SVX for the city

Difficult to visualize maybe, but late next year some Land Rover owners might be getting precious about soiling their new Defender 110s in the Australian bush. Blundstone will make way for Guccis and Driza-Bones for Armani as Defender customers trade workhorse for lifestyle.

The unlikely prospect will get under way in Spring next year, when the British 4WD icon celebrates its 60th anniversary and a new, limited edition SVX model is rolled out for consumption by Australian customers.

The Defender's origins are claimed to be traceable back to the original Land Rover, launched just after WWII in 1948 as a British answer to the American Jeep. In a world dominated by Japanese 4WDs the Land Rover may not have the universality it once enjoyed, but there's no questioning the charm of the square rigged and relatively simplistic Defender (and there is no questioning the basic Land Rover's citizen of the world status with close to 1.9 million sold since 1948).

In SVX form -- and only 36 examples are headed for Australia -- the seven-seat Defender is as flash as a rat with a gold tooth.

With metallic black paintwork complemented by satin black graphic decals, Recaro front seats, satellite navigation, alloy gear knob, and a proper doof-doof sound system complete with subwoofer as well as a USB socket and iPod cradle, the Defender 110 SVX -- slightly uncomfortably -- embraces some of the trappings of the 21st century.

Indicative of how the SVX is likely to be employed are the off-road no-no tubular side-steps, "diamond turned" five-spoke alloy wheels, aluminium front undershield, clear-lens headlights and LED tail lights.

It may still lack electronic stability control, independent air suspension, in-cabin DVD entertainment and heated, massaging seats, but the Land Rover Defender 110 SVX is a far cry from the bare-to-the-bone, short wheelbase post-war original.

The Land Rover Defender uses a new 2.4-litre four-cylinder 16-valve common rail turbodiesel engine producing a mere 96kW, but made effective by the production of 360Nm of torque peaking at just 2000rpm.

Two wheelbases are available for the live-axle, coil-sprung Defender: 2794mm on the 110 model and 3225mm on the workhorse 130 crew cab version. Standard transmission is a six-speed manual with the prerequisite two-speed transfer case.

Prices for the SVX were not available at the time of going to press, but a seven-seat Defender 110 is currently tagged at $50,990, suggesting a retail figure close to $60,000 for the limited-build anniversary model.

 » Get the best price on a new Land Rover Defender

To comment on this article click here