Maybe it’s my personal preference for minimalist four-wheel drive vehicles, but I’ve never quite figured out what Land Rover is doing with the Defender. Read the whole review at HeadlightNews.com.
The Defender makes up one of three “brand pillars” for Land Rover.
Legend has it, what became Land Rover was born in 1947 on a Welsh beach when Maurice Wilks, the chief engineer for Britain’s Rover Company, sketched out a rough silhouette in the sand. Today’s Defender is the most direct descendant of that SUV.
The last-generation Defender was yanked from the U.S. market in 1998 and pulled from production entirely in 2016. The new version shocked traditionalists when it debuted, adding some curve to the line’s traditionally slab-sided design. But you won’t confuse the 2021 Defender with the car-based crossovers that dominate the road today. It still harkens back to the basic theme Wilks sketched out nearly three-quarters of a century ago.
Now in its fifth year of production, the Land Rover Defender delivers excellent performance in a luxury package. Maybe it’s my personal preference for minimalist four-wheel drive vehicles, but I’ve never quite figured out what Land Rover is doing with the reborn Defender.
Overview
This was the concept version that helped bring Defender back into production after a long absence.
Land Rover has undergone a number of changes in recent years, breaking its line-up into three distinct pillars.
The quandary is that Land Rover has a great lineup of vehicles, especially under what it calls the Discovery brand, and then it has the very upscale Range Rover brand. The Defender falls into the third pillar. It used to be that the three Land Rover sub-brands were quite distinct. The Defender harked back to the original Land Rovers with steel floors, removable shell tops, and the kind of minimalist go-anywhere and then hose it out later ruggedness I like. The Discovery series and its predecessors were nice, but not as luxurious or expensive as the Range Rover.
But now every last one of these SUVs is a capable off-road machine, they’re all luxurious, and they overlap in pricing. You can get any entry-level Rover for $48,900 to $56,900 and the top prices go up to the range of $100,000. That makes it hard to categorize which Rover any given person might want. On the other hand, there’s a lovely menu to choose from when you consider the Land Rover brand as a whole.
Exterior
Land Rover plans to add a new version of Defender, the Octa set to get a new V8 with mild-hybrid technology.
The Defender is a little more rugged looking than other Land Rover products, and it sits a little higher off the ground.
Defender keeps to the two-box design and square corners of its past, but really it’s a completely different animal. For example, it used to be that a Defender’s model number corresponded to its wheelbase in inches. You can get the modern Defender in a theoretical 90-inch wheelbase two-door, putative 110-inch wheelbase four-door, or a longer 130 model, still with four doors. However, the actual wheelbases are a bit longer than the numbers indicate for the 90 and 110, and the 130 is the same wheelbase as the 110, not that it matters.
There is relatively little difference in the overall look of the different Defender packages, but for the variations in wheelbase, though that can be a significant factor to consider if you’re a serious off-roader. Depending on your package, you get as much as a38-degree approach angle, a departure angle of 40 degrees, and a 31% breakover angle.
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Interior
The Land Rover Defender 110 is offered in several body styles that provide seating for either six or eight.
Once you get inside, the Defender is every bit as luxurious as any other SUV on the market, including its Land Rover and Range Rover brethren, with the notation that it’s got a more Spartan look than the Range Rovers. Exposed rivets and a magnesium crossbeam on the instrument panel add to the sense of ruggedness.
But you still get lovely leather seats, heated and cooled, and a heated leather steering wheel. There’s a 10-inch touchscreen on the dash for your infotainment, a Meridian sound system, and all the tech you could possibly want. It’s a luxury SUV, not something you’d want to track Hippopotamus poop into.
The most significant difference between the Defender 130 and the Defender 110 is their size and seating capacity. The Defender 130 is the largest of the two, with an extended cabin, providing more interior space and seating for up to eight passengers in a 2+3+3 configuration.
Powertrain
Land Rover Defender 110 in winter driving.
Under the hood, the Rover products all use the same range of engines.
You can get the Defender 110 with Land Rover’s 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, the inline 6-cylinder with mild hybrid, or the 5.0-liter V8. I’ve driven all three and there’s plenty of engine power from each of these, but I think the 6-cylinder hits the sweet spot of power and fuel economy.
The Defender comes with an 8-speed automatic transmission with dual-range all-wheel drive, so you still have low range gears for serious off-road usage.
Safety and Technology
The Defender we tested had a standard safety and driver assistance package — nothing more than you get with any other brand at this price point, and less than many others. There’s all the required gear for this day and age, plus adaptive cruise and a 360-degree camera system, plus blind spot, rear cross traffic, and lane keeping assist. The Defender recognizes traffic signs and you can tell it to keep to the posted speed limit.
As mentioned, there’s nothing wrong with the infotainment. A 10-inch screen isn’t a newsmaker any more, but it’s all just fine.
Driving Impressions
The Land Rover Defender 110 was extremely comfortable driving on-road, supremely confident off-road.
On the road, the Defender 110 feels like a pretty big SUV, which it is. Our test rig had the Off-Road Pack and Air Suspension, so it was really not optimized for pavement. Those packages include off-road tires, but the Defender is perfectly civilized.
If you want to take corners faster, I recommend choosing a Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, or even one of the sister SUVs produced by Jaguar. But for around-town driving, the Defender is comfortable and easy to use.
If you need to tow, you get an impressive 8,201-pound tow rating when using a trailer with its own brakes.
Wrap Up
If considering the Land Rover Defender, there is one caveat to consider: while known for its off-road capabilities, it has a mixed reputation for reliability, with some owners reporting issues, while others praise its improvements in recent years.
The pricing on the Defender 110 starts at $72,000 for the X-Dynamic SE trim, which includes the hybrid 6-cylinder engine and most of the luxury appointments. That’s competitive with other European and premium brand SUVs.
There really are no bad choices with Land Rover – you just get to decide if you want the rugged or refined look in your driveway.
Paul A. Eisenstein contributed.
Wonderfully10 out OK 10