So I just got back home from Iceland after spending a week there with the boss and another couple of friends of ours. We decided to do it right and rented a classic Defender from ISAK 4x4 so we could properly see the best of what Iceland has to offer. I'm putting this in the New Defender forum because all I know about the classic model is what I learned over the past week and I'm writing this from an L663 owner's (and H1 enthusiast/nutjob's) perspective. If this is an incorrect location for this post, mods please feel free to move it. I wrote this review of my rental once already in relation to my H1 - which it obvious shares a ton of character with - but I felt that its worth the mental agility to compare it to its successor as well - even though I know its been done ad nauseum infinitum - If you get upset about my opinions - or you think I'm an idiot, both are valid responses. This is after all the internet - the undisputed home of unwarranted and uninformed opinions and I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings. Believe me - I get it when someone says not-nice-things about your beloved inanimate object that you have an unhealthy obsession with *wipes leaking geared hub oil from corner of eye*. But before the whole "oh you're just not a REAL offroader" crew decides to chime in - I daily drive a 9100lbs, portal axled, triple locked turbo diesel that came with dual beadlocked 37's from the factory in the wilderness of Maine where I literally drive into the middle of forests, hook up dead moose to my D-rings and drag them out for hunters - so kindly frame your comments with that perspective in mind.



Caveat/Disclaimer: The Defender I got was a rental obviously. It had just over 200,000km on it - 200k of Iceland roads which aren't all paved and are about some of the worst wash-board pot-holed roads you can find. However this vehicle was very well maintained. The base for the rental fleet of Defenders was chock full of them and had lifts and a full mechanics shop. I'm guessing that these trucks are mechanically inspected/repaired very often. I realize that its not fair to compare and contrast my meticulously maintained L663 and H1 to this vehicle but thats what we're going to do because this is the internet and during the week I was constantly making comparisons in my head to Smurfette (L663) and Clifford (H1). We also got what appears to be a base model with power nothing. Manual windows/locks/mirrors, no A/C (its Iceland)... not sure if they offered the classic Defender with power options but if so, we didn't get that one. The tires were good condition BFG All Terrain T/A's. I was thoroughly disappointed that we didn't get a widdle wadder. I wanted a widdle wadder but alas...


Exterior comparison: Not much really to compare here between the two honestly. They are both handsome and good looking vehicles in their own way. From a fit and finish comparison the Classic Defender has much more in common with my H1 as far as riveted body panels and more agricultural components. I have to say that I'm not a fan of the recessed bumper that is flush with the body work. Especially combined with the tiny mirrors and my ****-poor eyesight - I could imagine backing into a tree, or fence post or mailbox or any number of things that should not be backed into - and not having a proud rear bumper is just asking for more expensive body work. I know some others like that look and it does look cool and gives you a killer departure angle but it seems to me to sacrifice the whole point of a bumper. To each his own. The back hatch was annoying since the door was heavy with the spare tire on it and didn't have any kind of way to keep it open. My wife and our female friend had a real hard time loading/unloading the cargo area if I was parked on a hill or it was windy out - which it was, often. The ladies loved posing on the diamond plate front fenders. Great spot for many a selfie on black sand beaches and waterfalls. Not much to say about the exterior other than it looked cool and it smashed a whole lot of bugs. Like, bug genocide.


Interior: Here's where the pain started. First of all, I'm a big guy. 6'6" and about 245 now. The seating position of the Defender is very limited. There was no vertical adjustment, only front and back and that was about it. Whereas I fit very comfortably in the L663 - with the only exception being that I cannot fully extend my left leg while driving. Getting in under the steering wheel while ducking under the roof was difficult - especially when it was raining and we were also trying to be fast to unlock the other doors for my friends (the wife can stay in the rain). My 5'7" wife hit her head pretty seriously on the door roof sill getting in the back on the last day. That earned me at least one "shut the f up" and "I'm fine" comment over the next hour or two. You married guys know what I'm talking about. Once I was in, the first big problem was the steering wheel in relation to my left leg. I had barely enough room to get my foot on the clutch to operate it - and even when I didn't have my foot on the clutch, I didn't have enough room to move my hand between the inside of my knee and the steering wheel, which made turning left especially difficult, combined with the absolutely abysmally placed turn signal stalk. More on that later. Seating position however was good from a visibility standpoint. I had a very good idea where the front corners of the vehicle were at all times - infinitely better than in the L663 where I very much rely on the camera system to tell me where that front bumper is. Seats were relatively comfortable although the longest I sat in them was about two hours at a time - I'd almost argue that the seats themselves were more comfortable than the overly firm L663 seats. I did not fit in the passenger seat even with it fully adjusted back. My knee hit the dash - worse than in a H1 doghouse situation and not even in the same world as the lap of luxury that the L663 passenger seat is (my wife calls me her passenger prince!). She insisted on driving a few times (still getting over the trauma of that experience) and one trip that took about an hour required that I hobble around with a dead leg for about 10 minutes afterwards to get circulation back.


