After a hiatus from the American market spanning nearly 25 years, the Land Rover Defender made its triumphant return to the States in 2020 with its brand-new, bottom-up redesign. While it looks incredibly luxurious and at home in parking lot malls in posh neighborhoods, the new Defender is a real off-roader, with capabilities far beyond what the average American buyer will ever put it through.
The new Defender is nothing like the spartan Defender 90 which was sold in America previously and discontinued because it didn’t have airbags. The original defender was in the same category as vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler and the Hummer H1, a spartan off-roader often used in military applications. If you still want an honest-to-goodness trail rig, the numerous configurations of the Defender have you covered, including a model with just two doors, cloth seats, and a 296 horsepower twin turbo four-banger with an eight speed auto from $56,400 msrp or $68,400 with the 395 horsepower inline-6.
All Defenders have four wheel drive and locking differentials making each and every one a serious contender. An optional Explorer Pack has front and rear mudflaps, a raised air intake, a roof rack, and a side mounted gear carrier, for $3,900. An Off-Road pack includes All-Terrain tires for $1,550 and an Advanced Off-Road Pack has a host of electronic terrain response and progress control monitoring systems ($750). Air suspension runs $1,600 and can increase ride height up to 3 inches or decrease it by two inches.
Beyond actual crawler options, the Defender has a dizzying number of options which are better suited to driving to the mall and back. There are more wheel options than can be easily listed, including five 20 inch styles in silvers, grey gloss, and blacks, as well as 22 inch options; standard wheels are 19 inch silver or 18 inch gloss white. Black contrast roof, folding fabric roof, roof rails, A-Frame protection bar, fixed side steps, and body colored rear wheel cover are amongst exterior options, not to mention a host of color paint upgrades.
Interior options include camera rear view mirror, heads up display, wifi hotspot, air quality sensor and air purifier, three zone climate control, refrigerator, configurable cabin lighting, cold climate pack, and a host of potential seat packages including either fake or real leather and heated, cooled, or memory seats. If you select all the options, you are handily looking at a $100,000-plus vehicle. The vintage tan leather is stunning looking, a $3,200 option.
Beyond the two-door Defender 90, there are two larger defenders. The Defender 110 is a four door model, and the Defender 130 joined for the 2023 model year, with a stretched body that fits three rows of seats. The Defender 110 S starts at $60,600 MSRP with the 2.0L inline-4, up to $67,900 for the Defender 110 S with the 396 horsepower inline-6 or $72,000 for the SE.
The Defender 130 is the priciest model, starting at $69,100 msrp for the Defender 130 S, $77,100 for the inline 6, and $81,300 for the SE. Land Rover also offers an eight cylinder motor, which has 493 horsepower from a 5.0L setup; it is the priciest vehicle, however, at $116,600 msrp for the 130 V8, $111,500 for the 110 V8, and $108,200 for the Defender 90 V8. The Defender 110 V8 Carpathian Edition starts at $118,600 msrp and includes special edition matte paint. While there was never an infotainment system in the original Defender, its latest iteration fulfills all the desires of modern society and then some, even in its most basic forms; be careful with the options and you will have an exceptionally handsome and proper British SUV.
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