Land Rover Defender 130 OFFICIALLY revealed – a Defender with room to party

The Land Rover Defender 130 officially arrives sporting room for eight, but no PHEV or V8 options. Costs from £73,895.

Land Rover actually revealed the new Defender 130 a couple of weeks ago, but that was just a single shot of the new 130 on sand dunes. But now it’s out in the open and delivering the new Defender in eight-seat guise for those whose loins have been busy. Or those who need a posh Transit van.

As we already know, in this iteration of the Defender the ‘130’ bit doesn’t refer to wheelbase but just to its place in the range, with Land Rover making the Defender bigger by bolting a shed extension on the back to create room for three adults in the third row.

That means three rows of seats in a 2+3+3 configuration, with the back row sitting ever so slightly higher so passengers don’t feel like they’re in a cage, and a massive 2,291 litres of space to play posh man and a van if you wish.

That extra bit on the back does impact on departure angle, down from 40º to 28.5º, but in all other ways the 130 is as capable as the 90 and 110.

It seems, at least for now, that Land Rover won’t be offering the 130 with PHEV or V8 powertrains, with the only engine options available the petrol P300 and P400 and the diesel D300. All come with AWD and eight-speed auto, adaptive suspension and Terrain Response.

Trim choices are SE, HSE, X-Dynamic, X and a limited run of First Edition models, with the First Edition coming with a choice of three curated colour combinations and most of the option boxes ticked.

Prices for the new Defender 130 start at £73,895 for the P300SE rising to over £100k. The new Defender is now open for orders, but don’t expect delivery any time soon.