The Land Rover Defender isn’t just for mud anymore. It never really was. But now the message is louder. Clearer.
Enter the Vertex.
Dressing Down
Land Rover gave the six-year-old SUV a facelift that screams urban sophistication. They call it the Defender Vertex. It slots right in below the X trim, but don’t let that fool you. It’s not stepping down. It’s stepping up in a different direction.
Look at the front. That grille is bigger. Bolder. Then there are the skirts and cladding. No longer black plastic chunks waiting to scrape. Now they match the paint. The body flows.
22-inch diamond-cut alloys are standard. Big ones. You can go with 20-inch if you want. There’s also a roof spoiler. Subtle. Or you can skip the whole Vertex package and just buy the optional Extender pack. Your call.
Mark Cameron, the brand director, says it adds a “new character.” He thinks people want an SUV for daily life. Not strictly off-roading. Honestly. Who isn’t thinking that way right now?
The price tag reflects this urban aspiration. £92,630 for the short-wheelbase 90. £97,000 for the 110. And over £100,000 for the extended 130. Expensive city cruiser.
More Seats, Less Bench
The interior changed too. Not just for the Vertex. The Defender 110 now has a six-seat option.
Three rows of two. Captain’s chairs in the middle row. These things actually recline. Thicker bolstering helps. The big middle seat? Gone. Removed. That deletes the uncomfortable middle option and opens up a luggage cubby between the seats. Leg room improves. Space logic applies.
The Octa Is Quiet Now
This is where it gets controversial.
The big supercharged V8. The legendary ‘AJ’ engine? Dead.
Goodbye to a piece of automotive history. It was venerable. It was loud. It was gone.
But wait. There’s still a V8. The Octa. It used the same BMW-made 4.4-liter twin-turbo as before. Only it’s weaker. Significantly so.
626 horsepower? Now you get 533.
Ninety-three horses vanished. Why? Euro 6e-bis. Emissions. JLR says the engine was reworked for stricter standards. Torque stayed the same. 553 lb-ft. So the pull is there. Just slower to start. 0 to 60 jumps from 3.8 seconds to 4.2. You’ll notice.
Do you hear the difference though? They promise a “truer V8 sound” from the reworked exhaust. Maybe. Probably less rasp. More precision.
A new option popped in. The P380. A 3.0-liter straight-six mild hybrid. 375 horsepower. 405 lb-ft of torque. Solid numbers. Not scary fast. Just competent.
The rest of the line? Diesel, plug-in hybrid, smaller petrols. All unchanged. Boring parts. Reliable.
So What Now
We lost the old supercharged king. We gained a prettier car that sits in traffic better.
Is it still the same beast? Underneath, maybe. But it wears a suit now. Polished leather shoes. The dirt is washed off.
You pay more. For style. For comfort. For that cleaner grille.
Does the silence of the dead V8 bother you? Or do you just drive to work?
The Vertex brings “a new character that expands the appeal”
It definitely does. Just not in the mud. 🚗
