Land Rover Defender 90 Review & Prices

Cabin practicality is good, and the rear seats are spacious once you’re in, but they’re hard to access and the boot is tiny

This might be the smallest Land Rover Defender in the range but you wouldn’t know it from the driver’s seat. It’s one of the most practical cabins of any car on sale today, with a wide dashboard that’s essentially one big shelf where you can put stuff. There’s also a big glovebox, massive storage bins in and under the centre console, and cupholders that can take a mega XL grande coffee from Starbucks.

You can even tick a box that fits a fridge beneath the armrest, or swap that area altogether for a ‘jump-seat’ in-between the front seats, which is a bit on the small side but it’s good fun for kids and turns this SUV into a six-seater.

The driving position is great, with plenty of adjustability so even taller drivers will have no trouble getting comfortable and shorter drivers still have a commanding view of the road ahead.

Space in the back seats

If you’re regularly carrying adults in the back of your Defender, get the 110 or 130 versions, as although the short wheelbase 90 actually has decent space in the back seats, getting in and out is a bit gymnastic. You need to fold the front seats forward and clamber into the back, which also means it’s not ideal if you have a child seat, though the ISOFIX mounting points are easy to find between the seat cushions once you’re in.

Navigate the tight entry and you’re rewarded with spacious rear seats. You get loads of headroom and legroom, and while the middle seat isn’t quite as comfortable, there is at least plenty of room for feet thanks to the fact that the floor is almost totally flat.

Boot space

The boot is accessed by a side-hinged rear door that opens impractically wide, so it’s useful that the reversing camera warns you when you’re too close to something to actually access it.

Once you do have the door open, you are greeted with a very small boot in the Land Rover Defender 90. With just 297 litres, it’s smaller than you’ll find in a typical city car such as the Vauxhall Corsa. It means you can just about get a small pram in there, or a weekly shop for a small family, but not much else. The way the rear seats recline into the space also makes it tricky to load larger items such as suitcases for a week away.

Need space? Everything else you might be considering will offer it. To start with, the bigger Defender 110 and 130 have 786 litres and 1,094 litres of boot space in their respective five-seat modes. The Mercedes GLS offers up to 894 litres and the BMW X7 has 650 litres, with both actually offering more space than a Defender 90 even in their seven-seat configurations.

At least there’s no load lip in the Defender 90, and there are solid tie-down points and hooks for bags, as well as a 12V socket. Fold the rear seats down and you get a bit more space, but there’s a big ridge between the boot and the seats so it’s impossible to slide items through.