When I bought my 110 two years ago (pangea green, solid white roof, 18" steelies) it sparked a lot of conversation around town and in the bush - mostly from other like-minded tourers, off-roaders or weekend warriors. Nowadays, in my area alone there must be 30+ 110's and a few 90's, but almost all are in black or Carpathian grey and.. driven by women!! 90% of these vehicles will never leave the pavement, unless it's on the beach near the holiday house.
After owning a black vehicle in the past, I simply don't understand why this is such a popular colour - unless of course you're a wannabe gangster, which in that case you should have bought a Velar.
So for a bit of senseless fun, (mostly for the men who post on this forum....) did you buy your defender for you.. or for your wife and if you bought it in black for the school run, then why didn't you just buy a BMW or Volvo instead?
I can appreciate that most of these owners are probably not on any forums, but I am curious - who else has noticed this trend?

ps: My wife drives a brand new Volvo XC60 recharge and the Bowers & Wilkins sound system is insane. She hates driving my car.

 

I live in somewhat upper middle class Toronto area, yes 60% of defenders are driven by women.

 

I originally told my wife I wanted one and when she saw it in person she said “mine”. The one I found was a white one and she fell in love with it so she kept it. I waited to get one and had a CE fall on my lap so I didn’t have a choice in color but I’m glad it’s not the black one. The wrap is a conversation starter for sure and I love the V8 engine.

 

Discoveries were women's vehicles here in the US. The Discovery II, which was imported in much greater numbers, was especially a woman's car and I still see more women driving them than men, but at this point I'm sure a lot of them have given up on them and more are being salvaged by men willing to endure the grief they cause. FWIW, I have a '98 Discovery 1. I bought it from a shop that took it off the hands of a man whose wife ordered him to sell it. The shop did the headgasket job before I came along. The original owner was a yuppie woman on the San Francisco Peninsula. I've given it a life more proper to its breeding.

 

My wife is on the opposite spectrum. She loved her 4Runners 03 V8 limited, 14 limited and now her GXs 2019/2023. The GXs at least around my parts are few and far between. Mixture of demographics for that vehicle... pretty even from what I've seen. The GX Blacklines I've seen including the one I owned were all males. The 4R.. there are a ton of them around here and mainly male drivers. I'd say a 5:1 ratio in that vehicle for my area.

As far as Defenders in my area.. very few and only 110s. Black... not seen any other color besides that. Again.. out of the three I've seen 1 male and 2 females. They all seem to have the option pack that has the big roof rack and boxes hanging off the side of the trucks. I think I'm safe to say the boxes are empty and the racks will never see any loads.

 

They are in all colors where I live - Pangea, fuji white, black, eiger (like mine), Tasman, and we are lucky to live right by a long barrier beach where many of them can go . 50% men/women I would guess but perhaps a few more men. The ability to go off road, in the dunes, then on the same day drive 3 hours on the highway to go skiing make the defender an extremely practical vehicle, even if most of the time it is mall crawling. the increased number of owners will allow for better reliability, improved factory upgrades and frankly made it possible to develop the car in the first place. Almost sounds as if the OP wished he bought a Grenadier?

 

my 2020 110 was Eiger gray. I had a black LR4 so didnt go with black. i now have a white 2023 110. I off road mine as much as i can get away. I haul stuff and use it. My favorite color for a truck or car is black. Always has been. i drove the black LR4 in AZ heat. Black is hot and doesnt stay clean but i still prefer it.

 

I see the 110's in the drive-thrus with women at the wheel and they have the little mud-flap option.

 

Maybe they are just guys with mullets? :-)

 

The Defender is mine and how I spec'd it (110 X-Dynamic HSE black on black, 5098 wheels in satin gray, all the creature comforts, and offroad packs). My wife drives it as well which is always a sight. It's driven on beaches, in snow, and a even few trails but nothing too crazy. We just don't have a lot of great overlanding here in New England (at least that I'm aware of). As for why black? I think it looks great in black and I've owned cars of many colors and always find my way back to black. It may get dirtly but you never get sick of it. “Any color the customer wants, as long as it's black.” Henry Ford (presumably)

As for why not a BMW, etc...I came from a BMW. I love them. But I fell in love with the Defender as soon as I test drove it. Great on road driving experience and everytime you get in it you feel like you could be going on an adventure (and if you do, the floors are rubber and it will certainly get you there and back). And, I recently had my first kid and I hope he asks to go on adventures.