Trust us when we say the Land Rover Defender tilts, leans, dips, and generally dislikes any amount of lateral acceleration. Slow, polite roundabout speeds are about all Her Majesty’s 4×4 is comfortable with. So it is with reservation that we’d recommend this lowered, fat-tired Defender that puts out nearly as much power as our long-term Jaguar F-type.
-What you’re looking at is the JE Zulu2 Super Defender, which tricks out the classic Landie with a 475-hp supercharged V-8, sport-tuned Koni shocks, AP Racing six-piston calipers, 13.8-inch front rotors, and a limited-slip differential. It’s the Defender SVR that Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations unit would build if it was called upon to engage battle against that other flying brick, the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG. A six-speed automatic and electric parking brake mark the finishing mechanical touches, all major upgrades from the Defender’s wobbly six-speed manual, crank handbrake, and 2.2-liter turbo-diesel four that sputters out a quarter of the Zulu2’s horsepower.
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The boys at JE MotorWorks in Coventry have been fortifying Defenders for the past 15 years (and Land Rovers in general for 25 more). Since 2008, they’ve transplanted 4.2-liter V-8s—the discontinued AJV8 from the Jaguar XK, tuned to as much as 500 horsepower—into various Zulus sold to nut jobs, at least one of whom tracked his on the Nürburgring. Not even the U.K.’s most recognizable Rover tuner, Overfinch, dares to take the Defender this far off the loony end.
-JE doesn’t have any performance specs, so we can’t say by how much a Zulu2 will surpass the stock Defender’s 90-mph top speed. The company seems not to want to goad buyers into exploring the vehicle’s full performance potential. “We’re not encouraging people to drive them really hard, because at the end of the day, it’s an inherently unstable vehicle,” David O’Connor, JE sales and marketing manager, told us. “We make it handle as fluidly as possible.”
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Inside, the Zulu2 can approach Rangie levels of fancy. Opulent leather thrones, two-tone leather on the doors, passenger-side dash, and center console, plus a microsuede headliner are all on the menu. JE is building only 25 and can use as a starting point any Defender model. Outside the U.K., prices start at £125,000 ($196,000). Unless you’ve got a Defender 90 from 1994, don’t plan on importing a Zulu2, or you risk seeing it destroyed by U.S. Customs.
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About that name. While the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 is on nobody’s mind, naming a British Army vehicle after a Southern African tribe whom the British slaughtered—and vice versa, leading to a disgraceful defeat for one rogue general—is not a positive historical connection. But if you can wash down the post-colonial guilt and need a stupid-fast 4×4 for your vacation home high in the Alps, the Zulu2 seems worthy.
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