Published:
19 April 2012There is now a world of difference inside. The dashboard features new instruments in the Land Rover Discovery style, and a new ventilation system brings fresh-air eyeball vents to the cockpit and crude-looking switches and dials to make them work.
As ever, hard black plastic is the predominant theme – no attempt at all has been made to gentrify the Land Rover Defender. Moreover, the driving position remains appallingly cramped despite the fitment of new, more supportive seats. Elbow space is notable for its absence and legroom is right on the limit of comfortable.
In the back, where you’ll now find just two forward-pointing seats that, perhaps uniquely, you can access only through the rear door, headroom is at a premium. Adults will be able to stretch their legs, but you sit perched so high above those in the front that taller occupants will find their head becoming unusually well acquainted with the headlining. The seat backs tip forward and the seats themselves can be folded easily into the side of the car to leave a vast boot, but they don’t slide, tumble, recline or come out. An MPV it ain’t.
The lack of a rear bulkhead in this 90 means that the seats (which seem to be more generously padded) will just about go back far enough for a six-foot driver, but the narrow cabin requires elbows to be tucked well in during low-speed maneuvering. The centre console is laid out clearly and backlit effectively at night. The heater is volcanic, but its old-school water-valve technology makes it very hard to regulate.
