Land Rover Defender alternatives: Seven other 4x4s that are just as tough in the rough
Land Rover’s famous 4x4 not for you? One of these seven alternatives might hit the mark instead
Defender is one of the best-known nameplates on the road. Long associated with Land Rover’s tough, rough and ready 4x4, used by the military and farmers alike, today it takes the form of a thoroughly modern, comfortable and luxurious SUV that still knows how to party in the dirt.
The Lander Rover Defender is one of our favourite SUVs, with a 4.5-star road test score and a broad line-up that spans short-wheelbase commercial models that look right at home on the farm, through the enormous Defender 130, to the mad new Defender Octa with its Dakar Rally aspirations.
It’s not for everyone though. If you’re sold on the idea of a big, capable 4x4, but can’t quite get on with the new Defender, then we’ve pulled together a selection of models you might consider instead – cars that are just as capable, stylish and iconic as the British legend.
Ineos Grenadier
- Prices from £65,000
Those put off by Land Rover’s modernisation of the Defender formula still have an option in today’s high-end 4x4 market: the Ineos Grenadier. Conceived as a spiritual replacement for the original – a car for those who reckon the new Defender’s got a bit too soft and stylish – it’s designed to be just as tough as the older Landie, while incorporating enough modern gadgets that driving it doesn’t feel like a punishment.
That’s the theory anyway. The reality is that on the road, the Grenadier can still be pretty grim sometimes, thanks to slow, completely feel-free and zero self-centring steering, and a monumental turning circle. It all starts to make more sense off-road though, where it displays the kind of disdain for tough terrain that you get from… well, a Land Rover.
BMW in-line six petrol and diesel power is available, and in Defender 110-matching Station Wagon form, pricing is in the same ballpark as a well specced Land Rover – it starts at just under £69,000. Ineos also offers pick-up and commercial versions for those who really do want a workhorse. We’d have the Defender for road driving, but off-road, the Grenadier runs it a lot closer.
Land Rover Discovery
- Prices from £63,000
As an alternative to a large, capable Land Rover, how about another large, capable Land Rover? Discovery is another long-running nameplate at the British brand, having been around since 1989, and the most recent generation arrived in 2017. It took a while for the curvy styling (and offset rear number plate) to win over sceptics after the much-admired previous generations, but the size and ability were present and correct.
The Discovery and Defender share plenty of mechanical components and some characteristics too. The Discovery is undoubtedly more road-biased, but on a scale of road car and mud-plugger, both models are somewhere right in the middle – incredibly capable at either discipline.
Pricing is pretty similar: the Disco begins at around £63,000 these days, about £2,500 more than the similarly-sized Defender 110. Both have five and seven-seat options, too (although the Defender also has a six-seat format), and as a seven-seater, third-row space is pretty even, as is the remaining boot capacity (the Disco is a little higher at 172 litres to the Defender’s 160 litres). Really, it boils down to style, and small differences in driving characteristics.
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Mercedes G-Class
- Prices from £136,000
The modern Mercedes G-Class is a fashion icon first and foremost: visit Beverly Hills, Dubai or Roppongi, and it feels like every second car there is the boxy and bellicose ‘Gee’, usually in top AMG trim for maximum noise, flash and intimidation factor.
At its heart, though, the SUV once known as the G-Wagen is a bona-fide off-roader, designed in the Seventies as a military vehicle, much like the Defender. While most owners probably wouldn’t want to subject their massive alloy wheels to the risk of damage, the G-Class remains fundamentally capable off-road.
Mercedes heavily updated the G-Class in 2018, keeping the old-school looks, but making it far better on the road. It underwent more changes in 2022 and again in 2024, and these latest models are as much luxury cars as off-roaders. Prices reflect this: upwards of £136,000 for a petrol model, or nearly £155k for the recently-launched full EV version – the latter unique in this market.
Jeep Wrangler
- Prices from £61,000
The Jeep Wrangler is still enormously popular in its US home market – the brand sold more than 150,000 in 2024, despite the current model being more than seven years old by now. It’s a much rarer sight in the UK, where it’s priced from more than £61,000 (compared to $32,000, or little more than £25,000, in the States) and its rowdy image perhaps doesn’t resonate with conservative UK consumers.
You shouldn’t overlook this chunk of four-wheeled apple pie and bald eagle, though, because while it’s far from our favourite 4x4, it’s still a hugely likeable vehicle, bursting with character, both visually and in the way it drives. Not all of that character is good, but at least you won’t get bored of it.
Jeep does keep improving the Wrangler, too. The latest model has all the infotainment kit you’d expect in a modern car, but it also has plenty of physical buttons and levers. The view out of the rectangular windscreen and over the squared-off bonnet is iconic, and its ladder chassis and solid axles mean it’s as capable as any other 4x4 here off-road – probably more so in some situations.
Toyota Land Cruiser
- Prices from £75,000
Strong sales have shown that Land Rover was right not to simply copy the old Defender when the new model went on sale in 2020, but the latest Toyota Land Cruiser wears its heritage more overtly on its sleeve. The design is heavily influenced by the J60 and J70 Land Cruisers of the Eighties, but it’s far from a lazy recreation – it’s more of a handsome homage to the older model, much like the Alpine A110 or recent Renault 5.
Toyota has also demonstrated that deviating less from those older models can be lucrative: as we write, you can’t actually buy a new Land Cruiser in the UK as the entire allocation sold out almost immediately, despite £75k pricing. It’s going gangbusters in the important US market too, where it sold more units in 2024 than Land Cruisers had in the previous decade combined.
Its style has proven no barrier to off-road ability; the Land Cruiser is among the best here in the rough stuff, and if it continues Toyota’s reputation for reliability, it’ll probably last indefinitely too. The four-cylinder diesel might not seem like 75 grand’s worth but it’s effective at moving the bulky Toyota along, and although the interior definitely isn’t up to the Defender’s standards, the ergonomics are hard to fault.
Ford Ranger
- Prices from £34,500
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.
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