- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
2.0DTT, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
147kW, 430Nm
- Fuel
Diesel 7.6L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4XD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2020)
2020 Land Rover Defender LEGO: owner review
OK, I get that this isn't a real car, but boy it's some piece of engineering.
- Very cool colour, The suspension works, It's tough for a lego car
- I don't fit in it
I test-drove the new Defender a few weeks back and it was fun. I kind of prefer my Disco 4 to be honest but I get the appeal of the new Defender, it's very cool.
So, rather than sign on the line for a new Defender ,I went ahead and bought a LEGO one.
Sounds lame? Trust me it's not. It's cool to a whole new level.
The handbook to build it is 400+ pages long. It has a working gearbox, high and low range, suspension, steering, engine...I could go on and on.
I can't take credit for building it as my 16yr old son offered to help and I was quickly relegated to apprentice duties and then sent away for being "not very helpful at all".
He's a LEGO demon and it still took him the better part of a day to build. So while I can't rate this car in the normal way on this review I can thoroughly recommend it it as something truly fun.
Even my wife thought it was "unreal".
To be true to this site, I should offer my thoughts on driving the new (and real) Defender.
I got to sample the P400 petrol turbo and it was very smooth, refined and fast. The interior is really well executed. Practical, efficient and peppered with lots of clever finishes to make it feel really innovative. It's night and day from the old Defender (I owned one back in the 90's).
The new one feels solid and hunkered down.
It feels like it could tackle absolutely anything and then some. The exterior is very cool, but perhaps a bit over the top, a bit over styled – but that's being very critical.
I expect it will be the darling of the trendy set and that's a shame because it deserves more than that. It really needs a stripped out base model, in manual, steelies, canvas seats etc to give it that rough'n'tough for anyone feel rather than just for the ritzy end of town.
Still, hat's off to Land Rover for building it. I'll stick with our Disco 4 for now. It does "what it says on the box" and more.
Plus, I've now got a LEGO Defender to play with (which for all of you Landy knockers out there will agree)...will be infinitely more reliable than a real one....
EDITOR'S NOTE: We're not in the habit of publishing Lego reviews, but, with today marking the Australian media launch of the new-generation Defender, we couldn't resist this one. Great work, Niels!
Now, who's going to send us a review of their real 2020 Defender? Tell your friends!
MORE: 2020 DEFENDER REVIEW (AUSTRALIA)
MORE: All 2020 Defender reviews
MORE: Everything Land Rover