#Defender

If you like yer British off-road weapon served with a size of boost, you’re in luck. Land Rover announced this morning they are stuffing a twin-turbo V8 up the nose of its blocky Defender.

This one is a weird one. It's a right-hand-drive, U.K.-spec 1990 Land Rover Defender 110 County Estate -- and the seller wants $90K.

You can get a nice, modern Defender for less.

It’s an open secret that most of us here are fans of the new Defender. Comfortable, capable, and shod with boxy good looks, the off-roader checks many boxes on our list – except one: Wrangler- or Bronco-style open-air wheeling.

A custom shop in The Netherlands has changed that with a new creation called the Valiance.

Automakers seem to love the idea of subbrands.

The most recent one to make this sort of shift -- Land Rover.

What I can't figure out is: Why?

We talked last week about how the Land Rover name will be retired and the models currently on sale, along with Jaguar, will become subbrands.

There are more than a few gearheads around here – on both sides of the keyboard – who never really grew out of assembling those little bricks from Denmark. Fortunately, the Lego crew recognized this ages ago and began cranking out scale models of popular vehicles. This time around, they’re tackling an instantly recognizable off-road rig.

When I was a wee lad, I loved the old Land Rover Defenders, though I didn't get as jazzed about them as I did, say, muscle cars. I wasn't walking around rattling off specs and stats like Timmy talking about the dinos in Jurassic Park, though I probably did that with some other cars.

Anyway, I perked up when I saw this one listed on our parent company's forum.

The last time I reviewed a Land Rover Defender, I commented on how I enjoyed its driving experience despite some very British electrical failings such as the radio going AWOL for half an hour.

I expected similar from the two-door version, and to my pleasant surprise, I got the good parts without any real gremlins or bugs.

If one simply must always take a septet of their closest mates with them into the countryside, they’ll be thrilled to know Land Rover has finally launched a long-promised three-row variant of the Defender. Called the 130, a number which no longer has much to do with its wheelbase, the veddy British truck features an extended body for greater interior space.

If you prefer to share your Land Rover with 7 of yer mates while on the way to a fox hunt, the British brand will soon have just the rig for you. Set to be called the Defender 130, it’ll stretch the existing SUV by more than a few inches to make room for extra passengers.

Like many folks, I was excited to hear that Land Rover was resurrecting the Defender nameplate. I grew up admiring the boxy go-anywhere Defenders of days gone by, and I was hoping Jaguar Land Rover could recreate that magic.

Imagine my consternation when instead the brand came up with an SUV that seemed to be quite the departure from the old-school Defender. Still, after seeing it up close at auto shows, I became cautiously optimistic about this modern-day interpretation of the Defender. After driving it, I came away mostly impressed – but the usual British reliability issues complicated things.

2021 Land Rover Defender owners, are you unhappy with your SUV’s finish? Heritage Customs will give you corroded parts with real rust.

A replica of the 1992 Land Rover Defender from the 2015 James Bond movie “Spectre,” has been created by Wilmington, North Carolina’s Osprey Custom Cars, specialists in restomodding classic Land Rover Defenders, Ford Broncos, and Toyota FJs. One of Osprey’s latest, the truck’s outward appearance is identical to that of the movie vehicle, but the similarities begin and end there.

Land Rover lit up my inbox this morning with more news about the reborn Defender. It seems there’s just always more to talk about with the new version of the iconic SUV.

The news for the 2021 model year is that there will be a three-door 90 model. Another piece of news is the X-Dynamic trim, which is meant to slot in between lower and upper trims. Jaguar Land Rover’s materials say the X-Dynamic is meant to have a “tough” exterior look and “unique” interior “fittings” but what does this corporate-speak really mean?

Imitation, as the saying goes, is the sincerest form of flattery, but Jaguar Land Rover’s been burned in the past, what with a certain Chinese automaker rolling out near carbon copies of its Range Rover Evoque crossover.

In the Defender lies far more heritage, but JLR just lost a bid to keep the visual rights to the boxy off-road beast in the UK, paving the way for British sales of a model that looks very similar to the much-loved previous-generation model.