The Heir Apparent

Can the all-new defender live up to the legend status of its predecessors?

- Tim Robson

If there’s a gene that predisposes a person to like the original Land Rover Defender, I’m afraid I don’t have it. I appreciate that people are sentimental about these things, but really, the previous Defender was – and still is – the worst car I’d ever reviewed on a public road.

The latest Defender – code-named L663 – thankfully comes from different stock, and is tasked with the hardest job of all; placating the cynical faithful while attracting an entirely new audience.

We’ve already sampled the Defender’s bush-bashing chops, so let’s concentrate on the terrain where most Aussie Defenders will spend their lives – on the tarmac.

Long-wheelbase 110 and short-wheelbase 90 variants will make up the Australian mix, with two diesels and one petrol engine across four grades. The D200 and D240 diesels are, however, already sold out for 2020, leaving just the Ingenium straight-six powered P400 – tested here – for now.

Retailing for $95,335 in its most basic S form, the 110 P400 takes the vaunted Ingenium 3.0-litre straight-six, combines it with an eight-speed automatic and delivers it on a heavily revised version of JLR’s D7x (the x is for extreme, naturally) platform.