The Land Rover Defender Wades a Metre and Costs $5,660 Before You Even Start Optioning It — Rated 4/10

A model-year note first: the Defender Land Rover Canada is configuring today is a 2027, not a 2026 — its own titles and its configurator both say so. Leftover 2026 stock is still being advertised with loyalty incentives on the same site, so both years are in play at a dealership right now.

The 2027 range is large. Three body lengths are offered: the two-door 90 seating five, the 110 seating five, six or seven depending on configuration, and the long 130 seating seven or eight. Prices open at $77,100 for a 90 S and $78,700 for a 110 S, rising through X-Dynamic SE, Trophy Edition, X and the new Vertex trim to $117,500 for a 130 Vertex. Above all of it sits the OCTA at $179,400, or $191,600 in OCTA Black.

To every one of those figures, add $5,660. Land Rover's configurator applies $3,500 in freight and pre-delivery inspection plus a further $2,160 delivery charge, identical across the range, and the prices above are before any of it — and are not net of incentives. On a base 90 that is more than seven per cent added after the advertised price.

Three engines are offered in Canada, all gasoline. There is no diesel and no plug-in hybrid here. The P300 is now a 3.0-litre inline six making 296 horsepower and 347 pound-feet — for 2027 the four-cylinder has been dropped entirely. The P400 takes the same architecture to 395 horsepower and 406 pound-feet. The OCTA uses a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 producing 626 horsepower and 553 pound-feet, good for 4.0 seconds to 100 km/h and 250 km/h. All drive through an eight-speed automatic with a twin-speed transfer box, standard across the range.

The off-road figures are the reason the vehicle exists and they are genuinely impressive. A 110 on air suspension raises to 294 millimetres of ground clearance and wades 900 millimetres; the OCTA raises to 323 millimetres and wades a full metre. Approach angles reach 37.4 degrees at off-road height and departure 42.0. Towing is 3,500 kilograms on the 90, 110 and OCTA, and 3,000 on the 130.

The technology is well judged: a 13.1-inch Pivi Pro touchscreen and a 12.3-inch driver display are standard across the range, alongside a 3D surround camera, 360-degree parking aid, adaptive cruise, lane keeping, blind-spot assist and a driver condition monitor. Terrain Response is standard, with the second-generation system, configurable modes, an electronic active differential and wade sensing on the X and OCTA.

Several things Land Rover Canada does not publish are worth naming. Fuel consumption is listed as TBD for all three engines. No conventional mechanical locking differential appears in the Canadian data — the hardware is an electronically controlled active differential with brake-based torque vectoring — so we are not claiming a locker. And Land Rover's own Canadian figures give the P300 three different torque outputs depending on body style, 347, 479 and 295 pound-feet, from the same 3.0-litre engine. Only the 347 is credible, and we have printed that one alone.

The historical claim is straightforward: the current car, internal code L663, was revealed at Frankfurt in September 2019 as the first all-new Defender, reviving a nameplate that runs back to the original Land Rover of 1948.

A 4/10 from the Torbrook Rating Agency is among the lowest marks this desk has issued, and it runs against the Defender's standing as one of the most capable production off-road vehicles sold. We present it as what it is — our own judgment of the whole proposition, including a delivery charge that adds thousands after the advertised price and a specification sheet that still lists fuel consumption as unknown. The specifications above are Land Rover's; the score is ours alone.