The dash was great - except when I realized that it was (I believe) a 2015 model. Had to keep reminding myself that this was a modern JLR product. Comparing the dash to the L663 is like comparing a smartphone to a rotary dial - sure the ole girl has what you need, but that's about it. That being said there's something to admire about the simplicity of it - except the HVAC controls which I never did really learn to intuitively operate while underway. The stereo was ... pathetic. It had an aftermarket head unit in it but the speakers were trash - not sure if there was an option for a better unit. Again - not even close compared to the modern vehicle. The HVAC was atrocious - granted all we used it for was non-heating vent and defogging - but even those tasks it was terrible. I thought the H1 blower motor was horrible - the Defender's was worse - and it makes the same fun/annoying blower motor sounds that the H1 does! The defrosting/fogging function was wholly inadequate and while our unit had heated windshields, the leads to the wires were disconnected. Guess they don't let customers use those during the summer. NVH was inexcusable in a vehicle made after 2005 or so. I'd like to say I was joking but I'm not. While the diesel engine in the Defender was acceptably noisy, the tire noise was just bad and the wind noise was worse. Way worse. The interior creaked squeaked, popped and rattled all over the place - however I don't know how much of this was due to the Defender itself or the rough life it has lived in Iceland. I'm guessing a bit of the former and a lot of the latter given the abuse that Iceland puts vehicles through.


Drivetrain: oh my God. I really don't want to write this up because I feel like I'm being mean to ole Isaac (the name we gave the Defender). So the Defender was a diesel with a 6-speed manual. Cool right? Yeah .... maybe not. The engine had zero power, none.... below about 1500rpm. Only once you got to 2k rpm did it actually do anything. It didn't like to be rev'd past 3k and it actually sounded like it might toss a cylinder through the head at that point. It was relatively efficient however - and thats a good thing since it cost about $250 to fill up the tank (ouch). In comparison the P400 in my L663 is a work of art with adequate to exceptional power throughout the RPM range thanks to the turbo/sc combo. The problems really started with the 6 speed. I've driven manuals all of my life. My first Isuzu Trooper was a manual with a universally loathed clutch. My wife drove a manual every day of her life up until we got her new Defender last year. We know how to drive stick. Not even driving moving trucks have I come across a manual *this bad*. The clutch is binary - meaning that its on one moment then completely off the next. You really have to rev up the engine to get it to engage with any amount of smoothness and you have to be *exact* in its operation because - there's an angry donkey in the rear cargo area that will f***ing kick with full force if you're imprecise in the clutch engagement. Indeed it sounds and feels like you're dropping the clutch every time - even when you let it out smoothly and slowly. It felt like this was coming from the rear diff or maybe the t-case since this only happened when the tcase/center diff was unlocked - but since thats the mode you always drive in on the road - its what you got. Constantly. It was bad enough that it often woke up passengers who were snoozing (how you could fall asleep taking in the majesty of the Icelandic landscape is beyond me). Due to the narrow RPM power band, I spent a lot of time downshifting into the incorrect gear then scrambling to find the correct one - all with a donkey on speed kicking away at the rear. I'm sure that more familiarity with the truck would solve this uncertainty of gear selection alas... While the top speed in Iceland is limited to about 55mph - I found the power availability while passing to be adequate - but again, extremely short of the power available to the L663. The t-case controls were where I was jealous. I didn't have to stop in order to engage the center diff locker, just slide the lever over with the clutch depressed and boom. Low range was very low range indeed. In fact I wondered at some points whether the transmission was slipping while in 1st gear low crawling out of rivers. I'm a huge fan of manual t-case controls and wish the new Defender had that instead of the low range button and auto-locking center diff/t-case.


