Land Rover Defender 90

All Land Rovers are known for their minimalist but classy and expensive interior themes. Despite it being a lifestyle SUV, the Defender 90 is a supremely luxurious place to be in, with a host of new-age, tech-laden features welcoming one in its cabin.

The mid-spec variants of the Land Rover Defender 90 feature grained leather and robust woven textile seat facings, while the higher-spec variants get Windsor leather upholstery in multiple colour combinations. The overall cabin has a lot of rectangular influence for the full-TFT instrument console within a large housing, the centrally-stacked 10-inch Pivi Pro infotainment system, the panel for the multi-zone automatic climate control placed in a slanted panel, and the co-passenger side of the dashboard.

With features like premium ambient lighting, 14-way powered, heated, and ventilated front seats with memory functions, a 14-speaker Meridian sound system, a head-up display, and a panoramic sunroof, the Defender 90 justifies its premium positioning as a true luxury vehicle.

The Land Rover Defender 90 is one of the very few luxury SUVs in the world which offers a three-door layout. While the appearance of the three-door layout makes the Defender 90 look cool and unique, this layout can be a trouble for a few elderly people, who can find the ingress and egress in the rear row a bit of a challenge.

At the front, the Land Rover Defender 90 welcomes one with its macho-looking fascia, comprising of a vertically-aligned rectangular housing with two horizontal slats for the grille. The upper slat of the grille comes integrated with an offset Land Rover logo. Just like this fascia, the headlamps of the Defender 90 also are rectangular-shaped, with them offering all-LED illumination, including the crescent-shaped daytime running LEDs. The lower portion of the front profile is majorly covered by the T-shaped silver bumper garnish, featuring a mesh design all around.

The side profile of the Land Rover Defender 90 is the real talking point, as the SUV showcases its unique three-door design in all of its glory. The wraparound design for the window shoulder line and blacked-out pillars and rearview mirrors give the Defender 90 a floating-rood effect. While the base variant comes with 18-inch steel wheels (rare for a luxury SUV), the other variants get different designs for the alloy wheels.

At the back, the Land Rover Defender 90 has a squared theme for the design, with a rectangular windscreen, a huge spare wheel mounted on the tailgate, and vertically aligned LED tail lamps mounted on the sides. This overall design makes the Defender 90 look butch in its appearance.

The Land Rover Defender 90 is armed with the best mechanical hardware under the skin, which makes it a brilliant SUV to drive and be driven in all kinds of terrains. In its top-spec variant, the Defender 90 is equipped with electronic air suspension with adaptive dynamics, electronic active differential, terrain response 2 with configurable drive modes, and high ground clearance. Even the lower variants are decently equipped with terrain response 1, coil suspension, and a twin-speed transfer box.

In Malaysia, the Land Rover Defender 90 is being offered a choice of two powertrain options – a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine and a 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbocharged petrol hybrid engine. While the 2.0-litre engine makes 300 PS of power and can do 0-100 kmph in 8 seconds and a top speed of 191 kmph, the 3.0-litre petrol-hybrid engine produces 400 PS of power and can do 0-100 kmph in 6 seconds and a top speed of 208 kmph.

The long list of safety and driving assistance systems offered in the Land Rover Defender 90 includes a 3D surround camera, 360-degree parking aid, wade sensing, cruise control, lane keep assist, emergency braking, traffic sign recognition and adaptive speed limiter and blind spot assist pack.

The Land Rover Defender 90 might not be supremely practical as a family vehicle due to its niche three-door layout for an SUV. However, apart from that, the Defender 90 is a true Land Rover in all senses – it looks butch and premium at the same time, has supremely luxurious and well-appointed interiors, and flawless driving dynamics over all types of terrains.