Land Rover Defender 110 1990 review

Overview

The year 1990 matters in Land Rover history: it is the moment the workhorse One Ten was renamed the Defender, following the launch of the Discovery in 1989. The new name arrived alongside a new engine that transformed the big wagon — the 200Tdi, a 2.5-litre turbo-diesel with an intercooler and direct injection, producing 107 bhp and 188 lb-ft of torque. That was nearly a quarter more power and torque than the outgoing 2.5 TD, and it turned the 110 from a glacial motorway struggler into something that could genuinely tow and tour. Many enthusiasts still rate the 200Tdi as the finest engine ever fitted to the old-shape Defender.

Driving a 1990 110 today is an exercise in honesty. There is no refinement worth the name: wind noise, a high and upright seating position, heavy steering at parking speeds and a 5-speed LT77 gearbox that rewards a deliberate hand. But the permanent four-wheel-drive system with its two-speed LT230 transfer box gives it go-anywhere ability that modern SUVs merely imitate, and the boxy body is endlessly practical. Everything is simple to service, parts are cheap, and there is an enormous specialist network across Britain.

Buy with your eyes on the structure, not the paint. The 200Tdi itself is famously hardy — head gaskets, injectors and the timing belt aside — but the steel chassis rusts at the outriggers, the rear crossmember and the front dumb irons, and the bulkhead rots around the windscreen frame and footwells. Budget for a galvanised-chassis example if you want an easy life. A good, usable 200Tdi 110 — solid where it counts, honest where it is not — starts from around £17,500 today, with the very best commanding far more.

UK price from: £17,500