Prospective D90 future owner question...

I absolutely love the Land Rover Defender but I am worried about running costs. I live in the UK and currently drive a small hatchback that gets around 45mpg. I love the look and feel of driving a defender but im not sure if the long term effects on my wallet would be worth it. My questions is, as a daily runner, do you notice the substantial fuel running costs as opposed to a more fuel efficient car or should I just bite the bullet and go for it? Figures point to around 28mpg.. how accurate is this? I have been thinking about buying one for years but I always manage to put myself off for this reason.

Hi and welcome!

You don’t drive a Defender for fuel economy, you drive one because it is a Defender! You just need to decide if you can live with the increased fuel costs and associated insurance and tax costs but also the massive grin factor when driving one!

Let us know what you decide.

Hello and welcome

You have posted in the courier section you will get more help in the defender section of the forum
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/forum/defender-90-110-130.7/

LeviWyatt said:

I absolutely love the Land Rover Defender but I am worried about running costs. I live in the UK and currently drive a small hatchback that gets around 45mpg. I love the look and feel of driving a defender but im not sure if the long term effects on my wallet would be worth it. My questions is, as a daily runner, do you notice the substantial fuel running costs as opposed to a more fuel efficient car or should I just bite the bullet and go for it? Figures point to around 28mpg.. how accurate is this? I have been thinking about buying one for years but I always manage to put myself off for this reason.

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I track my mileage religiously and over 147085 miles tracked I have averaged 26.8mpg. I used to average around 28-30, but I used to drive it at about 55-60 rather than 70. As said above you do not drive one for mpg. The longer you have it the more normal the low figure becomes, it has been my daily drive for the last 12 years so as far as I am concerned the mpg figure is normal and the horrible little euro boxes that get 50+mpg are the exception.
Also if you compare it to like for like vehicle rather than a tiny hatchback it is not that bad. A brand new hilux reportedly does 36mpg (combined) so you know in the real world that will be nearer 32mpg, and if you look at a 10 year old hilux, that looks to average (quick google) about 28mpg which is the same as a 10 year old defender will average.

also if you ask @blue beasty nicely he may move this into the defender section for you.