As before, there is just one engine choice, but three different wheelbases and an array of body styles mean there are actually 27 different Defenders listed in Land Rover’s standard price list, costing from £18,655 for a basic short-wheelbase pick-up to £28,480 for a long-wheelbase XS station wagon. The version we’ve tested here is the abbreviated, 90in wheelbase station wagon, in top-spec XS trim and sporting a £26,220 price tag.
Outside, you can tell the new Defender from the old only by the raised bonnet line (not to give it a macho power bulge, but simply to clear the engine) and the sad deletion of the rectangular air vents beneath the windscreen. Inside, however, there is now a world of difference. The dash features new instruments very much in the Discovery style, while a new ventilation system brings fresh-air eyeball vents to the cockpit and crude-looking switches and dials to make them work.
As ever, hard black plastic is the predominant theme; no attempt at all has been made to gentrify the Defender. Moreover, the driving position remains appallingly cramped despite the fitment of new, more supportive seats. Elbow room is notable for its absence and leg room is right on the limit of comfortable.
In the back, where you’ll now find just two forward-pointing seats and which, perhaps uniquely, you can only access through the rear door, it is headroom that’s at a premium. Adults will be able to stretch their legs, but you sit perched so high above those in the front that taller occupants will find their head becoming unusually well acquainted with the headlining. The seat backs tip forward and the seats themselves can be easily folded into the side of the car to leave a vast boot, but they neither slide, tumble, recline nor come out. An MPV it ain’t.