Ford Expedition vs Land Rover Defender vs SLOPPY Winter Roads - Which BIG SUV is Best?

Put it to the floor and then it was like, oh, I'll send an invitation to the engine. So sight lines are excellent and it has that kind of commanding sort of position, right? Well, yeah, definitely way stronger than the Land Rover. I don't think that's surprising on the Land Rover's part. It's surprising on the Ford's part. It's a Ford Expedition that you're paying over $100,000 for. Hi, folks, and welcome into the Truck King YouTube channel. Today, we've got a battle between big three-row SUVs. That's the Ford Expedition Tremor and that is the Land Rover Defender 130. And right now, we're going to drive around in some sloppy conditions and find out which one is better. So make sure you stay tuned. Off the top, you might be asking, why are you comparing those? They're pretty different. Well, actually, they're not. When it comes to overall size, they're right there with each other. There's just a couple of inches difference. Now, what's funny is that the Defender has a shorter wheelbase, but it's longer overall, whereas the Expedition's got that longer wheelbase. Now, the other reason why they're close is price. Here in Canada, this Expedition Tremor is going to sell for $107,000, as you see in the video. This Land Rover, $116,000. So yes, over $100,000 for big luxury off-road focused three-row SUVs. And that's why I want to compare them. Now, let's dive into the details. Let's talk powertrains now. And these two are pretty similar. So this is the P400 powertrain in the Defender. That is an inline-six turbocharged engine mated to a mild hybrid setup. Total system output here is 395 horsepower and just over 400 pound-feet of torque sent through an eight-speed automatic transmission. And then over here in the Expedition Tremor, we're getting the high output version of the 3.5-liter EcoBoost. That's a twin-turbocharged V6. It's making 440 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque sent through a 10-speed automatic transmission. So yes, in this comparison, the Tremor definitely does have more power. It'll be interesting to feel how that actually gets down to the road. Let's go over the individual packages now. So this is the Expedition Tremor. Tremor is the off-road model in the lineup. First of all, you're getting unique looks. You're getting these painted pockets up here, a unique front end and grill. I like to see big exposed tow hooks down here, and those are painted that sort of orangey-yellow as well. Now, for functional upgrades, you are getting larger tires. That's a set of 33-inch General Grabber all-terrain tires, and they are lifting this thing up, so you're getting just over 10 inches of ground clearance. But still, the approach angle here is just okay, and it's not as good as it is over there on the Land Rover. Now, as we come down the side, a nice set of running boards, and they're finished in a bedliner material, so they're actually kind of grippy, which I like to see, and they should hold up off-road. Now, when we're talking towing and payload on this model, Expedition Tremor can tow up to 9,600 pounds, which is pretty decent. Now, let's check the payload. Right here, we have 1,360 pounds of payload, which is pretty good for a full-size SUV. And this, folks, is the Defender 130 P400 X-Dynamic SE. That is the technical name for this vehicle. And this one has a whole bunch of options on it, things like the Off-Road Ability Package and the Extra Duty Package. So yeah, with the Defender, there's so many different options you can add onto this thing. But this Defender we have here today is outfitted for off-roading. There isn't one package. There's multiple options that have been added here, but it's bringing along things like air suspension, all-terrain tires over there, which is nice, and an active torque split differential that should be able to send the power to where it needs to go. Our Defender here today also has a blackout package on it, so you're getting black badges and just everything body color black. And of course, you've probably already noticed, we do have a rooftop tent up there. That is not part of the package. That was just added by Land Rover Canada. They wanted us to get out and do some winter camping. Sadly, I just don't have any time this week to do it. Plus, it's really flipping cold. So for the purposes of this video, that's just going to be eye candy, that tent up there on top of our Defender. Now, talking about off-roading, there is a hook. It's kind of buried under the bumper here, but still nice to have that front tow hook. The problem is, this is all plastic up in here. If you were to hook a strap up to this, it feels like almost guaranteed it's going to be messing up your fascia up here, which I don't absolutely love. But still, nice to have a hook because, of course, some vehicles don't get any at all. Now, when it comes to ground clearance, at its regular height, you can already see this thing sits kind of low. But when you lift it fully up, you can actually get over 11 inches of ground clearance. And same goes for the approach angle. But when it's lifted all the way up, it's actually considerably better than the Expedition. So nice to have that air suspension as well. Now, let me take a look here at the payload and towing. So tow rating on this model can go up to 8,200 pounds. And the payload here is 1,157 pounds. So not as good as that Expedition over there. Let's take a look at the second and third row and all the storage. I like to start with the baby seat situation. And it's really good here in the Expedition. So we have lower latch on all three of these positions in the second row. We have three top tethers here. And in the third row, there's