Land Rover Defender X P400e review: Cutting edge
"There may be all manner of styling cues and design touches that point to the Land Rover archive, but be in no doubt that this hybrid-powered Defender is cutting edge under the skin" writes Attitude's Darren Styles
As a race, we like familiar things. Familiar is safe. This theory applies to monarchs, music and Marmite, to name but three, as well as a cuppa in times of crisis, and your favourite shirt, though it’s wearing at the collar. Even to BBC Newsreaders — the face and voice of the nation state in your living room. Nobody, but nobody, is convincing me that the world has been quite the same since John Humphrys retired. And there’s a reason we’ve all just lost our minds about the return of a band that did its best work three decades ago.
The same goes for cars, mostly. In urban areas, you can’t move for Minis or Fiat 500s; the Renault 5 is the new (old) kid on the block; and past or present, there isn’t a Volvo that couldn’t be drawn on an Etch A Sketch (ask your nan). Familiarity breeds content, if you will.
And few are more content currently than Land Rover, on account of the most recent iteration of the legendary Defender, which was reimagined around familiar cues five years ago and is now flourishing. With JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) sales up 22 per cent in the financial year to March 2024 at 431,733 cars, it was the Defender that was the brand’s bestseller with 114,646 units sold, a remarkable rise of 53 per cent year on year. And the heart of that reborn car is an outline, style and capability that echoes all the way back to 1948, when the first Land Rover was launched.
Sat on my drive, in the here and now, though, the 2024 incarnation of the Land Rover Defender has come dressed to impress Gen Z. A warm silver paintwork glows in half-light, while a gloss-black finish to the bonnet, roof, roof rails and brightwork adds aesthetic appeal when atop 22” alloy wheels. They call this trim level X, and it marks the spot.
Inside, a striking interior is a brilliant contrast to the exterior finish and, though enrobed in leather, everything else about the cockpit — from primary controls and switchgear to the exposed dashboard cross-member — is upscale utilitarian. It’s a clever mix of themes and materials, and it’s tactile, too. Think Fisher Price meets Tonka Toy (ask your mum).
Underbonnet, the P400e designation denotes this model is a PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), meaning — in layman’s terms — Land Rover’s own Ingenium four-cylinder, two-litre turbocharged petrol engine is supplemented by battery-powered electric motors. These are recharged by plugging in at home or on the public network as a fully electric vehicle would be, or (modestly) by regenerative braking on the move.
This best-of-both-worlds combination delivers, for all the car’s 2.6-tonne heft, a spritely leap from standstill, exceptionally smooth power delivery and — should you wish — more than 33 miles of range in pure EV mode. But better to let the car decide what it needs and when, the on-board tech matching power source, delivery and thereby economy, optimised according to need.
On road, the big-booted Defender drives as meatily as it looks. Steering is decently weighted; body roll well controlled and even with five-up a bit over 400bhp means progress is swift rather than stately. For all the nod-and-a-wink styling cues, this is no retro throwback but a thoroughly modern SUV in every regard.
And that’s maybe best demonstrated on the rough stuff, where Land Rover engineers will tell you this car — aided by all manner of engine and drivetrain management trickery — is simply the best-performing Land Rover off-roader ever. I’ve driven this Defender places you wouldn’t (nay couldn’t) walk or climb: wading through deep water, across liquid mud and loose shale, up ridiculous ascents and down slippery descents, all without ever coming close to disaster. The measure of control, in dire conditions, is genuinely astonishing. What’s not to like?
But then, as with pop music, the Land Rover Defender is designed for you to like it. To look at, to be in, to touch and in the manner of its deportment. It has presence, the ability to deal with any terrain and any weather: if the Swiss Army gave its name to cars rather than knives, this would surely be it. It’s just so bloody useful, every day.
And for all the technology and modernity coupled with a slavish adherence to the execution of a ‘tough luxury’ brief, the newest Defender is also, well, somehow familiar. And we rather like that.
Land Rover Defender X P400E
404bhp // 472lb/ft // 0-60mph in 5.4 secs // 195mph // Range 64G/KM //
From £91,750