The Land Rover Defender now has a slightly bigger sibling with eight seats.
It’s been a long time coming, but Land Rover has finally spilled the beans on the Defender 130. The body has been extended by only 34cm, but it’s enough to fit an extra row of seats – and there are some extra colours and gizmos as standard to sweeten the deal.
The 2022 Defender 130 has room for eight adults, with three seats across the rear row – a feat which probably took some clever packaging. The wheelbase is the same as a Defender 110.
Fold the second and third rows down and you get a mighty 2516-litre loadspace. That’s significantly more than the 2059-litre volume of in a Defender 110 Hard Top (which is similar to the volume of a Discovery 4 commercial). Lift all the seats up and there’s still a 389-litre boot.
Unlike Defenders of old, Land Rover is focusing on passenger comfort. Standard features include a panoramic sunroof, an enlarged 11.4in PiviPro infotainment system, and Keyless Entry with Automated Walkaway Lock (no prizes for guessing what that does). Thanks to Cabin Air Purification Plus, your phone can tell the Defender to purge allergens and viruses from the interior before you even get inside.
A new dark red metallic paint is available for the 130: Sedona Red, named after a desert town in Arizona. Inside there’s also a new Natural Light Oak veneer option, supposedly inspired by driftwood, and intended to complement the Light Oyster Perforated Windsor leather.
Four powertrains are available: two petrol and two diesel, and they’re all 3.0-litre six-cylinder mild hybrids. The most efficient diesel D250 delivers 247bhp (250PS) and 443lb-ft (600Nm), while the fruitiest P400 can launch the 2.6-tonne (unladen) Defender 130 to 60mph in only 6.3 seconds.
The Defender 130 is available to order now, and is priced from £73,895.
Choose your flavour of 130
Various trim packages are available for the Defender 130: SE, HSE, X-Dynamic, X and First Edition. (The X-Dynamic can be had in either SE or HSE form.)
The latter costs from £82,965 and is based on the HSE spec. It comes in three flavours, each ‘carefully curated by the designers’.
Fuji White with Extended Bright Pack with Light Oyster Full Windsor Leather interior and Natural Light Oak Veneer
Sedona Red with Ebony Full Windsor Leather seats and Smoked Oak Veneer
Carpathian Grey with Vintage Tan Full Windsor Leather and Rough-Cut Walnut Veneer
The V8 and V8 Carpathian Edition are still reserved solely for the Defender 110.
Top of the Defender 130 range is the P400 130 X, priced at £100,645.
