Land Rover Defender 2016 Review

Land Rover Defender Adventure Edition
Quick Spin

Land Rover is celebrating the end of Defender production with a run of limited production models including this Adventure Edition. Mechanically, it’s a 110 station wagon, which means it is powered by a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine, has a six-speed manual transmission and a heavy-duty four-wheel drive system. On top of that are some exterior add-ons, interior upgrades and an attention-getting price. Unsurprisingly, this is one for the true-believers.

My two younger daughters were involved in a car crash a few weeks ago which put them both in hospital. Neither had life threatening injuries thankfully, but one had to spend a few nights at a hospital in the centre of Melbourne where her back injury could be better treated.

It meant several days commuting back and forth to the city from our country home, the week the Land Rover Defender Adventure Edition happened to arrive for testing.

So rather than chug off into the bush to examine the Defender in its natural environment, it became our commuter bus to and from the city. Country roads to freeway, freeway to city roads and then city roads to multi-story car park.

But after three days of trying to use the Defender as a commuter enough was enough.

Come day four and it was left in the driveway and the family’s 2011 Mazda2 runabout was pressed into service. Never have I enjoyed light weight, light steering, a light clutch pedal, a modest turning circle and good visibility more than I did that day.

The Defender may be a lot of things, but a peak-hour commuter it is not.  When I see one in traffic now, I just wonder what the hell that owner was thinking to even contemplate it for such a role.

The reality is the Defender is great off-road, but rubbish on-road. For more on the former, read road test editor’s Matt Brogan’s 2015 report on a visit to wonderful Wonnongatta Station in the Victorian Highlands is a must-read.

That test was of a mechanically identical 110 (a reference to the wheelbase) station wagon, powered by the same 90kW and 360Nm 2.2-litre Ford-sourced turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine, working with a part-time four-wheel drive system via a six-speed manual gearbox.

The Adventure Edition is one of a couple of farewell versions of the Defender. Production of a vehicle that can trace its history back to 1948 finally ended in January 2016.

Priced at a chest pain-inducing $68,510, the Adventure Edition is all about the looks and the equipment. Included in that lot are a black roof, bonnet, tailgate, front grille, headlight surrounds and wheel-arches. Combined with a retina-searing orange paint job, gloss black alloys and Goodyear Wrangler rubber, this Landie looks like one Lara Croft might enjoy.

Then there’s the 7.0-inch LED headlights, added underbody protection, Windsor leather premium seats and trimming of the instrument binnacle and passenger fascia panel.

The Heritage logo also features in various places including the floor mats, mud flaps and aluminium badges on the font and the rear.

That gets added to air-conditioning, an alarm system, Alpine single CD audio with Bluetooth – not that I could ever connect it – and a full-size spare tyre that hangs off the side-opening rear door. There are anti-lock brakes and traction and stability control, but no airbags – repeat no airbags.

Which only helps make you feel as naked as Lady Godiva driving this thing around. It is so narrow and the doors so skinny the damage inflicted by a solid side-on hit doesn’t bear thinking about. Speaking of nudity and car crashes, a full frontal wouldn’t go down well either…

That’s not the only evidence of past standards having somehow made their way into the present. You’d have to go to an open-cut mine to find more bare metal than in the cabin of the Defender. And this might be the first car I have ever transported my children in that has manual external mirror adjustment and rear window winders. There are sliding windows in row three.

All that goes with an on-road driving experience that retreats back to when I was a child in the 1960s. There’s massive tyre roar, an ability to cut through wind with all the silent efficiency of a block of flats and a noisy, slow and vibey engine.

Saying its live axle suspension handles is over-stating the case. More wanders. Saying it rides is being generous. It reacts, it ponders, it debates a bump, but never quite reaches a conclusion. It steers with all the crispness of soggy cardboard and stops … eventually.

The seats are small, space is limited, storage underwhelming. There is no reach or rake adjustment for the steering wheel and no height adjustment for the driver’s seat. The pedal box is cramped and there is no possibility of heel-toeing during a manual change.

But you know what? Despite all those issues and dramas I couldn’t help but like this automotive throwback…

No just kidding.

I bloody hated this thing and the only time I was happy with it was when I handed the keys back.

Cue outrage and vehemence from Land Rover die-hards, who will no doubt point to the Defender's legendary off-road ability, dependability and repairability.

Of course they're right, but there are plenty of rugged, capable off-road SUVs out there and it's difficult to – ahem -- defend the Defender’s on-road driving qualities or fundamental safety shortfalls.

An all-new Defender arrives in 2018. I am looking forward to it. We all should be.

2016 Land Rover Defender Adventure pricing and specifications:
Price: $68,510 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Outputs: 90kW/360Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual transmission
Fuel: 11.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 295g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: N/A

Also consider:
Ford Everest (from $54,990)
Isuzu MU-X (from $40,500)
Toyota Fortuner (from $47,990)