LAND ROVER DEFENDER

Would we recommend joining a very long queue for this 4x4? You betcha

- JIM HOLDER

FINAL REPORT

MILEAGE 4456

WHY WE RAN IT

To find out if the Defender’s breadth of appeal really does cover everything from disaster zone to congestion charge zone

There are few rational levels on which the Land Rover Defender 90 makes obvious sense – which is why I’m about to recommend you buy one, albeit with a few provisos and a caution that you will be joining the back of a very long queue.

That’s not to say it’s in any way a bad car; in fact, bar a few potentially cynically deliberate shortfalls, it’s extremely capable, remarkable as much for its breadth of abilities as the extremes of them.

It’s (almost) as good to drive on road as off it, comfortable even over long distances, practical and reasonably economical, just tipping 30mpg as an average at the end of our test. In all those regards, it hauls the shortcomings of its predecessor bang up to date. But therein lies the rub: it’s bang up to date yet a car everyone feels compelled to ask about.

And, frankly, who can blame them? As well as being out of step with the modern world in terms of its scale and unapologetic off-road bias, it is also irrationally expensive, has a boot that a Volkswagen Golf would smirk at, and rear seats that require a mountaineer’s mindset to climb in or out of. Most unforgivably of all, the rear seats don’t fold flat, alienating a core target market of owners who like to travel with their dogs in cages.