Why are defenders so popular

All of which are indeed appealing, and seem like fine reasons to snap up a second vehicle. Or at least they would be, were it not for a little vehicle called… the Jeep Wrangler. The least-expensive Defender of yore you can find on Cars. And fixing up those Jeeps is all but guaranteed to be cheaper and easier alike than trying to wrangle parts for a three-decade-old British ride.

If you want a boxy, open-top off-roader from decades past, go pick up a Wrangler. Which is what you should be doing with it. Today's Best Deals. Jaguar Land Rover's classic vehicle is perhaps the most recognisable off-road car of them all. Motoring experts say it is great the classic shape lives on. Quentin Willson says the shape of the vehicle is "one of the most recognisable in the world". Related Topics. Belper Jaguar Land Rover Solihull.

So's the suspension it rides on. It shares principles with the Discovery's, but few parts. Almost everything is tougher. The Defender has air suspension as standard too you can have coil springs on lower spec 90s , which adds to the off-road ground clearance and helps with the mega wading ability of mm.

One in a hundred, one in a thousand, who knows? But once in a while, out of all the people buying Land Rover's vehicles, there will be someone who has the intention of using it to the max. For the other 99 or , not so.

The firm's entire success has been founded on making vehicles that are so capable they go well beyond the normal needs of the buyers. The Defender is the pinnacle of that. Who are the one in a thousand? A few adventure crews. Some deep-country folk of unusual prosperity. And, with the Commercial version, such noble entities as coastguards, electricity supply workers and rescue crews.

But the new Defender — particularly the — also exceeds as a family car with a deep and wide backstory. It just makes you feel adventurous. And when you do use its ability — as an off-roader, a snowy-roader, a towing roader — it'd feel immensely reassuring. It'll carry mountains of kit, and shrug off the dirt and wet. Those same qualities of versatility and ruggedness are equally handy even if you just take a bunch of unruly kids to school, the shops, the sports ground.

A problem with part of the front axle fracturing could lead to a front wheel becoming detached from vehicles built between 1 September and 5 July Affected vehicles will need to be inspected at a Land Rover dealer to determine what repairs are required. A bracket for the seatbelts could fracture on examples manufactured between 1 February and 31 January Find out from your Land Rover dealer if your car is affected by this, because new mounting brackets will need to be installed.

One or more of the flexible brake hoses that provide brake fluid to the braking system could chafe and potentially wear through completely on Defenders constructed between 24 October and 5 January The hoses of affected cars will need to be checked over by a technician, who will replace any damaged parts to prevent future issues. The Defender hasn't featured in our reliability surveys for years, but Land Rover came dead last in the most recent one, and it's fair to say that through the years the firm hasn't performed well.

If you would like to see the full reliability list, head to the What Car?