Land Rover Defender 90 2022 Long-Term Review

UPDATED 29/07/2022: As we’ve described below, living with the 2022 Land Rover Defender 90 requires you to overlook its flaws and instead bask in its unique qualities and core competencies.

And at its core is a vehicle that’s confidence-inspiring and, well, pretty fabulous in the right environment.

You’re always aware of its size and weight, but there’s an unbreakable and go-anywhere feel to the Defender 90 that urges you to take the road less travelled.

Sure, it’s a head-turning talking point in the city. Pretty easy to park too, for what is still a big and bulky vehicle.

But releasing the shackles with country runs and off-road excursions brings the not-so-little Landie into its own.

Land Rover’s 3.0-litre Ingenium six-cylinder twin-turbo diesel is a refined and relatively economical unit, even in lower-output D200 guise tested here.

Combining well with the smooth eight-speed automatic, the engine pulls strongly from low revs and doesn’t mind stretching to the upper reaches, although its best work is performed in the low and medium range where the turbos do their best work.

There’s a nose-heaviness to the 90 and a lack of steering feel that doesn’t warrant exploring its dynamic envelope when the road conditions tighten, even with plenty of traction afforded by the full-time four-wheel drive system and optional torque vectoring.

Rather, the wagon is better suited to relaxed open-road touring and the chance to shine on dirt, sand and mud.

Whether at a faster pace or negotiating obstacles at slower speeds, the Defender 90 always impresses in the way it deals with the task at hand.

Corrugated gravel roads, deeply rutted tracks, soft sand stretches, mud holes, steep banks, tidal crossings and boggy paddocks all fall easily within its remit, the Shorty never short on traction, clearance or ride comfort.

Drivers are handed an array of options when off-roading, from hill descent control and various drive modes (Mud-Ruts, Grass-Gravel, Sand, Rock Crawl, etc) to ‘low traction launch’, plus low-range gearing and rear diff lock engagement, all with useful guidance from cameras, sensors and detailed screen graphics.

That’s good for experienced and novice drivers alike, with the various systems proving effective and, importantly, simple to engage.

We never felt out of our depth in the two-door Defender, but where a couple of narrow trails proved impassable the manoeuvrability of the short-wheelbase Defender made the retreat easy to manage.

On this particular regional run of more than 600km, our Defender 90 returned 10.2L/100km, which isn’t bad considering the beachcombing and forest hiking involved, and some ‘farm work’ in the back paddocks.

Our biggest issue with the drive came with the folding fabric roof, which allows a lot of noise to enter the cabin. The Defender is a car for the great outdoors, but we’d prefer to do without the racket from wind and road that’s a constant travelling companion when you tick this option box.

UPDATED 31/05/2022: Land Rover enthusiasts love, and passionately defend, the British brand and it’s hard not to follow suit when you’re confronted with a unique model such as our 2022 Land Rover Defender 90 that bends all the rules.

Almost everywhere you turn, the Defender asks you to overlook obvious flaws and revel in its uniqueness and core competencies.

The new-age 90 looks like a toy next to a classic ‘Shorty’, but we adore the stunted rounded-edge half-brick design – and so did virtually everyone we came across when parked up, whether in the city or the sticks.

Our more utilitarian specification of Defender 90 brings with it a basic, minimalist feel to the cabin.

There’s no leather upholstery here, but soft cloth trim on the slightly narrow but undeniably comfortable front seats and other touch points such as door rests and the long grab handle that runs across the top of the dash.

Light and dark grey tones, varying plastic textures, bare metal and exposed screw heads set the mood, downplaying the high levels of tech presented up front with the crystal-clear and intuitive touch-screen display, well-chosen steering controls and semi-digital instrumentation.

The large centre console box that normally fills the space between the front seats has been extricated, leaving a flat and durable plastic tray down low that has shallow recess, can hold bottles and leaves a usefully wide (330mm) gap for leaning into the rear seat area.

Walk-through facility? For kids, maybe, but it’s more like clamber-thru…

Helping clear the way for open space between the seats is the high-mounted transmission lever on the dash, but its self-centring joystick control is a mixed blessing. It’s close to hand and light to move, but it’s also terribly easy to think you’ve shifted into D from a reversing manoeuvre when in fact you’re still in R.

That’s because the shifter will readily move but gears are only engaged when the button on the lever is pressed as well. It’s a gut-wrenching feeling when you floor the throttle and that horizon line moves further away, not closer, and fast…

The driver sits in a commanding position and is handed a mix of electric (backrest angle) and manual (everything else) adjustment, but the limited range of movement for the right-hand exterior mirror restricted our vision – showing more body and less road than we prefer – when the seat was set well back.

We were also disappointed with the flimsy manual seat height adjustment lever and the latch for tilt/sliding each front seat to gain access to the rear, neither of which we’re convinced will last for years with repeated use.

Happily, Land Rover now has a permanent five-year warranty to provide an extra layer of reassurance – and which is needed, given quality issues are still a factor with the brand.

