LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender review

LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender is a hidden gem in this summer’s wave of new LEGO sets not to be overlooked.

One of the more affordable releases coming in June, 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender is a lovingly-designed, fun-to-build LEGO Creator set that takes a modern classic and creates a future classic LEGO set with it.

— LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender set details —

Theme: LEGO Creator Set name: 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender Release: June 1, 2023

Price: £13.49 / $14.99 / €14.99 Pieces: 150 Minifigures: 1

LEGO: Available June 1, 2023

— Where to buy LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender —

LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender releases on June 1 and will be available exclusively at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores.

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— LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender build —

Based on the classic Land Rover Defender, 40650 represents an almost perfect marriage between source material and creative medium, with a car boxy in design able to quite perfectly translate into LEGO bricks that are themselves boxy by nature.

Where some vehicles – even in the hands of the hyper-design team at Speed Champions – require compromise here and there when transformed into LEGO form, pretty much every angle from the real-life Land Rover Classic Defender perfectly suits being put into LEGO bricks.

And it’s not just because of the box-like dimensions car and brick share, so don’t let what looks relatively simple fool you – there are smart techniques in place across this little model’s construction. The best examples lie in the directional changes across the front end and windows, which demonstrate excellent awareness of the measurements of the LEGO pieces involved to a high degree of mathematical accuracy – in short, you build one way, then another, and it all lines up perfectly.

The only novel pieces to LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender are the 2×2 jumper pieces for the headlights that have been printed, whilst the front grill is a sticker. Beyond that, everything here is standard and has been seen before elsewhere, reflective of how smartly creative this really is, and just how well suited to LEGO this car has perhaps always been.

There is also a lovely simplicity to building 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender that feels aptly like a throwback to an older time of building LEGO cars. This may well be based on a licensed vehicle and use design techniques and pieces only developed in more recent times, but it still manages to evoke a style of build and feel that harks back to the mid-1990s – we can’t quite place our finger on why, but you’ll know what we mean when you put it together yourself.

— LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender characters —

LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender comes with one unnamed minifigure in a snazzy sleeveless pineapple top. It places the set in a warmer climate, reflective of how versatile these vehicles have been designed to be – not just for doing the weekly shop in…

— LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender price —

LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender actually comes across as something initially intended as a gift-with-purchase – the set number suggests as much, while tie-in branding with 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 on the box and in the instructions hints at this too.

But it’s such a good little standalone set of its own that we are incredibly thankful to have it available to purchase separately. Priced at £13.49 / $14.99 / €14.99 it sneaks in beneath the more expensive Speed Champions line and is a great little purchase packed with value.

— LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender pictures —

— LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender pros and cons —

LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender is one of the best LEGO vehicles we have built in a while, mixing simplicity with clever techniques to accurately capture an iconic real-world car as if its only purpose was indeed to one day be made out of LEGO. An excellent LEGO experience packed into a tiny box for a more than fair price, this is a throwback to an older time of LEGO and we love it.

40650 Land Rover Classic Defender pros	40650 Land Rover Classic Defender cons
Excellently designed	Interior seating centralises the driver
Fun to build and looks great	Shame they are only releasing the one colour version of this…
More than fair price	…we’re struggling to come up with anything else

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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— Alternatives to LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender —

The closest-priced car alternatives to LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender are all still another £6 more in the Speed Champions range, while for Land Rover aficionados you’ll want to set your sights on 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90. In reality, these both represent next steps, more than alternatives, as much as anything because you won’t want to overlook picking up this hidden gem.

— LEGO Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender FAQs —