The critics sneered when the new Defender was unveiled back in 2020, but it’s been a runaway success, mainly thanks to masterful styling inside and out which brought an old classic bang up to date without ruining it. Its legendary off-road ability is still there, making it the best 4x4 on the market. Available with petrol, diesel and hybrid engines, and as a short 90 version or a 6/7/8-seat 130. Here, however, we’re testing the 110, the family SUV of choice.
Jaguar Land Rover really need to electrify but batteries mean yet more weight and inefficiency, so for now we’re left with a choice of big petrol or diesel engines in a big car while we wait for electrified Jaguar and electric Range Rover. There’s a lot of “planning to” and “aiming to” in their sustainability report. One recent success is a newly extended rooftop solar at their Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton which will generate almost 40 per cent of the site’s energy needs. Meanwhile, their global renewable energy usage remains at a low seven per cent and the level of recycled content is just eight per cent based on reported data. Earlier this year they completed scaled trials with Novelis using a new aluminium skin alloy that's up to 85 per cent recycled and up to 95 per cent more energy efficient to produce, for car doors.
Running costs for a Land Rover Defender 110
“Hats off to the company for the best design and marketing product ever”
Expensive badge (although cheaper than Discovery and Audi Q7), expensive to fuel, expensive to tax and insure, and then there’s the reliability (see below)…and yet the customers keep on coming. Despite the thirsty engines (get the diesel or plug-in hybrid for economy), the Defender remains incredibly popular among school-run mums, commuters, adventurers, families, farmers…everyone. Hats off to the company for the best design and marketing product ever.
Expert rating: 2/5
Reliability of a Land Rover Defender 110
“Land Rover does appallingly as a brand in reliability league tables, but the Defender is the most reliable of the family”
Land Rover does appallingly as a brand in reliability league tables, but the Defender is the most reliable of the family, so it gains back a star. That might be because it’s made in a different factory to most of the other models; whatever; if reliability tops your list, this is the Landy to go for. You get a three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty.
Expert rating: 3/5
Safety for a Land Rover Defender 110
“Come the winter, you’ll be laughing all the way to the ski slopes with the four-wheel drive and unrivalled traction”
Very high seat for panoramic views of the road ahead, beyond the hedgerows and, crucially, which small child is about to run out between parked cars. Come the winter, you’ll be laughing all the way to the ski slopes with the four-wheel drive and unrivalled traction, and the chunky tyres and long-legged suspension means it cruises over all the bloody potholes. You get a lot of safety kit as standard and with no bulging curves in its bodywork, it’s a clean view all round.
Expert rating: 5/5
How comfortable is the Land Rover Defender 110
“The sense of impregnability is why people flock back to this car time and again: it’s like driving your own castle into battle”
Acres of spaces for legs, heads and shoulders, little wind or road noise despite those big wheels, slab-faced bonnet and elephant ears for wing mirrors and a big boot to throw your stuff in. The sense of impregnability is why people flock back to this car time and again: it’s like driving your own castle into battle. The Defender always reminds me of Ozymandias: “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Expert rating: 5/5
Features of the Land Rover Defender 110
“The interior of the Defender remains possibly the best thought out in the market,”
The interior of the Defender remains possibly the best thought out in the market, with chunky buttons, technical fabrics and exposed screwheads to reflect its country prowess, and a touchscreen with digital illustrations that, although they’ve been around a few years, are still beautiful to behold, like the way the album you are playing via your phone fades away towards the outer edges of the screen, and the neutral colours for the home layout.
We love the wireless phone charging and connection, the shelf on the dash, the Meridian stereo with 10 speakers and subwoofer, and extras such as the parking camera view that makes your bonnet transparent so you can say if you’re inside the parking bay at the front – priceless.
Expert rating: 5/5
Power for a Land Rover Defender 110
“It should be obligatory for all owners to go on one of Land Rover’s off-road courses in the UK to see just what a fine piece of engineering they’ve bought”
There is nothing to match this car off-road and it should be obligatory for all owners to go on one of Land Rover’s off-road courses in the UK to see just what a fine piece of engineering they’ve bought. It can wade flowing rivers, climb rockfaces, scale muddy mountains, and do it all back down again, with your feet off the pedals while the car brakes each wheel individually. The fact that it can then stream up the M1 in silence and comfort is nothing short of magic. Just don’t expect to hustle it through corners.
We’d suggest the diesel for long-distance lovers and the plug-in hybrid for those willing to charge most nights and who do mostly local trips in the week, or those who get their car through salary sacrifice, for lower tax purposes.
Expert rating: 5/5
Still interested in buying a Land Rover Defender 110?