lower latch on the driver and passenger side and three top tethers back there. So that's sort of, you know, maximum flexibility for baby seats. The other thing I like sort of flexibility wise, is the fact that this middle seat is separate from the other two. So it can slide all on its own. You can also fold it down, you can then fold down the middle in the back, and then you can get a pass through right up through the middle of your Expedition if you're hauling long things. So I like to see that too. Now let me climb in. So on paper, this is well over 40 inches of second row legroom. And I mean, it's a ton. I stand at six foot two, and I got no problem legroom wise. In fact, I could even pull forward if someone was behind me to give them more space. So nice to have that flexibility as well. Headroom is just enough, but it is enough. If we didn't have the panoramic sunroof, it might be a bit better. But yeah, I'm comfortable back here. Now when it comes to amenities, I have full HVAC controls down here. I'm also getting a plug down below, which is appreciated. I got my own vent up here right in my face, which is always nice. And then Ford has moved away from putting screens in the second row of the Expedition, but they do give you a little charge port here. And then there's an available device holder you could get that would hold your phone or your tablet up here. So nice to have that as well. Now let's see what the third row is like. So to get back there, you hit the button here on the shoulder, and that seat pushes forward. So third row, let me actually see if I can get this to come back even further. Third row is listed at just 36 inches of legroom. But when this is all the way forward, it's listed at, again, over 40 inches. So yeah, you can see if that seat's all the way forward, I got tons of space. Now let me do this properly. Let's bring it all the way back. If I bring it all the way back, yeah, then I get a little bit squished. But then of course, this person could probably move forward. And considering this is all the way back, it's still not bad for a third row. Same with headroom. I got enough headroom. My hair is rubbing a little bit, but I do have enough headroom. So this is absolutely one of those third rows where I say a full-size adult will absolutely fit back here and be fairly comfortable. Now for amenities, again, I do have an HVAC vent up here in the roof right in my face. I always like to see that. I got my own cup holders. And then this is also power recline. So I can even recline a little bit too. And I can control that on these buttons over here. And USB-C ports, so power for the third row too. Yeah, this is quite a spacious third row. Now let's go see what the storage looks like in the back. And this is new for Expedition with the redesign. They've gone for this sort of split gate. So you get the upper and then the little lower tailgate. I'll tell you, the best part about this feature is just the fact that when you open it up, you don't have to worry about stuff rolling out, whether it's loose groceries or whatever. You always have that moment where you're trying to catch stuff that doesn't exist here because you have the tailgate. So I appreciate that. Now behind this third row, no, there isn't a ton of storage. This is one of those vehicles where you are kind of choosing between using the third row or getting max storage. But these are all powered seats. You can fold them down and then unlock massive storage space. And again, you get the flexibility in the back of folding down any of those three seats individually. Now for features back here, we do have 12 volts power, two USB-C ports, and a plug right there. Ford was really trying to make this a place where you might hang out and do some tailgating. So they give you lots of power. Another feature I like, these little spotlights up here in the hatch, you can actually aim them. So again, if you're hanging out back here, you can aim them more to the back, or if you want to light up what's inside, you can aim them in. So yeah, a couple of fun things that Ford did back here to make it a little easier just to tailgate with. So yeah, quite a big spacious SUV here in the Expedition. Let's go see how the Land Rover compares. Now let's look inside of this Defender. So we have the captain's chairs here with the baby seats. You're also getting lower latch on both captains, top tethers here, three top tethers across the back, and two lower latch positions in the back. So again, really good flexibility for the baby seats. I like that. Let me climb in. So interestingly, the first thing I noticed is that there's more headroom here. However, I had to duck lower to get in. You can just see the way the roof slopes down. So yes, ingress and egress, you got to watch out if you're a taller person. But then once you're in, the design of this vehicle just means I have loads of headroom. The legroom is fine. This is listed at just over 38 inches of second row legroom. It doesn't feel like quite as much as the Expedition, but still, for someone like me standing at 6'2", it's no problem. This seat does adjust forward and back quite a bit as well. So yeah, you do have lots of adjustability. And then for amenities, I do have full HVAC controls down here, two USB-C ports. I'm getting a vent down here in the cluster and some cup holders down there. So yeah, second row, pretty comparable, I'd say, to the Ford. But now we've got to take a look in the third. First of all, these seats do not move out of the way as much as they do in the Expedition. Well, yeah, legroom wise, it's not bad. This is listed at only 34 inches. And again, it has to do with where this seat is going to be. Let's do the same thing I did in the Expedition. Let's