Well it has been almost 60 years since the original Land Rover made its debut with that legacy of toughness, engineering excellence, unstoppable traversability and a spirit for adventure but for this millennium the New Defender offers a significant package of improvements.

While the upgrades to the interior are extensive, the most important changes are to the all-new drivetrain and as a result, the Defender delivers better performance both on the road and off the beaten track, as well as greater pulling power, substantially upgraded comfort levels, and much improved refinement.

Doing duty now is a new 2.4 litre common rail diesel engine that produces 90 kW and 360 Nm married to a 6-speed gearbox. But what if you want a bit more from your severely speed restricted Landy on the open road or perhaps even more grunt for serious off road work?

Enter Steves Auto Clinic with their ever popular and user friendly U-Connect device that sees the power and torque on your Single Cab Pick Up, Double Cab Pick Up, Hard Top, 90 Station Wagon or 110 Station Wagon increase by around 20%.

Now you will have the power to cruise at highway speeds all day long and then also be able to literally go anywhere off the beaten path with the extra torque.

The U-Connect unit is not to be confused with the mostly, overseas sourced and local condition non-specific, re-flash methods of tuning that most performance enthusiasts seem familiar with in which the OEM ECU code is simply generically re-written with a hand held programmer via the vehicle’s OBD port.

With the U-Connect, all the changes occur within this unit and are electrically communicated to your vehicle’s engine control system. No changes are made within the OEM computer, and thus all the engine safety parameters as set by the manufacturer remain in place.

The U-Connect unit comes as a complete stand-alone product, complete with a wiring harness that plugs directly into the OEM ECU via connectors that are perfectly matched to the factory connectors on your vehicle.

There is no dangerous or complicated cutting into of wires on your vehicles existing main wiring harness and there is also no room for errors by wiring the wrong wires together.

From start to finish, most installation times are less than five minutes (depending on the options you choose) and everything stays as is in your vehicle. No extended and inconvenient vehicle down time, no long hours spent on the dyna, and no stripping and modifying of parts.

As already mentioned, the U-Connect unit is completely removable, and this means that you can choose to remove the unit from your vehicle when you want to sell it or you can transfer it to another vehicle of the same model type should you upgrade your vehicles.

The basic U-Connect unit comes in the form of a unit that has only one performance option fitted and is non-switchable to other performance maps. But you can also opt for the more flexible multi-map unit, which includes a two-position option via which you can change between a standard map and the upgraded map, or you can configure that same unit to allow you to choose from up to five different map settings for your vehicle.

So now you can have an everyday traffic map, a map for towing, a map for open road performance but to name a few of the options that can be tailor made for whatever motoring requirement you might have.

At this stage, this technology and switching capability is via a neat and functional unit supplied with the U-Connect unit, but Bluetooth switching is currently being developed so that you can change the performance map on your car via your cell phone in the future.

Steves Auto Clinic are well aware that any motor manufacturer reserves the right to cancel your vehicles factory warranty and / or motorplan / service plan should you modify your vehicle, be it from mild to totally wild. But it is worth noting that this not only applies to tuning upgrades, a little known fact is that this scenario can extend to something as the simple fitting of aftermarket alloy wheels, to even sound system upgrades that are not authorised.

But in SAC’s 25 years as the country’s leading aftermarket performance enhancers and over the course of thousands and thousands of performance upgrades, history has shown that most manufacturer service outlets treat their clients with the same respect that their clients treat them, and this includes those that have had their vehicles responsibly upgraded.

For further peace of mind, SAC is the only aftermarket performance enhancing concern in South Africa to have a dedicated and stand-alone Research & Development Centre.

This centre is responsible for the development, via their own specifically purchased vehicles, and the subsequent comprehensive testing of these vehicles under local conditions, for all the performance upgrade packages as undertaken by the entire SAC Group of outlets situated countrywide.

So besides knowing that your vehicle is not being used a test mule to fine tune some companies claimed performance capabilities, you can be assured, no matter which SAC branch you take your vehicle to, the quality of the upgrade will be the same

So should you want to know more about this specific upgrade, contact a SAC Branch near you.