Received my D110 back in June of last year, one of the first customer deliveries in the US (more on that later) and with 12 months and 15,000 miles under its belt, thought I'd post a 'long term' review over the last year living with this vehicle. For perspective, this is my 4th Rover, previously having 2 Discovery II's, and an LR3. Between the LR3 and the 110, had a 2017 BMW X5 for 4 years and current other car in the stable is a 2019 4Runner TRD Off Road. We live in Denver CO and the car spends Monday-Friday as my daily driver, commuting, driving clients around etc. On the weekends, we are always in the mountains and between high elevation and carrying backcountry gear, why I opted to order the P400 over the P300. I have not driven the P300 so can't comment on that engine.

Likes

• Tall greenhouse and driving position mean you can actually see outside and around the vehicle. This is a very basic concept that LR has always been good at, and one you really appreciate not only driving in a city but also on trail especially in narrow spots. The 4Runner can learn a thing or two here on sightlines and visibility.
• Highly useable interior: the vertical nature of the boxy design allows for really usable and efficient use of space. The LR3/LR4 I think were still the best in this category but very few modern vehicles come anywhere close to the usability of the interior and a huge reason why we chose the Defender over a new Land Cruiser. We also often camp in our car, and it sleeps very comfortably with good room to do so (I'm 6 feet tall, wife slightly shorter).
• Functional Interior: the minimal design and extensive storage shelves/cubbies is great for long road trips where you have more accessible items than you do on shorter drives like drinks, food, power cables etc.
• Driving dynamics: Incredibly good for what it is. I knew that a heavy, tall and boxy shaped vehicle on AT tires would never drive as sportily as the X5, but the combination of highway poise and power, along with the tight handling is very impressive. Drive a Wrangler, Land Cruiser or 4Runner back to back with the Defender and you won't think twice about which you'd prefer to be handling (leaving reliability out of the equation!)
• Off Road dynamics: The vehicle is incredibly capable and sized well for trail / weekend use. I have driven it extensively off road in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona including amongst others Mt. Antero road and South Colony, various Moab trails including Fins, and too many BLM trails to count. We don't seek out rock crawling, but instead often find ourselves in remote areas in pursuit of other activities in the backcountry. The wading depth and adjustable suspension are best in class and tremendously useful when the creek you're crossing or the rock you're going over feel a little higher than they looked!

Dislikes

• The decision of McGovern and LR more broadly to "lock down" the platform was incredibly stupid. One year in, the utter lack of aftermarket support and overall modifications have forever set back this generation of Defender from rivals such as Toyota, Jeep and now Ford. This is not to say the Defender needs much to enhance its functionality, but for a class of vehicle that was so iconic (my father had a '94 D90), not allowing owners to interact and customize their vehicle will forever erode the community around the Defender and more broadly limits Land Rover from having a foot in the pool of this customer base. I think this is a massive strategic mistake and limits the fanbase that will develop around the L663 Defender compared to the communities you see around the Wrangler, 4Runner and Bronco.
• Off Road Options: To that end, the lack of existing recovery points blows my mind. For the front, you have to remove the plastic cover or pay for a $700 part to expose the hook that is there. In the rear, you have screw-in eyelets which aren't meant for full recovery and need to install the PowerfulUK hooks to get this. Also, no stock trailer hitch receiver limits recovery from that part of the vehicle. Despite the whole LR marketing campaign around Namibia and this being the brand's most hard-core offering, the decision on recovery points is a simple indication that at the end of the day they are telling the customer "buy the Defender for off-road, just don't use it that way"
• Tailgate: Having owned 2 Disco IIs I am well used to the swing away opening. With the D110 and the relatively narrow opening of the cargo area and the sloping rear bumper which doesn't work well to sit on, this is one design area where I really notice the advantage of a lift-up style tailgate like the 4Runner. After a long day of backcountry skiing or climbing, you want to sit on your tailgate and have a beer, it's less optimal on the Defender with this design (I however do appreciate the spare being accessible)
• Terrain Response: Compared to the dials in the LR3/LR4, one of my biggest pet-peeves with the Defender is the need to go within various sub-menus on the screen to change settings including accessing low traction launch. When you're midway down a trail and have risky elements to the path you're on, having to divert attention away from the obstacle or position of the vehicle is frustrating
• Tire Pressure / Snow Traction: I do a lot of backcountry skiing, access from forest-service roads that aren't plowed and can be hard-packed, soft/deep and everything in between. I've twice had to use MaxTrax and once had to get pulled out from a friend after getting stuck, an experience I've never had in multiple seasons of driving the 4Runner in the same conditions. I at first blamed it on my Toyo AT3s, but the more I've driven it in all conditions I'm convinced the factory air pressure recommendations are absurdly over-inflated for 95% of use of the Defender. I understand with a payload as good as you see on the D110 why they recommend XL tires with nearly 50psi recommendations, but for both dry and snow-based trails, you have to substantially air-down to maximize traction
• As noted above I was one of the first deliveries in the US...and I knew years ago when I pre-ordered the Defender that eventually being the first run of a first generation platform for a notoriously unreliable brand was going to have risks. To that end, those items lived up to expectations, which a ton of minor assembly issues like the A-Pillar noise, the window seal vibrations, B & C pillar squeaks, and then various Pivi issues and also a very scary occurrence when on the highway with no cars around the vehicle triggered collision avoidance and automatically slammed the breaks. That was all in the first 6 months and to be fair, after fixes from the dealer and also software updates, the last 6 months have been great.

