Land Rover Defender running costs and reliability

Enlarge0videoEnlarge49photo

• Don’t expect any to be cheap to fuel
• The plug-in hybrid version is the most efficient version on paper
  
• Up-front servicing plans available
  

How much is it going to cost to run?

The Land Rover Defender 110, for the most part, isn’t going to be cheap to run. But choose wisely and you can at least choose one that’s not uneconomical, and then give it an up-front servicing plan to minimise your running costs.

MPG and CO2

Almost all of the regular engines are 3.0-litres, after the shortlived 2.0-litre four-cylinder models the Defender was launched with were dropped in late 2020. There are three diesels, developing 250 and 300hp, two petrols (400 and 525hp) and the 404hp plug-in hybrid (PHEV) named P400e.

The thriftiest of these non-electrified engines is the D250 diesel – Land Rover claims a 31.8mpg economy figure. In the real world we managed 29.3mpg when we tried it in the smaller 90, most of which was spent on the motorway.

The P400e is the most economical, even if you’re extremely unlikely to see the claimed 84.2mpg in real-world driving settings unless you keep the battery constantly charged up. Even so, during our time with the PHEV we managed around 44mpg – much more than the claimed figures of any of the ‘regular’ engines. Don’t charge the battery and this will drop to below 30mpg, though.

Even so, emissions are high for a plug-in hybrid at 79g/km. That still means company car tax bills far more palatable than any other Defender, but higher than the vast majority of other plug-in hybrids.

If you’re after something with more performance, the Defender P525 fills that slot handsomely. Seeing that it’s a V8, it’s no surprise that there’s a price to pay at the pump, with an official 19.1mpg and 334g/km of CO2 claimed for it.

If you want the economy figures for the entire Defender model range, have a look at our specs and dimensions page.

Servicing and maintenance

Land Rover offers a number of Service Plans, which are designed for cost-effective maintenance of new and approved-used vehicles up to 10 years old with fixed up-front payments. You can make a one-off payment or spread the cost with monthly payments.

Service plans are transferable between owners as long as the schedule is adhered to via Land Rover dealers.

Reliability

• The old Defender sets a low bar to improve upon
• Land Rover promises this one is much more reliable
• Based on interior quality, they could be right

This is a large, sophisticated 4×4 and the Land Rover Defender 110’s reliability will hopefully be better than existing models – especially in terms of overall dependability. Land Rover’s build quality has improved immeasurably in recent years, and the company continues to work hard in this respect – but the flashy new tech in this car might take time to bed in.

The company has some way to go in customer satisfaction surveys, not even making it into the top 20 of Fleet News’ FN50 reliability survey, though, even if generally Land Rover’s cars are seen as being robust.