2024 Land Rover Defender

We all know how capable Land Rovers are - especially the Defender. Lately, and by lately, I mean the last ten to twenty years, Land Rover has gone from rugged to refined, without loosing sight of their off-road prowess. And the Defender is no exception.

The 2024 Land Rover Defender has all the telltale signs of very cable off-road capacities. The clues are abundant within the vehicle’s interior as well, not just while admiring it from afar. No, there are plenty of things for the passengers to be reminded just how rugged their life can be, if they only exited the freeway and took to the road less traveled. “Oh shit handles” for all aboard might come in handy, and the fact that the bolts on the doors are visible and rough add to the feeling that this car can take us anywhere.

Really Nice Interior

All this to say that Land Rover has managed to keep the Defender looking awesomely off-roady incorporating a serious level of luxury into the vehicle as well.  Even so, the Defender is probably the least luxurious of the Land Rovers - it is, after all, supposed to be the most rugged - but OMG it is still really nice.

 The defender is a very wide car - or truck, maybe we should say. This means that there is plenty of space up front in between the two seats, for all kinds of stuff. Furthermore, if you happen to have three kids - like I do - there’s plenty of space for them to be sitting three abreast in the backseat. My oldest, who usually sits in the middle seat back there, commented on how much space she suddenly had for her shoulders. Her youngest sister is still in a full size car seat so she’s used to having to lean to one side to get away from it. Here she seems to be sitting up straight.

Legroom is not often a problem for children, so I make sure to test the back seat after having set the driver’s seat to my requirements. And sure enough, there is a bunch of legroom back there even when a 6-foot tall person like me is in the driver’s seat.

Seats are comfortable throughout the vehicle. Our test Defender has heated seats, but not cooled - although I see the buttons for the cooling of seats, so it’s most probably an option you can go for if you live in a warm place.

The full-length sunroof  gives the interior a very open and airy feeling. It also opens, if you want to let in that fresh smog from the freeway, but I usually go with just opening the curtain so that we can see out - no need to burn my bald scalp.

Speaking of windows… There are those little classic Defender windows in the back that again really show the heritage of the Land Rover Defender. Love it!

Interior - Technology

The dashboard and instrument cluster is nicely laid out and you can customize it to show what you need it to show. Obviously there’s a lot of buttons and knobs having to do with off-road driving (that most owners probably won’t ever have a need for, but they look great), but then we also have the classic infotainment system as well.

There are USB outlets spread throughout the cabin - there’s also a cigarette lighter, not always standard in the newer, pricier vehicles, which I’m assuming is meant for aftermarket products having to do with off-grid driving. I don’t own any, but I assume they are still working on converting over to USB(-C) connections, and there are a lot of products that still need that legacy lighter outlet to work.

The Meridian sound-system is really nice, which is often the case with Land Rovers. There are speakers everywhere in this car - the interior of the front door actually has three of ‘em. Together they make for a great acoustic experience.

The top down and parking assist camera can be toggled on using a button, rather than being forced to throw the car into reverse to turn them on. This is a must for a car that’s meant to be driven off-road, so Land Rover has made sure that this technology is within easy reach. Nothing new for the Defender, but a really nice feature that works wonders while traversing rocky terrain but that is just as applicable when navigating tight parking lots.

Off-road

This being a Land Rover Defender it is a very capable vehicle off-road. When a Defender is taken off-road, it has a bit of a different meaning than the random SUV that gets driven up a dirt road to a cabin. We don’t test review vehicles off-road during our reviews but we do spend time on off-road tracks testing, among others, Land Rover vehicles. Let me tell ya, any time I’m tooling around in a Defender on trails where I might have a hard time walking, I am always so immensely impressed at the capabilities presented by this luxury hauler. With an interior so refined it is often surprising how rugged a ride this is.

Just playing around with the options and features gives a great indication as to how much technology there is available to assist you in traversing the most adverse terrain. You can lock axels in any which way, you can turn on a sensor to see how deep the water is that you are wading through, you can engage the low traction launch system if you find yourself needing a launch out of a pile of snow or mud, and you can easily find your vehicle’s dimensions within the infotainment screen should you ever need them. Obviously that’s just a short list, it’ll take days for a new owner of a Defender to learn all the cool toys suddenly available to them.

Exterior

The new Defender has a definite “Defender-look” to it - there’s no mistaking it for some other SUV, that’s for sure. In my mind this is a great thing - I love the Defender look and always have. It has come a long way from the more original-looking exterior designs (and I know some die-hard fans don’t like the newer look) but it seems that they have always been able to keep the design coherent and as they stray from the original they have also respectfully kept some of the design elements alive and well.

Obviously, the tire hanging off the rear is one awesome detail that I hope stays on the Defender forever.

Summary

If you’re a serious off-road driver but still want a lot of luxury and flare in your life - like a combo of rugged and refined - the Land Rover Defender is a definite contender. You’ll actually only need one car, rather than having a bunch of vehicles clog up your driveway just so you have something to drive to the hills.

A great combination of utility and luxury, the Land Rover Defender is still one of my favorite vehicles - it is a classic after all. The Defender will excel as your workhorse, your child transporter, your weekend excursion vehicle, and also your elegant ride in the Friday evening valet line.