Handling/drivability: I could have taken all of the above as just "the way the Defender is" but the handling... oh hell... the handling was the worst driving vehicle driving experience I've ever had. Never mind the top-heavy nature of the vehicle (we didn't even have a "super Defender" on 35's) making traffic circle negotiation something of a religious experience - the steering on the truck was simply unacceptable for a vehicle made in (I think) 2015. Every little pothole or rut in the paved roads tried to pull the vehicle into the ditch or oncoming traffic. After driving it for as little as an hour - I'd be thoroughly exhausted and my delts/rhomboids would be sore from maintaining a straight course on the road. I have driven our new Defender for 16 hours straight (with food, fuel and potty breaks of course) and still felt like a human being but I think I'd rather sacrifice myself to an Icelandic volcano than drive the classic Defender for more than 2 hours at a time. The front solid axle, combined with the suspension made the ride absolutely terrible on the road. Couldn't take my eyes off the road to admire the beauty around me, or take a sip of water, or eat some stay-awake munchies lest I have a reaction akin to a stroke to correct the Defender back into the middle of the lane. That being said, once you left the road, all was forgiven. Even my wife noticed that once you left the pavement. the steering all of a sudden was amazing. Whereas in the new Defender, the on road handling and offroad handling - I feel - are pretty spectacular - the old Defender really only shined when there wasn't any pavement under it. This leads me to believe it might have been something with the tires.
The issue with my knee space relative to the steering wheel was the biggest issue I had. Comfort issues aside, it was impossible for me to manipulate the clutch/shifter, steer the car and use the turn signals all at once - which in Iceland you HAVE to do when using traffic circles - which are everywhere. The turn signal stalk is so far away from the steering wheel that even with my gorilla mitts I had to take my hand off the steering wheel to do that - and my knee was always right there in the way too - while my right hand was trying to downshift to keep the engine from stalling out while going around the traffic circle. It was an impossibly comical sh*t show watching me try to do this. As you come up to a traffic circle exit you have to use your signals to indicate whether or not you're using that exit - since on two-lane traffic circles, the inside lane car can just exit at any time it wants.... even if you're in the outside lane and you're in the way.

Offroad: So this is what we all really care about. Iceland's version of offroading (at least what we did) is similar to what I've come to believe most Europeans consider offroading (Watching the Grand Tour: Manage a-Trois pretty much confirmed this for me). To us in North America for the most part its just driving on gravel roads with some mild off camber/ditches thrown in. (Side note: if you go back and look at the Grenadier's pre-release marketing, they never, ever showed it on anything like Moab or the Rubicon trail, always muddy roads/fields and water fording.) This is of course with the exception of the river crossings. With that exception (and perhaps the black sand beach driving) everything we did while in Iceland could have been done by any 2wd vehicle with at least 8.5" of ground clearance - aka a Subaru. Maybe not even that. The river crossing video was for sure the most challenging "obstacle" we did the whole time and it was relatively easy from a technical driving perspective. After that, we drove on an absolutely stunning black sand beach that had the wreckage of boats on the shore. A surreal experience. The sand was very fine - and we were told by the rental company to not go on the sand but the guide (from the same rental company) said "F it we're going! Skol!". And then we got stuck. The guide's "Super Defender" with wider arctic tires did fine - but getting off the beach required I break out the shovel, and then a little pushing got ole Isaac rolling again. He just wanted to dig in when I needed to build speed. The clutch didn't help - when I needed to downshift to accelerate when the engine was bogged - the donkey kick just made the tires bite into the soft sand instead of rolling over it. Indeed to keep the tires from spinning in 1st low, I had to have the parking brake on. Over the washboard roads, it was more comfortable to go faster - at the expense of the whole truck sounding like it was coming apart. But thats how fast the guide was going - and everyone else. So that's what I did.

(still taken from video)

Conclusions: This was the *perfect* vehicle to experience Iceland in - (but a L663 would have been better). A rugged land of incredible, indescribable natural beauty seen through a classic rugged offroad vehicle. If you've never been there, I can't recommend it enough - its an overlander's dream where I'd wager that 25% of all of the vehicles outside the city had roof top tents, camper vans are everywhere and literally every vehicle has some kind of offroad capability. I saw at least 1 other classic Defender on the road every day with a mixture of Toyota Land Cruiser Prados, the new Land Cruiser 250's (seriously they were EVERYWHERE) and the new L663 Defenders which were as common there as the 4Runner is in America. That being said - our new L663 Defender could have done (and several of them did!) literally everything that the classic Defender did - and would have done it in 10000% more comfort and road manners. While I had illusions of buying a classic Defender to replace my winter "around town" FJ Cruiser that is rusting out and won't pass inspection - this trip has *thoroughly* cured me of that notion. I own and daily drive an H1 - and I'm telling you now that living with it on a day to day basis is infinitely more accommodating than the classic Defender - at least the one I drove for a week. Perfect rental car for what we used it for but I'll never consider buying one. After driving it for a week, Its abundantly clear to me why JLR discontinued it and came out with the L663 - it simply doesn't belong in the new JLR market anymore. It might have been the top of the food chain as far as features and capability in the 80's and 90's but in 2025 its a relic. A lovable relic for sure, but its appeal is purely emotional at this point. For this style of "offroading" - the new Defender does everything the classic Defender did but better and more comfortably. It doesn't beat you up so when you actually reach the hiking trail head - you don't feel like you've already climbed a mountain just keeping your vehicle on the road. I really did like the classic Defender for the purpose and situation we had it... a week long rental in one of the most picturesque beautiful places in the world. If you haven't gone - you should go.