Examples? Corrugated dirt roads, on which we travelled often, gave rise to an intrusive tinny noise from the dashboard of our Defender 90, which was eventually traced to ill-fitting plastic trim on the lower centre stack.

In the rear, the grab handle (and trim surrounding it) mounted high at the back of the thick B-pillar on the driver’s side also had unwanted flex when using it as intended.

In these high-positioned back stalls of our Land Rover Defender 90, it’s a basic affair with few amenities – a couple of map lights, handy sky lights and floor-mounted bottle holders, but no vents, USB plugs, seatback pockets, opening rear windows, etc.

Indeed, in stark contrast to the airy cockpit, it’s a pretty tight space in general across the back.

Access to and from the rear compartment is also complicated by the high step-in, relatively narrow openings and, when exiting solo, a long reach to the low-mounted door lever and a hefty shove of the big, heavy slab of door.

What’s more, only the front passenger’s door has a grab handle to assist with egress from the rear; its absence on the driver’s side simply smacks as another cost-cutting measure that reduces practicality and acts as a source of frustration.

If the Defender 90 is not really designed for family transport or long-distance touring for more than two occupants – the excellent 110 is available, and the longer-wheelbase eight-seater 130 is coming – then we’ll perhaps give Land Rover the benefit of the doubt with the shortcomings in the rear.

But we can’t for the life of us fathom how much compromise was allowed with its cargo space and the sheer lack of versatility that prevents the rear seat area from doubling as a practical load floor.

We like that the luggage floor and the rear seatbacks have a durable cover. The heavy backrests are split 60/40 for folding purposes, while a centre portion can open individually for a snowboard or similar to fit through.

There’s a 12V outlet, two LED lights, two tie-down points and a couple of shopping bag hooks, although the latter are positioned close to the tailgate.

The problem is the sheer lack of space in the cargo area and the fact that when you fold the rear seats they leave a ski ramp, not even a remotely flat floor.

Officially, the available cargo space is meagre 397 litres with the rear seats up, extending to 1563L with them bent forward. There’s just 400mm in floor length from the tailgate to the metal bar behind the seats. Maximum floor width is 1150mm at the load area, but this narrows to just 70mm near the rear opening.

As we discovered, there’s not enough space here to comfortably stow a tent, sleeping gear, food and other basics for an overnight camping trip for two people, let alone tackle a long-distance off-road tour for a week.

And of the gear you do end up deciding to take, you have to contend with items sliding down the folded rear seatbacks, always threatening to scratch plastic trim at the side of the cabin or banging against the tailgate.

It wasn’t a predicament we expected from what is still a large vehicle, from a luxury marque asking more than $100K for the privilege.

– Terry Martin

ORIGINAL REVIEW PUBLISHED 17/02/2022: The other question to ask right from the outset is whether the 2022 Land Rover Defender 90 deserves your investment and patience, for this is an expensive bit of gear and has long waiting times attached to it.

How expensive is it? Well, that depends on the depth of your pockets – and what is currently happening at both Land Rover headquarters in England and the Slovakian factory that produces the Defender 90 and the bigger 110.

The global pandemic has created havoc for Land Rover and many other brands, forcing changes in specification and model availability, restricting supply and often pushing up the price.

At the time of writing, list pricing for the Land Rover Defender 90 ranged from $80,540 to $215,480 plus on-road costs.

When prices were first announced, the MY21 Defender 90 opened at $71,500, but by the time it began arriving in Australia that entry point had scrabbled up a rocky incline to the tune of $3000 with MY22.

In some cases, there have been spec adjustments, in other cases not. Some owners have also since been asked to accept a downgraded version of the model they intended to purchase.

For our long-term test vehicle, we’re driving the MY22 Land Rover Defender 90 listed at $81,166 plus on-road costs with the new 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder twin-turbo diesel engine in entry-level D200 form.

However, the as-tested price is more than $10,000 higher than that – $92,228 plus ORCs – with a variety of cosmetic and harder-core extras fitted from Land Rover’s 20-page catalogue that currently has 13 pages devoted to options.

These include a folding fabric roof ($4810), the ClearSight digital rear-view mirror ($1274), a Leisure Activity Key ($910), tinted windows ($999), black roof rails ($940), matt black ‘90’ bonnet decal ($281), electronic rear differential with torque vectoring ($806), a tow hitch receiver ($1432), tow neck and ball ($372) and heavy-duty rubber mats ($338).

Those reassuringly thick rubber mats sit on top of the durable flooring in the cabin and cargo area that, combined with lots of sturdy plastic trim throughout, allows you to cart plenty of mud inside and theoretically enables a ‘hosing out’ that might’ve been standard practice for Defenders of yore.

But not anymore. There’s just too much other high-tech gear and other good stuff inside the new-age Defender that demands bucket and sponge to be favoured over a hose or, um, a high-pressure sprayer.

