Cool is one of the trickiest words in the English language. We pretty much all know what it is, but also it means different things to different people. As such, it can be almost impossible to pinpoint exactly what makes something cool or not. Land Rover has always been very good at nailing down the ethereal concept of cool, and the 2024 Land Rover Defender 110 V8 County pulls off the very rare trick of being cool to both someone like my Dad and the twentysomething girl who served him a coffee this morning.
The Defender exemplifies the same brand of postmodern-ish industrial design that’s become so popular over the last decade. I believe it’s a response to a prevailing cultural zeitgeist that times are hard, the entire world is on the attack, and everything has to be tough and multi-functional to make sense in our brave new world, but I digress. In this ethos where function is fetishized and luxury is capability, it’s the Defender’s ability to do and withstand almost anything — and broadcast that ability — that makes it a winner.
Land Rover has had a hit with the Defender since day one, and this 2024 model with the new retro-rigeur County package is no different. I personally loathe white paint on almost every SUV, but this works, neatly avoiding looking like a fridge with its icy-hued Fuji White paint with contrasting Tasman Blue roof and swinging rear hatch. The tri-colour graphics down the side sets it all off neatly.
There is some striking white trim in the cabin too, as the steering wheel spokes and the panel that spans the dashboard are both laminated with snowy white plastic. That panel pulls double duty as both an aesthetic choice and a functional piece, as it’s actually a magnesium cross brace, decorated and displayed to serve a form as well as a function, in the same vein as the exposed copper pipes at every new shabby-chic brewpub.
The whole interior is a charming exercise in performative function, with its exposed screws and selectively unfinished door panels, but it does function fantastically. For example, in addition to the aforementioned structural trim piece, the dashboard also houses a huge storage cubby with charging ports, and a massive leather-wrapped grab handle useful for the off-road antics this beast is capable of. All the essential cabin controls, like the chunky shifter, climate knobs, and drive mode selectors are housed in a pod ahead of a dashboard, gloriously free of gloss-black finishes and capacitive touch functions. It’s attractive, clever, and easy to figure out. Brilliant.
Infotainment is handled by an 11.4-inch touchscreen floating over the dashboard, running a new version of Jaguar Land Rover’s Pivi Pro software, with improved performance and a newfound capacity for over-the-air updates. This system has always looked great and been very intuitive to use, and it’s now slicker in its animations and more snappy in its responses, without any needless change-for-change’s sake to complicate things. The infotainment is paired with a configurable digital gauge cluster and a heads-up display, and broadcasts via a Meridian Surround Sound system with a subwoofer, all of which serve their functions wonderfully.
The Defender functions fabulously on the move, handling itself with all the poise and precision you’d expect from a $146,880 as-tested Land Rover. This decked-out model makes use of active air suspension to deliver a sublime ride in any situation, gliding over rough roads, hunkering down for surprisingly good hustling around corners, and rising for extreme situations. The decked-out Defenders are also blessed with JLR’s glorious 5.0-litre supercharged V8, throwing 518 horsepower through a seamless, ZF-built eight-speed automatic, and bellowing through raw steel quad exhaust pipes.
You’re paying a serious premium for that V8, so Land Rover has gone through the courtesy of reminding you why you’re tolerating the cost of admission and its debaucherous drinking habit. The V8 persistently pierces the otherwise impressively quiet ride with classic, barrel-chested eight-cylinder beats that are equal parts beautiful baritone and backroom brawler. It’s also quick, with a deluge of muscle readily available at all times, actuated by a slightly twitchy throttle pedal around town. I wonder if that’s deliberate, conveying the sense of gratuitous overkill in the best way, not unlike using a sledgehammer to kill an ant. Either way, the Defender drives wonderfully, with the steering and brakes further adding to its deliberate, substantive, and satisfying feel.
This 2024 Land Rover Defender 110 V8 County is brilliant. Honestly, I’m kind of in love with it. It has the same classic charm as a Benelli break-action shotgun or an Olivetti typewriter; it’s design that blends function, form style, and sensibility. It’s appealing and effortlessly cool, mixing utilitarian minimalism with unreserved melodrama. Perhaps the Defender’s most special trick, its greatest act of cool, is its ability to utilize might, muscle, and magnificence to make the entire world a playground.