(still taken from video)

I highly recommend the rental company we went with - ISAK 4x4 in Reykjavik - and also our Volcano Tours guide Tobbi who was simply awesome. Wish we could have hired him for more than just a day.

 

Your opening paragraph to this post is exceptional !

Pretty much agree with everything you say.

 

Copying & pasting my previous reply to you, with some additions:

Great write-up, Tad!

That's what I love about our L663s - they're still charming & characterful, and still have that go-anywhere, do anything attitude the old one has. Plus, in many ways, the new one, on paper, is more capable off-road. Is it the same? Hell no, absolutely not. Do I miss the purely analog, nature of the old one? Yes, a little - the old one you are very much in control of everything, and the new one, you select the appropriate Terrain Response setting, and its point & shoot. Both deserve a place in this world, but I still am convinced JLR's traction control and Terrain Response system is industry-leading. Whereas every automaker's traction control doesn't work until 5-6 mph, LR's starts working at 1/4 of a mile an hour. That's how they're so well-controlled, and since its debut in 2003 on the LR3, it has only gotten better & better.

Like I said when I messaged you earlier, I agree with you on just about everything. As much as I love old Defenders, I'll always prefer to drive and live with my L663, but I still would absolutely love to have an old NAS D90 as a fun car to drive around on summer weekends and occasionally take on a light/moderate trail.

Ideally, I'd have a Range Rover Classic over an old Defender - it still has all the utility of a Defender, without the cramped cabin and atrocious seating position while being significantly more refined.

 

I would echo everything you have said - people in the US tend to idolize the trucks they can't get - and so the first gen Defender and Landcruiser 70 series are held up as paragons of desirability. But they are both very hard to live with - as you note the Ur-Defender is cripplingly uncomfortable for anyone over 6' tall and 180 pounds, whether you are driving or a front or rear passenger. The engines are criminally underpowered compared to anything modern and the driving dynamics are rough.

So, if you live on a cattle station in western Queensland, a sheep station in Central Otago, an isolated community in Botswana, or work in a mine in a developing country and 80-90% of your miles are on dirt or mud then the Ur-Defender or LC70 might be a great choice for you. They'll certainly be easier to fix when they go wrong. Then again, a diesel HiLux is probably an even better choice which is why they are the vehicle of choice throughout Australia, NZ, Argentina, and Chile.

But if you are driving on roads at all - your back and your *** are going to hate you after 90 minutes in the old-school choice whereas I can drive 12 hours to Quebec in my L663 quite happily (with appropriate gas and pee breaks). As a geology undergrad and grad student I spent countless hours in various 109 series Land Rovers and Defenders and even in my twenties I could barely walk when we stopped for gas / diesel (which was often because they got 12-15 mpg and had a 12 gallon tank). I also driven across Europe in my friends' 110 and 90 Defenders and while they are improved over the agricultural series machines they are still far from modern. I also owned 2 different FJ40s in Colorado and have spent a bunch of time in 70 series in Australia and Chile. Now I'm in my sixties I can probably trace at least some of my arthritis, disk degeneration, and hearing loss to Solihull's finest.

I still love the older machines to look at - and if I lived on Nantucket or Marthas's Vineyard they would be a great beach and dump run vehicle. But for everyday life the L663 can do 90+% of what the old guard can and do it 100% more comfortably and safely.

But then again - I see people driving lifted Broncos and Wranglers on 37s and 39s to go to work every day. Those mud terrains sure help on I-95 each morning. So there's no accounting for taste.

 

Put me in the category of those who have never driven a Classic Defender but wants one, I should come back to this thread every time I think of getting one. However, I do wish I would have been able to keep/maintain my 1993 Range Rover Classic Long Wheel Base.

 

Thanks for the review A1C6 - it helps me pass the time while I impatiently wait for mine to be delivered!