Opinion: What a Defender owner thinks of the new Defender

The thing about getting a Defender owner’s view of the new version is that there are so many different types of old Defender. And owner. 

There are perhaps more than any other car: you’re as likely to see a Defender (or classic Series Land Rover) on a fashion model’s Instagram feed as you are when you want a tree chopped down, call out the Mountain Rescue or go car spotting in Knightsbridge. 

It’s one of those rare vehicles that looks at home in all places: at a shoot, opera, cattle auction, school, big house, small house, house on fire, house under fire, house under construction; you name it, you’ll see a Land Rover at it. 

New Land Rover Defender: icon reborn as tough upmarket 4x4

As a result, not all Defender owners are going to get a new version that suits them. Not when pickups are so rugged, cheap and reliable that they helped see off the old Defender in the first place. 

What’ll the rest of us want? I say ‘us’ because I’ve got a 2005 Defender 90. Like a lot of owners, I love it like a family pet. The new one should be just as desirable, just as capable off road and tow just as well, but about a thousand per cent better on road, much more economical, and much, much better built. 

But we’re not the priority. Do those things and it won’t just give old Defender owners something else to buy: it’ll give Discovery 3 and 4 owners and owners of myriad rival proper but uninteresting 4x4s somewhere to go, too.

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