Land Rover Defender 110 long-term test: report 2
The Land Rover Defender 110 has been around a while now, so is it still a great buy? We're living with one to find out...
The car Land Rover Defender 110 Sedona Edition Run by Will Nightingale, reviews editor
Why it's here To find out if the 'new' Defender is still a compelling choice five years after its launch
Needs to Combine a comfortable and relaxing drive with family-friendly convenience. Oh, and be great off road
Mileage 2867 List price £84,470 Target Price £82,477 Price as tested £96,033 Official economy 32.5mpg Test economy 29.7mpg
31 May 2025 – Should I expect better economy?
I’ve already racked up more than 2000 miles in my Land Rover Defender, with a mix of urban commuting, weekend trips to the country and even a family holiday to France. But whatever journey I make, the fuel economy never seems to top 30mpg. Sure, this is a big and heavy SUV, but it’s also a modern diesel with mild-hybrid technology.
Should I expect better? Well, the official efficiency of 32.5mpg would suggest not; very few cars match, let alone better, their quoted fuel economy in real-world driving. Then again, it is 2025 and an average of 27.7mpg is almost exactly the same as I got from a BMW X7 a couple of years ago. That’s an even bigger, more powerful SUV and, crucially, it was also a petrol.
The Defender’s brick-like silhouette doesn’t help, and neither does the oblong storage box (part of the £3883 Sedona Red Pack) hanging on the driver’s side haunch. Losing that, opting for smaller wheels (my Sedona Edition has whopping 22in rims) and going for the less powerful (D250) engine that’s available with other trim levels would perhaps eke out a couple more MPG, but we’re not talking about transformative differences.
Then again, anyone spending upwards of £62k (or the equivalent monthly repayments) on a new car probably won’t be bankrupted by mediocre fuel economy, and they will enjoy the Defender’s many other attributes. One of those is its air suspension – a £1615 extra that I’d now consider a must-have.
With its regular ‘steel’ suspension setup, the Defender wafts along smoothly enough on a long, straight piece of motorway but really doesn’t like being asked to go around corners. Don’t get me wrong: adding air suspension doesn’t exactly morph the Defender into a Porsche Cayenne, but it noticeably improves body control and reduces lean through corners, making country roads a more pleasant experience.
It improves ride comfort in some situations, too; bigger obstacles such as speed humps don’t cause such exaggerated body movements. And adding air suspension allows you to jack up the car for an extra 67mm of ground clearance and a 50mm greater wading depth – not that I’ve needed either yet.
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