make sure this is all the way back. So all the way back, yeah, it's way tighter. Plus, I have this big hump over here. You can see it on this side, this big guy, which is absolutely killing where I'd like to put my feet. So my knees are in the middle. There's no chance that someone could sit in this middle seat right here because I have to turn so much over into it. Way tighter in the third row here. Headroom is great. I like that I have my own little sunroof back here. I appreciate some things. But yeah, legroom wise, there's just not nearly as much here in the Land Rover. Now for amenities, I do have a heated third row. That's pretty cool. USB-C ports and cup holders here as well. So yeah, decent features. The feature set is really comparable. But overall size wise, the Expedition is definitely bigger for the passengers. Let's go look at the cargo space. Now totally different approaches at the back end of these vehicles. The Defender still has the big swing gate here, which can be kind of annoying if you're trying to open it in a tight space. On the flip side, it does allow you to get right into your vehicle. And you can see storage behind this third row is really not very good. I'd say it's a little bit worse than it is in the Ford as well. And what's more, this vehicle, which is more expensive, all the seats are manual. So you know what, normally I wouldn't complain about that. But at this price point, yeah, I kind of expect those to be powered. And they are powered in the Ford. Now once you're folded down, yeah, you're getting a decent amount of space, but still not more space than the Expedition. Now for features, you do have a 12 volt over here. We are getting a plug right down there. So you are getting a bit of power at the back end of your Land Rover as well, which is nice. We can pop that up. You are getting some tools down in there. So a nice storage for some stuff. And then finally, the one neat feature the Land Rover has is over here, there's buttons to control the air suspension, specifically at the rear of the vehicle. And this is all about loading this thing up. So if I'm loading something heavy, I'm going to come and drop my rear end. And yeah, that's just a few inches you've dropped it down. So if you're picking something up, you don't have to lift it quite as high. And then of course, when you take off, it'll lift itself back up. I don't know exactly why you'd want to lift the back end up, but you know, use your imagination. One thing I do like about this O2 is also hooking up trailers, you can drop your back end down back under the trailer and then lift it and it lifts up significantly in the rear end. So yeah, nice to have those air suspension settings on some buttons and I'm just going to drop it one more time. It's also pretty quick. You know, as air suspension goes, that's a nice system. So there's one unique thing in the Land Rover. But overall, when it comes to storing stuff and people, the Expedition is a bit better. All right, folks, now we're going to do a little bit of slippery four-wheel drive testing. It's actually a little bit above freezing today, so things are thawing out, but we still found this snow-packed road, but it's kind of slushy today. And we're just going to see what happens when you try to take off at full power, how the four-wheel drive systems deal with it. So here in the Expedition, we've got it in four auto because it does have that auto setting and we have it in wet and slippery mode. So this is pretty much optimized for a road like this. So Dad, why don't you punch it and let's feel it. That was really good. You know, the thing you're always feeling for is, is there some tire slip? Does the vehicle pull one way or the other? And to me, that felt super controlled and confident, right? The thing that I'm always feeling for is, if it's uneven torque distribution, you're headed for the ditch. Right. And even with all the slip and everything else, it stayed pretty much dead straight without me having to correct much. Yeah, yeah, that was pretty decent. All right, we'll jump in the Land Rover and see what it does. Okie dokie. Now we're here in the Land Rover. We're going to do the exact same thing. Here you have full-time all-wheel drive, Land Rover calls it, and we've got it in grass, gravel, snow mode. And I'm actually going to shoot the screen so you guys can see what happens when we floor it here. But yeah, Dad, we're ready for you. Okay. Cool. So yeah, it felt equally as good, if not a hair better, from over here. And I'll tell you what I love to see, what I think is really cool, is you can see we have a locking dissenter diff and a locking rear diff. The second you took off, the diff's locked right away. Really? And that's what's so cool about Land Rover, is they've gotten to the point where they're giving the driver a little less control over that sort of stuff, but it's also automatically locking your diffs when it thinks you needed it. And right there, when you were pulling in a straight line, you absolutely needed it. And yeah, I feel like I felt the confidence from that. What do you think? I was very confident. Well, that's good news. That's what you want. It felt good. Now, there's one other trick that I want to try here in the Land Rover. So once you get backed up, Dad, we're going to throw it into low traction launch mode and see what that does for you. We go over to grass, gravel, snow. Let's see if it'll do it. Normally, it automatically asks you if you want low traction launch, but I already said no once, so there we go. Start low traction launch. All right, so you can read it there. And again, the whole idea here is you're launching on a low traction surface. You don't want to get squirrely at all. So let's feel the