Land Rover is marking the Defender’s birthday for the 2023 model year. The celebratory vehicle is called the Defender 75th Limited Edition. Does it represent 75 years of the Defender? Not per se. But as the Defender does in some sense carry a substantial portion of the spirit of the company, the 75-year honor goes to Land Rover’s most rough-and-ready design.
And so the honorary variant as model emblem, with body and wheels in a fetching shade that’s something akin to metallic sage. Actually, the color is called Grasmere Green, conjuring visions of the Lake District, and the poetically fertile trio of Bill, Sam and Dorothy as they hammered out a post-Terror means of living through the local. A Lyrical Ballad of a Defender, then, even if the quasi-militant name and posturing of the vehicle is at odds with such romanticism — and the fertility of the militant posturing that romanticism was intended to overcome.
The Defender 75th Limited Edition is a P400 powertrain version; the 3.0L six-cylinder petrol-burner is part of a mild hybrid design with energy recycling. More interesting is the configurable Terrain Response feature, the OFF-ROAD kit and the Folding Fabric Roof. Creature comforts include 14-way heated electric memory seats all the way around, as well as a heated steering wheel, a head-up display, an 11.4-inch Pivi Pro touchscreen, and a sound system from heavyweight British audiophile brand Meridian.
The Land Rover Defender 75th Limited Edition with 90-level wheelbase is priced from $91,880. The full-size 110 version starts at $94,380.
