Land Rover Defender: the well-bred adventurer

The court went looking for a supercar and got ambushed by an SUV, which is exactly the sort of plot twist the Defender specialises in. There it stood on the showroom floor in deep bronze, all shoulders and confidence, wearing its heritage the way old money wears a barbour jacket - without a single word about it.

The one that earned its name back

The Defender spent decades as a working tool before it became a fashion statement, and the clever thing about the new one is that it never forgot the first job while learning the second. This is a car equally at home fording a river and idling outside a members' club, and it manages both without looking like it is trying. Ours wore a bronze so warm it made the black contrast roof look like a dinner jacket, and the whole thing sat there radiating the quiet certainty of a car that has genuinely been everywhere.

Boxy, and proud of it

In an age of cars melting into the same soft ovoid shape, the Defender's honest right angles are a tonic. Every line has a reason. The alpine light windows in the roof, the exposed structure, the spare wheel worn on the back like a badge of office - it is design that tells the truth about what the car is for, and there is nothing more luxurious than that. Inside, the seats were dressed in a colour the brochure probably calls something poetic and we would simply call gorgeous.

The verdict

Four crowns, and the fifth is withheld for the most delightful reason on this whole site: the Defender earns its final crown out in the world, not on a showroom floor, and the court intends to award it somewhere with no phone signal and a very good view. We will report back muddy and grinning.

Come for the capability, stay for the swagger. The Defender is the rare car that makes arriving anywhere feel like an expedition.