Summary
It is arguably the best vehicle for those looking for having a level of comfort/luxury on the 95 miles of highway to get you to the 5 miles of trail. The combination of handling, power, capability and visibility make it a very unique offering in the market and one that fits our lifestyle very well. It does come with a fussiness in how you have to access some of these programs and capabilities and Land Rover would be well suited to be more thoughtful of not over-complicating the needs for a vehicle meant for off road. As long as you own one knowing what it is and don't come in with expectations of what it isn't, it's a fantastic platform.

 

Great writeup & thanks for sharing.

Re: McGovern & LR not not supporting aftermarket - totally agree with how dumb that is.
Re: Terrain Response - I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought burying all this behind Pivi was stupid UX design
Re: Tire pressure - I've read that there is a setting buried in there that you can change the tire pressure to "Light Load" and can drop some of the pressure for better handling/off-roading. Many go that route. I left mine alone, but think I will now default to "Light Load". Some lawyer must have beat up the engineer.

 

I have a Jun 2020 build. The window squeaks are driving me crazy. Every single door. Car hits bumps - sounds like the entire door is moving. Appears to be the window gasket. I have put tape, reset it, nothing helps. What did the dealer do? A Pillar is still work in process. They claim there is no redesigned part - and want to keep trying the tape fix for the A Pillar. Two unsuccessful attempts.

 

Great review, thank you.

 

Excellent review. The new Defender is undoubtedly the most overpriced hyped SUV in its class. For $80,000 I would expect way more from JLR regarding all the cons you mentioned. And the biggest gripe I have is the total lack of off-road options AND ease of ability to accessorize. It's a Defender for crying out loud, it should be as easy to accessorize as a Jeep Wrangler and the new Bronco. They are very sharp looking vehicles in person. Top three in best looking SUV on the market hands down. But again, for $80k, no thanks. The reviews on this site alone speak volumes and I am glad I waited. (all of this garble is clearly my opinion and open for criticism).

 

@Hoosbest A Pillar fix was the re-taping of the interior felt strip, they did it twice and on the second time also replaced the exterior trim piece covering this, I don't have any pics unfortunately.
Window squeaks, which was worst on driver's, was fixed using the silicon seal that was first shown on YouTube.
Rear hatch squeak was part of the styro assembly under the cargo area that we trimmed slightly as the original cut of it was causing a lot of noise off pavement and that fixed it.

 

I really REALLY don't get this part of the complaint.

1 - It don't have to cost $80k, you can get one well equipped for about $60k.

B - A Rubicon Wrangler with some options will easily hit $60k and it still won't have all the features (granted many of them creature comforts) of the D, not to mention won't drive on-road as well as the D.

III - I don't really see the connection between the $80k price and OP's reasonable but relatively minor list of complaints. I mean, the accessory thing I get, but at the end of the day a modern JLR product was never going to match what is available for a Wrangler. I doubt the new Bronco is going to come close. It's like someone complaining there aren't enough accessories for his Ducati and comparing it to Harley and Indian respectively. Even Indian can't and won't come anywhere near the level of Harley's aftermarket support for a decade or two. That doesn't make the Ducati (JLR) overpriced. Most of the other OP's dislikes are nits.

 

In fairness to LR, the TR mode that was introduced on the LR3 17 years ago and used until recently on the LR4 and other models was revolutionary, but a far more crude version of what's on the Defender today. Just about the only "fine tuning" you could do on that one was turning traction control off and on. You can use today's TR the same way, set a terrain type - or AUTO - with a **** without ever touching the monitor (or just flip the transfer case from High to Low and raise your suspensions, which is really all you should need for 90% of the "challenging" off-road situations out there, unless you are a complete moron), but you can also customize it in a million different ways, which does indeed require fiddling with menus on the touchscreen and can get distracting. Too much control and fine tuning? That's definitely debatable, but it's a bit unfair to say "compared to my old Land Rover, this is way more complicated." It is, but doesn't really have to be unless you choose to mess around with the default settings. LR keeps pushing the envelope on off-road technology, and the others usually follow.

 

Killer photos!!!. I am in Perth, Australia but went to AZ and southern Utah almost every year for vacation because I just love that red rock country so much. Currently considering ordering a Defender 110 P300. Truth be told I'd rather the Bronco - I think they look way cooler than the Defender but they arent releasing them in Australia (sigh). So weighing up the high cost, boxy exterior and (possibly) low reliability of the Defender vs the awesome looking interior, off road capability and mod cons.

 

Nice review. I wouldn’t blame LR for the snow performance though since AT tires, even three peak rated, really aren’t all that great in snow. Lower pressure might help in soft snow, but it probably won’t help much on ice. Get some real snow tires if you want to avoid getting stuck again. The whole AT three peak thing is a bit of a marketing charade as they aren’t tested or rated on ice like real snow tires.