For a week I lived like a Snohomish County version of Queen Elizabeth at Sandringham, driving a borrowed Land Rover Defender at my Sky Valley estate, Mare’s Nest.
If only I’d had some Corgis and Labradors to hop in and ride along.
The Defender’s superlative off-road capability is indisputable. Capability is, after all, Land Rover’s stock-in-trade. But Defender is equally able to provide an unruffled ride in a sumptuous cabin during on-road driving. You can take it to any of Washington’s many great ORV parks to enjoy its go-anywhere magnetism, then enjoy the comfort of a jostle-free ride the rest of the time.
My 2024 Defender 110 S test vehicle has four-door configuration and an optional 3.0-liter, six-cylinder gasoline engine producing 395 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque. Its performance partner is an eight-speed automatic transmission.
EPA ratings are 17 mpg city, 20 mpg highway, and 18 mpg combined. Modest amounts, but not out of line for this vehicle type. Land Rover has all-electric power in the works, with Range Rover EV models taking reservations now.
Defender’s 15-model lineup offers a wide range of body styles, engine choices, seating capacities, and towing abilities. Pricing starts a bit above $58,000 and the highest sticker is $120,000-plus.
Standard features on my Defender 110 included an opening panoramic roof, wonderful for viewing the summer sky in east Snohomish County, where lots of stars are still visible at night.
Heated front seats with lumbar, a heated steering wheel, multizone climate control, and a rash of equipment helpful for safety, driver assistance, and off-road venturing were among the other desirables.
The list of optional equipment was long, increasing the tester’s base price by a hefty $11,728. It added several packages: for cold climate, advanced off-road technology, and suspension dynamics. The County Pack, a new item for the 2024 Defender 110, adorned the exterior with two-tone paint, unique wheels, and illuminated metal tread plates.
The Defender’s infotainment system, with Land Rover’s Pivi Pro interface, has a 10-inch touchscreen with eye-friendly graphics, quick responses, and a short learning curve. A Meridian sound system, SiriusXM, Bluetooth, Navigation, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are all on board.
I encountered just one snag in the Defender’s otherwise flawless interior. The gearshift lever is mounted on the center stack, which is between the center console and the dash. So far so good. To shift, you put your hand around the shifter and do a trigger-like maneuver to release the lever, then push or pull. So far, still good. The snag happens when the shifter doesn’t always travel seamlessly between Drive and Reverse. There’s an outside chance that operator error was involved.
2024 LAND ROVER DEFENDER 110 S
Base price, including destination charge: $69,375
Price as driven: $81,103
Mary Lowry is a member of the Motor Press Guild and a member and past president of the Northwest Automotive Press Association. She lives in Snohomish County. Vehicles are provided by automotive manufacturers as a one-week loan for evaluation purposes only. Manufacturers do not control content of the reviews.
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