low traction launch. Ready? Here we go. Yeah, it cut power right at the beginning. That's really the key, right? It's just trying to roll that power off. It even says to over 30 kilometers an hour, it stops working. So it's just meant for that slow speed, really nice roll on of the power to kind of avoid any slippage at all, where the first time you might have had a little bit of slip there. Yeah, it just felt like it rolled it on nicer, which is, I guess, nice to have an extra setting. I don't know why you need an extra setting. It should probably just do that. I don't know. If it was really icy is probably where you would notice it the most because that's when you start going sideways. Yeah, fair enough. So yeah, the Land Rover in these kind of situations, it does have that kind of one extra setting. But in terms of the confidence, how the all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive systems worked, they both worked really well. And now we're going for a drive on road, folks. We're here in the Defender P400. Let's feel the power, Dad. All right, that's fine. It's laggy. Yeah, you felt pretty laggy off the line. Well, I put it to the floor and then it was like, oh, I'll send an invitation to the engine. So it is a mild hybrid, but that's it. It doesn't feel like a lot of the other hybrids we drive these days where you get that sort of electric push off the line. That did not really seem to be there at all. So yeah, that was my reaction is it's just fine, but not at all going to be overwhelming or not really a big selling feature is the wow, the power here, right? Absolutely. Of course, this kind of buyer, chances are they could care less about that. Yeah, that could be true. And of course, if you do want something more powerful, you can still get a V8 here. You can get the crazy Defender Octa. So there are more options for you if more power is a priority. So let's talk about the way this thing drives. And I think a hallmark of the Defender is the seating position. You're very tall. You're very kind of straight up. You feel like you're kind of sitting on top of the vehicle rather than down in the vehicle. I like that they have those kind of cutouts on the hood up there. They're supposed to be reminiscent of the old flat fenders. But the idea is that you can see very clearly where that hood drops off. It kind of slopes down. So sight lines are excellent. And it has that kind of commanding sort of position, right? That's really the whole point of this vehicle because it's going to spend way more time at the mall than it's ever going to be off road. And it's and it's Yeah, it's sight lines ability to park, it gives the driver that sense of get out of my way or I'll run over your face. And I don't know, man, these days, quite frankly, that seems to be with cells, not so much the mechanicals. Right? That is fair. Yeah, the off roading aside, people at least want that feeling of Oh, I got this tall commanding off road seating position. And like you said, I can look down and everybody at the at the mall. So then looking inside, again, Land Rover and most British brands have always been sort of luxury by subtraction. Rather than doing tons of stuff, they've always tried to do less make it a little more simple looking. And that's what the Defender definitely does, especially the way we have it today because this thing is just you know, all black, there's basically no colors inside of this model. But that's okay. I do think it does an okay job at the understated luxury. One thing that makes me personally a little crazy I'll complain about is down here, they do have these two main knobs for your HVAC. But this knob also controls your drive modes and the HVAC. This knob also controls the fan speeds plus your temperature. They're going for kind of less is more. But then you end up having two knobs that control multiple things. To me that it's actually gets a little bit confusing and convoluted. Same with the buttons on the steering wheel here in the Land Rover. There's too many dang buttons over there and contrast over here where they don't put a lot of buttons. So yeah, and maybe we've talked about this before. Every time I drive a Land Rover product, it always just feels different from everything else. And I'm not saying this as a positive or negative. This is very subjective. It depends who you are and what you like. But after we drive so many North American trucks and SUVs getting in here, it doesn't feel the same. So if you do want that experience about what I have isn't quite like everything else, this is a good product for that. They try to stay a little more analog than some of the vehicles today because they have a lot of buttons for different things. And yet, like you said, then they take a few things with the screens and just jam them in there. Good luck trying to find them at first. It takes a while. Yeah. So again, complicated or not, just different is the overall feeling of being in this Defender. And some people are probably going to love that and some people won't. And then finally, just utility wise, I do like how many spots there are to stash your stuff. You know, you've got this big shelf up here in front of me, even behind the touchscreen here, there's a little cubby down here in the side of this console. It's hollowed out. So you've got a big space there. Yeah. And every kind of spot you look, there is sort of somewhere to put stuff, which I always think is good. And then the one little nod to utility off-road ruggedness, all the exposed bolt heads, those don't have to be there, but they do look kind of cool. Yeah. And they try to stay true to their utility background, even though, frankly, this is a luxury vehicle. Right. A hundred percent. All right. Well, that's