The Land Rover Defender has humble roots. Today it is much more of a robust luxury off roader, but we can’t but help love the charm early Defenders had. Back then there were no extra bells and whistles – only a rugged can go anywhere attitude. That is what has gotten the Defender where it is today as an off-roading icon. It is easy to say that the early Defender’s reputation has also helped put Land Rover as a brand on the map over the years.

The modern Land Rover Defenders get a lot of love. It has been long anticipated for the newest generation Defender to be unveiled and go into production. One of its greatest qualities is that it has done a masterful job and keeping it functional off-road while still blending in some luxury elements. But we still want to show some love for the earlier Defenders that helped pave the way. One such model is the 1990 Land Rover Defender 110. This is a point where we started to get into the modern era of Land Rovers, but this SUV still possessed what has made so great.

Here are all the details that make the 1990 Land Rover Defender 110 what it is.

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Basics Of The 1990 Land Rover Defender 110

1990 Land Rover Defender 110
Via: Flickr

Since Land Rover is a British auto manufacturer, it makes sense that the Defender 110 was also manufactured in Great Britain. Now that Jaguar Land Rover has become more of a bigger player in the international auto market, new Defenders are made in Slovakia. The Defender 110 was never made for speed or cutting edge performance. This year and model both gasoline and Diesel engines were offered. The gasoline V8 that made its way into this specific Defender was good for a total of 133-hp. The 0-60 time for this vehicle reflected the lack of power from the V8. It took the Defender 110 12.9 seconds to reach 60 mph from a standstill.

Top speed was also not necessarily a shining spot for this Defender. The gasoline version could reach a top speed of 87 mph. But these things were never supposed to be selling points for the Defender 110 in the first place. It was all about functionality and off-road prowess for this SUV. The 1990 iteration of this Defender came with standard full time four-wheel drive. This proves to be highly beneficial because most of the target audience for these Defenders wanted to easily take them off the beaten path.

As it was common with most of the off-roader of the era, the 1990 Land Rover Defender 110 had a center differential that could be manually locked. Its five door setup also proved be accommodating to both added passenger and cargo. At the time main rivals like the Jeep Wrangler were only offered in two door forms thus making them less practical when you need to haul more people or stuff.

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How The 1990 Land Rover Defender Compares To Today's Defenders

1990 Land Rover Defender 110
Wikimedia Commons

As mentioned earlier, new Defenders for sale are much more luxurious than its predecessors. The 1990 Defender 110 did not sport premium leather seats or even power windows. This is a far cry from what you would find on a new 2022 Defender. Granted there has been many technological advancements in that space of time, but Land Rover did not even try to play the luxury game with the 1990 Defender 110 as they do now with the new Defender. The most basic thing you can get with the new Defender is steel wheels, but we all know that is more for style than it is for cheapness’ sake.

Just because the 1990 Defender 110 was basic does not mean that they aren’t still in high demand today. One popular option for these types of Defender is to do an off-road restomod on them. Doing this builds off of the original glory of the Defender while adding in some modern flair. One particularly nice restomoded 1990 Defender 110 went up for auction through Mecum in 2020. Defender enthusiasts are eager to get their hands on for their heritage but also for the myriad of modifications that can be done on them.

As far as iconic international utility vehicles go, the Defender has always been the go to worldwide. Ruggedness and simplicity have always gone a long way with consumers which are certainly the strong suits of the 1990 Land Rover Defender 110. We still love what the new Defender brings to the table, but the Defenders of yesteryear will always be right up at the top of our list.