Back to reality
FOR Unlike any other family SUV out there. Which is what this is
AGAINST Options costs, running costs, economy
Back in issue 333, we drove the Land Rover Defender around Namibia. And we took it to a farm. And that was great, because we all want to imagine the new Defender yomping across deserts or having animal feed scattered out the back of it.
Time for a hit of reality, then. It won’t be doing adventure or agriculture. It’ll be doing the exact same posh school/holidays in Cornwall job as a Discovery, something its military-grade D7x chassis architecture isn’t going to have an issue coping with. But don’t think the Defender is the cheaper option.
There are two points I want to make over and above the 110’s £45,600 starting price: seats and power. You’re going to need seven seats because your kids’ friends will really, really want to come, and you’ll want the seats in leather, because you’ll need to wipe them down afterwards. The extra boot seats are £2,190, and leather, I stagger to tell you, is £6,450 (it comes with 14-way electric front seats and so on). So you’re up into the mid-fifties and you haven’t even thought about anything other than the base engine.
And here’s why you shouldn’t. The D200 diesel is the same engine with the same 317lb ft torque as this D240, but is six and a half grand less. We haven’t driven it yet, but it’ll be just as smooth and hushed, if not as brisk. Who cares? Not what a Defender is about.
Easy way to put this: your new rugged family SUV is likely to cost you £60,000 or £1,000 a month over three years. Still happy?
Good, you’re well on your way to getting what I suspect might be the very best all-purpose family car on sale today.
You know all those identikit German SUVs? It doesn’t matter what badge is on the front, they all do the exact same thing, and none is any fun to spend time with. The Defender is. The chunky cockpit is different – better – and you’ll be amazed by the tranquillity of its road manners. This is a calm, reassuring car to drive, no matter what the conditions. It’s not the plushest or most more alert and nimble, but on your standard rainy B-road there’s something infinitely secure about the new Defender. It takes everything in its stride: wheel-cracking potholes, bow waves of water, mud, grit, root-cracked tarmac. The same can’t be said for your regular sports SUV. The Defender is a hard reset for the class, a big friendly giant, a car that will quickly, contentedly become part of the family. It’ll make for happy travel, and it’s hard to put a price on that. Ollie Marriage