Driving a Land Rover is always an experience, and the short wheelbase 90 – or Defender as it became officially christened in 1990 – is a classic example of the famous and ever popular 4x4. 

Designed and built to offer long-lasting go-anywhere ability rather than worrying too much about passenger comfort, you’ll find them everywhere, from the King’s Road in Chelsea to farms throughout the country. 

Iconic and trendy for sure there’s no shortage of Classic car enthusiasts lining up to get their hands on one of the original Defenders that Land Rover, in their wisdom, have decided to cease production of.

There’s very little history of this Defender prior to 2017 when it was bought by the current owner who described as the perfect car to improve and tailor to his unique and individual requirements.

His first task was to replace the engine with a reconditioned and tuned engine, adding useful BHP over the standard engine, which, matched to the automatic transmission, gives a much smoother and relaxed drive.

The chassis and running gear was all deemed to be in a good and solid condition so the next improvements were made to the car’s appearance with a full re-spray in Rolls Royce silver over Black, LED upgraded lights all round, a more aggressive grill at the front and a set of black Sawtooth wheels.

Inside the cab and rear were stripped out and new seats, dash, headlining, instruments display and door cards were all fitted, with many items being trimmed in black leather. The whole car was given the full ‘Noise Killer’ sound deadening treatment and a serious sound system from Alpine with Bose speakers was fitted, which as well as sounding pretty amazing works with your Bluetooth phone, There is also a Kenwood monitor which provides a reversing camera view.

The car comes with its V5c and an MOT, which expires in November 2022.

The bespoke interior with pin striped leather and heated seats certainly gives this car a more luxurious and comfortable feel than most Defenders and with a bit of a clean and tidy up the interior is overall in a nice condition, and benefits from some extra 12v power sockets and a nicely trimmed centre cubby box. 

The black carpeting is all relatively new and in good shape throughout and the new instrument display and Moto Lita steering wheel all help make the cabin a nice and comfortable place to be. 

The new paintwork, wheels and up-rated lights all help to make this Defender stand out from the crowd and give a hint to its increased performance.

The car has had brand new glass and rubber seals all round so these are all really good and the bumpers are all nice and straight with no damage. The wheels and tyres are reported to have less than 1000 miles of usage from new. 

Overall it looks really good and capable of going anywhere you choose to point it.

The current owner has spent a small fortune making sure that this is a reliable and quiet car to live with and he informs us that it drives and runs as good as it looks, with everything working as it should do, and with no issues to report.

This Defender also benefits from a smooth auto transmission which rare considering that there are only a handful in the UK. 

The Land rover Defender will never go out of fashion, in fact they continue to grow in popularity and demand especially since Land rover stopped making them.

Nicely sorted examples like this 90 are a timeless and relatively practical classic car that can cope with the school run, the muddiest of fields and gradients or just about anything you choose to challenge it with.