2025 Land Rover Defender

Pros

• Great ability to go off-road.
• Customization can be done in a variety of different ways.
• Better safety measures and the ability to go off-road.
• An off-road SUV needs to have a smooth ride.

Cons 

• Prices for options could go up.
• The big back hatch door opens outward toward the curb.

How does the Defender’s engine work? To have strong off-road capabilities, you usually have to give up precise steering and on-road driving. But this is not the case. The Defender drives like a luxury SUV should, and the transmission changes gears so smoothly that you hardly feel them. The brakes are easy to use, which makes stopping in town a breeze.

The Defender 110 can go from 0 to 60 mph in 6.7 seconds, and the Defender 90 can do it in 6.2 seconds with the straight six engine. That’s fast for an SUV that’s meant to go off-road. You should expect more with 395 horsepower. The two-door 90 in our test fleet weighed a hefty 5,207 pounds, and the four-door 110 weighed 5,571 pounds. This shows that weight might be a problem.

How comfortable does the Defender feel? Even though it costs a lot, the Defender moves like a high-end Land Rover should. The car stays quiet and doesn’t feel any road vibrations when the optional 20-inch wheels and all-terrain tires are used. Our test car’s ride was a little rough over potholes and bumps in the road, but this was probably because it had bigger, heavier wheels (18-inch wheels are normal).

The driver’s seat can be modified extensively. There is no need for air cooling or heating. The climate control system can keep the room at a comfortable temperature, but you’ll need to lower the goal temperature and change the vents to get the airflow you want.

How is the interior? The Defender’s wide second row and tall roof make the interior feel very roomy. It’s important to note that the 110 and 90 both have the same number of passenger rooms. The head, leg, and hip room are all good, but the steering column might get in the way for some drivers as they jump in. The front center jump seat is not suggested because it is not useful and takes up a lot of space that could be used for storage.

The 110 is easy to get into because it has a height-adjustable air suspension, lots of grab bars, and big doors. The 90s, on the other hand, may be hard for most people to get into the back.

There are some settings inside that could be easier to get the hang of. For instance, the temperature control knobs can be used to change the driving mode and the seat’s level of warmth and airflow. Are they going to be touchscreen buttons instead? They would be much easier to understand and use. Huge windows and mirrors that are the right size let you see clearly outside, and the car is much quieter than we would expect from an off-road vehicle.

What’s wrong with the tech? The optional digital gauge cluster and the big entertainment tablet both look good and usually respond quickly to inputs. However, in our tests, the native voice command system was hit or miss. Using natural language to switch between stereo stations worked fine, but it couldn’t understand simple guidance requests. Luckily, popular features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto let you use the voice controls on your phone. There are also many ways to connect, such as multiple USB ports and wireless charging.

The surround-view camera system helps you drive by giving you a clear picture of any obstacles you may be approaching. This is helpful in parking lots and when driving off-road. Adaptive cruise control is also great because it makes changing the speed easy.

What’s going on with storage? The back seats of the four-door Defender can be moved up or down to make the most of its 34 cubic feet of storage room. Because the back seats are heavy, you may need to use some force to move them. If you pick the shorter 90, all of that changes. It’s annoying that you have to take out the bottom seat cushion in order to fold the back seats, which cuts the cargo room by more than half. If you need to haul something, don’t get the 90.

Lower the ride height in the storage area to make it easier to load big things into the back of your Defender with air suspension. The Defender’s door doesn’t lift like other SUVs’ do; it swings out toward the curb, which might make it hard for some people to get in. Having the extra tire on adds to the weight.

Inside the Defender, there is a center console with stacked storage and long shelves for the front seats. There are a lot of small storage spaces, but they need to be bigger to fit a medium-sized purse. In the 110, it’s easy to put a car seat because the second row is so big. In the 90s, on the other hand, it took a lot of work to find a seat close to the front pass-through. It’s easy to get to the attachment places once you’re back there, though.

When set to tow, the Defender can pull up to 8,200 pounds. However, to manage and adjust the brakes on a big trailer, it needs a trailer brake controller, which this one doesn’t have.

How much fuel does it use? The EPA says that the Defender will get between 16 and 20 mpg on average, based on how it is set up. That’s better than most SUVs made for off-roading, like the more expensive Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Lexus GX. However, during our real-life tests, we saw that the Defender uses a little more gas than the EPA says it does.

Why would you want to buy the Defender? The Defender starts at an affordable price of about $50,000. It’s worth paying more than a Toyota 4Runner or Jeep Wrangler because it can handle rough terrain and be smooth on the road when fully equipped. It costs less than the Toyota Land Cruiser even though it has more features.

Some miss-aligned body pieces and some noises inside the car were the bad things about our test vehicle. The materials on the inside, which were already worn, stained, and flawed, didn’t match the as-tested price of $72,000. The early build version of the car we looked at had clearly been through a lot of abuse, but that’s exactly what a Defender should be able to handle.

The Defender likes people with personalities, and this generation fully captures the famous Defender’s traits. The front looks a little soft, and the plastic parts on the hood that can be added to make it look like diamond-plated metal make a lot of people laugh. From most points of view, it looks good overall. It should have looked rougher.

The Defender is graceful and respectful whether it is on or off road. It has a lot of electronic control, but it’s more fun to use the different locks and low range by pressing buttons and pulling handles. But it’s hard to argue with how smooth the Defender’s way is.

We suggest the X trim because the Land Rover Defender is so good off-road that it needs a trim level that represents that. The 110 and 130 trim models are the only ones that have the best all-terrain features. The front seats are heated and cooled, the adaptable air suspension can be adjusted for height to give you more ground clearance and a more comfortable ride on the road, and the orange brake calipers add a stylish touch.

Different types of Land Rover Defender

The 2025 Land Rover Defender comes in three different body styles. The Defender 130 has three rows of seats and is longer than the Defender 90, which only has two doors. The Defender 110 has two rows of four doors. The Defender 130 Outbound doesn’t have a third row of seats, which makes it much bigger for carrying things. The Defender 110 can also come with an extra third row that can fit two people, but not with the front jump seat. On the other hand, the Defender 90 can have a front jump seat added.