The old Defender was the classic farm workhorse, but the image in everyone’s psyche of a car loaded up to the gunwales with hay bales and sheepdogs is more often served these days by a pick-up truck of some sort – and the Ford Ranger has been one of the most popular pick-ups in the UK for several years now.
What it lacks in luxury and image beside the current Defender, it gains in being the kind of rugged and largely uncompromised working partner that made the old Defender so beloved. That’s not to say it’s agricultural though, as modern trucks, and the Ranger especially, are much easier to get on with day-to-day, despite their old-school body-on-frame construction.
Defender money can get a lot of Ranger, too: even the range-topping Ranger Raptor starts at around £58,000, while double-cab working versions are well under £40k, including VAT. The Ranger does still require a few compromises – passenger space is good, but luggage has to travel al fresco for instance, and ultimately it’s not the luxury product a Defender is. But you’ll probably be less concerned about getting it scratched in the rough stuff.
Used: Land Rover Defender
If your heart is set on a Land Rover Defender, then really only one car will do. There’s still a lot of love around for the original model, despite it officially going off sale in 2016. In fact, there’s still enough love for it that Land Rover brings back special versions of the car now and then, usually fitted with V8 engines and aimed at collectors more than farmers.
For most of us, the only route into the old Defender now, though, is as a used buy. Right away, we’ll make it clear that this is a very different experience to the other cars on this page – it’s a far less friendly vehicle to drive than even the Ranger or the Wrangler. Not least because you never got an airbag, nor an automatic gearbox.
As an experience though, it’s basically unmatched. That experience might be uncomfortable sometimes, and involves wrestling an occasionally tricky gearshift and having your elbow crammed into your ribs by the door card, but it is to other 4x4s as a Caterham Seven is to modern sports cars. Very late, absolutely immaculate cars start around the £25k mark and rise to brand new Defender 90 prices, so while it might be old, it’s certainly not cheap.
See our used Land Rover Defender deals
Tell us which new car you’re interested in and get the very best offers from our network of over 5,500 UK dealers to compare. Let’s go…