good in the Land Rover. Let's hop in the Expedition. Okay. Now Expedition time. Got it in sport mode. Hit it. Well, yeah, definitely way stronger than the Land Rover. Still some turbo lag. No doubt that it still kind of takes a beat before you really feel the power roll in. But once it rolls in, yeah, man, this thing definitely feels way quicker than the Defender does. It's true. And we were using the special modes. This is the get the kids to school mode fast. Extra fast. So, yeah, power wise, definitely going to lean towards this Expedition. Now, let's talk about, again, driving this thing. And I think the difference is very apparent and obvious right away, which is in stark contrast to the Land Rover, where you felt tall on top of the vehicle. This thing, you feel more down inside of it. And the big thing is not only is the hood long, but the dash, the way they have this new dash design, it's big. There's a lot of dashboard in front of me and then there's a lot of hood in front of me and the hood is a lot taller. It doesn't slope off as aggressively as the Land Rover. So the sight lines are still OK, but they're not quite as good. And you just don't have that sort of off road commanding seating position, right? Yeah, very true. And, you know, I understand you're comparing it because that's just what we drove today. But then, you know, I wonder, does anybody who's looking at this cross shop a Land Rover? It's a good question. And I think the argument there is the price, Dad. This is $107,000 Canadian. The Defender we have today is $116,000 Canadian. However, I should point out that that Land Rover base is $96,000 Canadian. Our Land Rover today has over $16,000 worth of options on it. So if it didn't have so many crazy options, the prices could be right there. And that's sort of the world we've gotten to where I don't think that's surprising on the Land Rover's part. It's surprising on the Ford's part. It's a Ford Expedition that you're paying over $100,000 for. So to your point now, if the money is the same, right? Apples to apples, which way do you lean? Because now it's no longer, oh, the luxury is way more expensive. It's not. So, yeah, which way do you lean, you know? And it's going to be personal preference, but you are correct that Land Rover seems more luxurious than this, and yet you're paying the same money. The way the prices keep going, there's less of a split between sort of non-luxury and traditional luxury brands than ever before. And with that in mind, too, let's zoom in on the interior because it is really nice in here. Again, it's not like you get in and go, oh, what is this crap? No, this is nice, man. Contrast stitching. We have the B&O audio system. I get this cool kind of hammered metal design in front of me, plus some other nice chrome accents. Obviously, the two screens set up. And yeah, if you just want to talk about screens and technology, you got a lot more screens here in the Ford than you do over there in the Land Rover, and for how long were we told that big screens were the hallmark of luxury, right? So, yeah, again, take the price out of it for a second. Just sitting inside, this is equally as luxurious, if not more so than the Defender, I'd say. It is because, frankly, that's its only job, despite the fact that you've got four-wheel drive high and low and lockers and modes. That's really just to get you out of trouble that you weren't expecting to get into. Sure. All right, whereas it's a people hauler. This is a people mover. This is you with your big family. It's road trip truck. It's cross-country. It's haul your boat to the lake. Sure. It has a very specific niche in motoring society. Right. And from that point of view, you know what? Ford is doing a real good job, and they're playing catch up because GM owns this market. However, Ford sees the value in it, particularly at that price point. And you know what? This is a really, really nice vehicle. For sure. And Ford is definitely trying to set themselves apart. Like you mentioned, General Motors has so much of the full-size SUV market that I think Ford felt like they had to do things differently. Hence the reason why you have this two-screen setup, the weird kind of oval steering wheel that they did, the split gate in the back. They did all these things just to be like, hey, we're not just like them, right? You're going to get some unique features. Well, Dad, we've come to the end of this one, and I think we can both agree that that Defender, it's definitely a good vehicle, and it's going to have people who are interested in it simply because it's a Land Rover, and that's okay. They've spent a lot of years building up that heritage, and they deserve those customers. However, if you're asking me which vehicle I'm going to spend my money on, it's going to be the Expedition Tremor. And not because of the off-road stuff or the four-wheel drive stuff, but honestly, because the second and third rows are just that much bigger, and these vehicles are all about hauling people. So I appreciate having that space. What do you think? I think that you've got three kids, and that's where your mind's going to go to, and I agree completely. I mean, that's what that thing's all about. Yeah. So that's it for this one, folks. Now, of course, we need to hear from you guys. So why don't you drop in the comments, let us know your thoughts. While you're down there, don't forget to hit like, hit subscribe, hit join to become a member, and hey, did you see my new hat? Yes, we got some new Truck King merch. So if you're interested, head down below, you'll find the links, and you can get yourself a nice new Truck King hat. And then make sure you come back to the channel and see what we're testing next. See ya. Adios.