension package, which includes bespoke Bilstein dampers and springs, as well as stage one and stage two power upgrades. With a new hybrid turbo, race spec intercooler and a race exhaust system upping the power to 195hp and 380lb ft, the modifications drop the 0-60mph time significantly from 15.5 to 8.5 seconds - without compromising the Defender's off-road ability.
Now, a Defender with added motorsport heritage thrown in doesn't come cheap and, at £54,995, this isn't exactly what you would call a steal. But the upgrade package including the engine tune and exhaust costs £25,155 alone, and it's quite hard to find a 2014 110 for less than £25,000, so you aren't being taken for a ride either. Not one that won't put a massive smile on your face, at least.
SPECIFICATION - BOWLER DEFENDER 110
Engine: 2,198cc, four-cylinder turbo diesel
Transmission: six-speed manual, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 195@3,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 380@2,000rpm
MPG: 25.5
CO2: 295g/km
First registered: 2014
Recorded mileage: 29,000 miles
Price new: N/A
Yours for: £54,995
See the original advert here
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Discussion
Nice torque number this has. The figure for CO2 is not unreasonable, given the upgrade to performance. But particulates are the more lethal issue.
Would it make sense for a Defender like this to have a Rover / Buick V8 swap? (or, alternatively, something petrol Japanese?)
I'm not trying to be silly. I'm simply curious and asking a theoretical question.
unsprung said:
Nice torque number this has. The figure for CO2 is not unreasonable, given the upgrade to performance. But particulates are the more lethal issue.
Would it make sense for a Defender like this to have a Rover / Buick V8 swap? (or, alternatively, something petrol Japanese?)
I'm not trying to be silly. I'm simply curious and asking a theoretical question.
My preference would be a Cummins ISB. Can be specced to euro 6 standard if you like (although my preference would be on an older 5.9 p-pump euro 2/3ish, more durable engine). Can provide an ultra reliable 350ish bhp (and outrageous amounts of torque), or a slightly less reliable 1000+hp silly numbers if you buy some parts over from American tuning communities. You can pull them out of older DAF lorries & some other stuff here. Would it make sense for a Defender like this to have a Rover / Buick V8 swap? (or, alternatively, something petrol Japanese?)
I'm not trying to be silly. I'm simply curious and asking a theoretical question.
For petrol, the old buick V8s are pants (in my opinion), however people have been swapping Chevrolet small blocks into Defenders for donkeys, again 500hp reliably, or silly numbers with more money thrown at it.
Both options suit different tasks, for a road/towing truck I'd be going straight for the lorry engine with a ZF syncro box thrown in, for an offroad racer LS hands down.
Different pokes for different folks and all that. Defenders are a very modular platform, personally I'd be buying a clean one and building my own rather than paying Bowler for the pleasure.
I've owned a Bowler 90 now for exactly 2 years, same spec as this one Stage 2, purchased direct from Bowler, I've owned 911's M cars, Alpinas, Prodrive Subaru's etc, to put it into context, I'm not doing huge milage each year, I also have an RRS in the family, but, the Bowler has a huge amount of character, the torque is amazing, it keeps up with motorway traffic, huge smiles every day.. and best of all.... its not loosing shed loads of cash each year...
Sidney Smut said:
Driven many a Defender being an ex squaddie, have they done anything about the slow and sloppy steering?? If they have...then hell yes!!
300bhp will be on here to tell you the steering is ABSOLUTELY FINE and YOU ARE WRONG and the defenders you drove were ALL BROKEN because it's a perfectly good road car and only idiots don't think so 
Sidney Smut said:
Driven many a Defender being an ex squaddie, have they done anything about the slow and sloppy steering?? If they have...then hell yes!!
With a few tweaks and decent tyres they’re absolutely fine, obviously it’s never going to be an Elise but the steering can be a sensible ratio with no slack without much effort and feel like a modern car.What you can’t fix easily is the rubbish turning circle!
dme123 said:
300bhp will be on here to tell you the steering is ABSOLUTELY FINE and YOU ARE WRONG and the defenders you drove were ALL BROKEN because it's a perfectly good road car and only idiots don't think so
No he’s more likely to appear and tell you not to be stupid as it’s an off roader and if you want steering that isn’t 15 turns lock to lock with more slack than a wizard’s sleeve then you shouldn’t be driving a Defender!!!Recently had dealings with the owner of bowler motorsports more so a close employee of his.
He lives a seriously cool lifestyle and is a proper petrol head.
I say fair play to him if he can make such good figures on the cars he sells, and professional drivers also think the cars he makes are spectacular, they certainly rip chunks out of some posey overfinch.
He lives a seriously cool lifestyle and is a proper petrol head.
I say fair play to him if he can make such good figures on the cars he sells, and professional drivers also think the cars he makes are spectacular, they certainly rip chunks out of some posey overfinch.
Steering can be sped up with a fast ratio steering box.
http://www.bowlermotorsport.com/product/quick-rati...
Also.. make sure your ball joints are not worn out and the u-joints in the steering column can also wear. Cheap easy fixes.
http://www.bowlermotorsport.com/product/quick-rati...
Also.. make sure your ball joints are not worn out and the u-joints in the steering column can also wear. Cheap easy fixes.
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