Before we cover the extensive safety and technology ground, here’s a sample of a few other notable features onboard: eight-way semi-powered front seats (albeit a weird combo of electric backrest angle, but manual fore-aft and height adjustment), multifunction steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and push-button start, 180W six-speaker sound system, footwell lights, illuminated vanity mirrors, walk-through ability to the back seats and 40/20/40-split folding rear seatbacks.

There’s also automatic LED headlights and tail-lights (the front lamps recently subject to availability from the factory), soft-close (but not powered) side-hinged tailgate, a perimeter alarm and cool 18-inch gloss-white steel wheels with Goodyear Wrangler A/T tyres (255/70R18) with, as you’d expect, a full-size spare wheel.

There’s heritage here that dates back to 1948, but the 2022 Land Rover Defender 90 reeks of modern-era engineering and design with its safety, infotainment and off-road technology.

The longer-wheelbase Defender 110 carries a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating based on the current tough testing criteria, so it stands to reason that the shorter 90 should perform well in the event of a crash.

There’s front, side and head-protecting airbags for the front occupants, with the curtain airbag extending to the second row. Child restraints are supported by ISOFIX hooks on the outboard seating positions.

Driver assist systems are extensive and elaborate, covering all the bases you’d expect.

That’s a ‘yes’ for advanced autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind spot and lane keep assist, front and rear traffic detection/vehicle guidance, clear exit monitor, adaptive cruise control, speed sign recognition, driver fatigue monitoring, tyre pressure indicators and, not least of all, a high-res 3D surround camera system affording a sharp 360-degree view and a ClearSight ground view that’s helpful in both urban and off-road situations.

Elsewhere, there’s tow hitch assist, an electric park brake and a raft of self-regulating ‘control’ devices covering general stability and traction, rollovers, cornering, towing etc.

We may as well lump hill launch assist, hill descent control and wade sensing into the electronic off-road suite that includes Land Rover’s Terrain Response drive modes (Mud-Ruts, Grass-Gravel-Snow, Sand, Rock Crawl, etc).

LR’s connected Pivi Pro infotainment unit – where you definitely don’t want to aim when hosing out the cabin – is accessed via a 10.0-inch touch-screen and supports over-the-air updates, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, DAB digital radio, satellite navigation and more.

Fronting the driver is a pair of traditional analogue speedo and tacho dials flanking a large central TFT digital display that shows trip computer details and a variety of other information.

The D200 tag on our 2022 Land Rover Defender 90 denotes this as the lower-output version of the new 3.0-litre Ingenium straight-six twin-turbo diesel engine that produces 147kW (200PS, hence the name) at 4000rpm and 500Nm of torque from 1250-2250rpm.

Such is the fluid nature of Land Rover’s Defender offerings in Australia that the D200 has already hit the sidelines, leaving the 183kW/570Nm D250 as the sole diesel listing in the range – for the time being at least (starting at $95,590 plus ORCs).

Aided by a mild-hybrid system and requiring the emissions-reducing AdBlue additive, the D200 offers an official combined-cycle fuel economy figure of 7.9L/100km, which isn’t bad for a hefty 4x4 off-roader that tips the scales at more than 2.3 tonnes. We’ll test those claims in future updates.

The engine combines with an eight-speed automatic transmission and permanent all-wheel drive system (with low-range transfer case). Quoted acceleration from 0-100km/h is an unremarkable 9.8 seconds, 80-120km/h takes 7.9sec and top speed is 175km/h.

Using monocoque construction and riding on a double-wishbone front/integral-link rear suspension with coil springs – not air suspension as found elsewhere on Defender – the D200 Shorty has a 225mm ground clearance and wading depth of up to 850mm.

The approach angle is 31 degrees, departure angle 37.9, ramp breakover 25 and the maximum ascent/descent gradient 45 degrees.

Electronic power-assisted rack and pinion steering delivers an 11.3m turning circle. Braking hardware includes 349/225mm front/rear discs when riding on the 18-inch wheels, while the towing capacity with trailer brakes is 3500kg. Maximum tow ball weight is 350kg.

The 90 has a truncated 2587mm wheelbase and measures 4583mm long (including spare wheel), 2105mm wide and 1974mm high. Luggage capacity is a paltry 397 litres with the rear seats up, extending to 1563L with them bent forward.

LR covers the vehicle with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and offers a service plan across that timeframe (up to 102,000km) costing $2650.

So that’s the basis for our long-term test of the 2022 Land Rover Defender 90 D200.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll provide updates covering a wide variety of bases. You can read our first impressions from the local launch review and our international drive.

However, there’s a lot more to this story.

It’s easy to be swayed by the Defender 90, revelling in its rugged charm. But living with it brings out all the character traits, good and bad.

How much does the 2022 Land Rover Defender 90 D200 cost?
Price: $81,166 (MY22, plus on-road costs)
Available: Check dealer stock
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel six-cylinder
Output: 147kW/500Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 207g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested