Land Rover Defender 110 X-Dynamic SE P400: Urban jungle conqueror

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This SUV is highly capable, luxurious, and fearless — just like you

By Kap Maceda Aguila

IT’S KIND of hard to, um, defend a car whose price tag breaches P11 million. That’s quite a hefty sum to splurge on a ride.

The key to understanding and appreciating the Land Rover Defender 110 X-Dynamic SE P400 (that’s quite a mouthful, yes) is to actually experience it — not over exotic locations and off-roading sites, but the everyday urban jungle replete with swerving motorcycles and public utility vehicles.

Over the course of several days, we had the pleasure of being ferried aboard this rather large five-seater SUV, with myself at the wheel. The high seating position and solid build seem to cocoon you and other occupants in an unmistakably luxe ride. Step on the accelerator and you are rewarded with impressive power — despite its heavyset build which tips the scales at 2,323kg. The motivation comes from a three-liter, inline six with common rail direct injection. The twin-turbocharged engine also boasts a belt integrated starter generator, making this Defender 110 a hybrid that’s exempt from coding.

Output numbers are a stout 400ps and 430Nm, which makes promises sprightly acceleration from standstill. Land Rover claims that the vehicle reaches 100kph in 6.1 seconds — on the way to a top speed of 191kph. Drivers can access the goodness via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The Defender was christened such in late 1990 — ditching the simple Land Rover 90 or 110 appellation. The current generation stands almost two meters, stretches a shade over five, and has a wheelbase of 3,022mm. Short overhangs make it a joy to drive. It clears the ground 218mm on standard mode, but you can adjust this up to an off-roading-capable 291mm. Wading depth is an incredible 900mm.

When you push the start-stop button in the morning, the Defender automatically revs up to 1,500rpm to warm things up. After a few seconds, the needle goes down to 600rpm.

The price starts at P11.49 million, but our test unit was further equipped with niceties for an extra P300,000. These include an exterior side-mounted gear carrier, black wheel nuts, Union Jack style rubber mats, 110-specific deep-sided rubber mats, another loadspace rubber mat for the 110, and a bright rear scuff plate. Rounding it off is a frame protection bar worth P84,000.

Standard on the Defender 110 are premium LED headlights with Land Rover’s signature DRLs. There are front fog lights for enhanced visibility. The Defender rides on five-spoke 20-inch wheels in Satin Dark Grey.

Inside, the vehicle channels some old-school ethos through analogue dials, which transition to a central TFT display which displays more information. As for the seats, you can power-adjust the front two seats in 12 ways.

The 10-inch Pivi Pro infotainment system makes nice with both Android Auto and Apply CarPlay — hooked up to an 11-speaker Meridian sound system. A three-zone climate control with rear cooling assist makes everyone feel nice and cool — even that pet pooch or cat that you might bring with you.

As the Defender is one hulking vehicle, drivers will surely welcome a complement of aids such as blind spot assist, rear traffic monitor, rear collision monitor, 360-degree parking aid, and a 3D surround camera with ClearSight Groud View.

Meanwhile, if ever you need to take on flooded streets and such, the vehicle has Wade Sensing, which “calculates the depth of water adjacent to the vehicle. The touchscreen displays the results along with the maximum wading depth.”

So if you have some spare funds in the order of P11 million or so, the Defender should be an option — a looker that plays the part of the capable, capacious, and luxurious off-roader most nicely.