As a Land Rover nut and a FunRover reader, you'll have seen the Dc100 and the numerous car magazine Defender concepts that have followed over the last few years. They've all received a mixed response. A very mixed response in fact. Traditional Land Rover owners hate them. Newcomers to the brand quite like them. A few years ago, we posted about why the Defender design is so special. So, we spoke to a car designer from the Midlands, tasking them with the brief "Re-design the Defender as you'd like to see it".

We asked our friendly car designer to keep as much of the essence of the original as possible. The result is a design that is faithful to the original Defender. It's much more rugged and blocky than the soft and rounded DC100. The front end manages to unify the current Land Rover / Range Rover brand whilst harping back to the past. Naturally, a winch is fitted up front.

The raised bulkhead from the Defender and Series vehicles remains, with swage lines following into the doors. This retains the classic Land Rover look, but the window has been given a shape not to dissimilar to that of the Evoque / Discovery Sport and Range Rover - pleasing the board of directors.

Flat wing tops are still present - these are ever practical and quintessentially "Land Rover".

The David Bache designed 'hips' that were introduced in the Series 2 remain, again giving a little tip of the hat to past Land Rovers. The roof line too remains true to the original, with a multi-angle profile whilst the classic rain channels and alpine windows are still present.

The specifications for this Defender read more like a wish list, but one can dream:

• 2.0 Litre Turbo Diesel 'Ingenium' engine, resulting in EU5 classification.
• Aluminium bodywork can still be removed in sections, but now sits on an internal unibody structure for improved crash safety, body alignment and higher wading depth.
• Separate chassis and bodywork, based on the Discovery T5 Platform
• 6 Speed manual gearbox with user selectable difflock and high/ low range. Power take off option
• Same off road capabilities of current Defender

From the rear, it's still definitely a Defender. The rear crossmember outline is still visible. The 2 rear quarter windows are present, as is a spare wheel hung on the now reinforced door. The white roof is reminiscent of the Series 2 of old.

This vehicle has removable mud flaps all round. The rear lights are a modern take on the typical old school Land Rover layout.

Overall, we like this design. It's faithful to the vehicles that form Land Rover's rich company heritage, to the brand and to the people who use Land Rovers as intended. It also acknowledges that times have changed and so must the vehicle. There are now regulations that govern pedestrian safety and a manufacturers responsibility to minimise environmental impact. But the design also recognises that rough terrain will always be rough terrain and requires a suitably tough vehicle to travel over.

What do you think to our Defender 2.0? Do you like it? How does it compare to the DC100 or other concept images you've seen so far? Would you buy one? 

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