MT GARAGE

ARRIVAL: 2021 Land Rover Defender P400 110 SE

EPA City/Hwy/Comb Fuel Econ

17/22/19 mpg

“Our new Land Rover Defender, last year’s SUV of the Year, is already in high demand.”
Christian Seabaugh

Base Price $64,050 As Tested $74,960

It’s just a fact of life: Some vehicles are in higher demand than others. That holds true in the broader market and also in our long-term fleet. I literally couldn’t give away my previous long-termer, the Mazda CX-30 (verdict forthcoming), to a fellow staffer in need of wheels. That won’t be the case with my newest one. Within days of its arrival, colleagues flooded me with requests to borrow it for road trips to Alaska, camping expeditions to national parks, and to “just put miles on it.” Welcome to the MotorTrend garage, 2021 Land Rover Defender P400 110 SE. It’s going to be a busy year for you.

This new Defender 110—our 2021 SUV of the Year—should be well outfitted for 12 months of commuting, road tripping, off-roading, exploring, and, well, “miles.” We requested a lightly optioned Defender 110 P300 base model, which features a 296-hp 2.0-liter twin-turbo I-4 and 19-inch steel wheels, but Land Rover reps politely told us we’d have to spec a slightly ritzier six-cylinder model instead. Twist our arms.

We kept with the spirit of the base model we requested for our Defender P400 110 SE build. Its fairly extensive list of standard features includes air suspension, 20-inch wheels, rain-sensing wipers, two-zone climate control, a digital instrument cluster, and a 10.0-inch infotainment system featuring Land Rover’s latest Pivi Pro operating system (with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility). Power comes courtesy of a 3.0-liter electrically supercharged and turbocharged I-6 producing 395 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque. It’s paired with an eight-speed automatic and four-wheel drive. The base price for our Defender 110 is $64,050.

Although it’s quite easy to go nuts on the Defender’s option sheet, we focused our attention on features that would improve its off-road capability. We started with the Off-Road package ($1,550), which adds auto-locking differentials, brake-based torque vectoring, all-terrain tires, and a 120-volt power outlet in the cargo area. Next we added the Advanced Off-Road Capability package ($750), which includes Land Rover’s latest off-road software, Terrain Response 2 and All Terrain Progress Control. Then we turned our attention to the exterior. We opted for Tasman Blue paint with a black-contrast roof ($710 and $1,000, respectively), the Explorer package ($4,900), which includes a snorkel, an expedition-ready roof rack, a side-mounted gear carrier, fender