LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 visual tour and gallery

Shift into gear and head off the beaten path with our visual tour of the brand new LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90.

Revving on to shelves in April, 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 recreates the rugged vehicle in System bricks for the first time. It’s also the first-ever LEGO Land Rover inspired by the real-life car’s classic design – used between 1983 and 2016 – as the Technic version, 42110 Land Rover Defender, is based on the more modern version of the vehicle.

That’s not all there is to know about the latest LEGO Icons set, though, so strap in as we traverse tough terrain with the all-new 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90…

LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 build

Where many LEGO Icons sets are built from the ground up with predominantly classic System bricks – 10265 Ford Mustang, 10295 Porsche 911 and so on – 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 looks to fuse both System and Technic together in one model. That’s invariably to incorporate the functions this set demands (more on those later), but it should help set the building experience apart from its contemporaries.

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The various accessories included in the box (again, we’ll discuss those in more depth further down) should also help to shake up the building process, which involves assembling a grand total of 2,336 pieces.

LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 comparison

10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 is inspired specifically by Land Rovers manufactured between 1983 and 2016, and so diverges from the modern design of 42110 Land Rover Defender (to date the only other LEGO Land Rover). And it stacks up very nicely next to its source material, aided by the fact the real-life vehicle is basically a box on wheels.

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Sand green feels like a smart choice, too – thinking about other iconic Land Rover colours, we’ve already had olive green in the Technic set, 2021’s 10295 Porsche 911 has claimed white, and dark tan would have been very dull. Shame the real-life rover used for the LEGO Group’s promotional campaign is yellow, but you can’t win ‘em all.

LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 details

There are enough accessories packed into 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 that the LEGO Group is calling it a two-in-one set, and who are we to argue? The transformation between road-ready and off-road-ready is pretty massive, thanks in no small part to all the details the designers have managed to capture across this 4×4 vehicle.

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Those include (deep breath) two different engines, three different bonnets, spare tyres, a roof rack with extra work lights, an off-road front bumper with a working winch, side rails, jerry cans, a toolbox, shovel, pickaxe, hammer, jack, regular axe, fire extinguisher, engine snorkel, and traction plates (cleverly represented by exposed Technic bricks).

There’s a lot to unpack in 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 – certainly to a much greater degree than any LEGO Creator Expert or LEGO Icons vehicle before it – which probably goes some way to justifying that higher price tag.

LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 functions

The best LEGO Icons vehicles find ways to combine form and function, and that was arguably the baseline for 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90. A set like this couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pack in real-life functionality, and it certainly looks to satisfy on that front, first through opening doors and bonnet, and second through working steering.

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It’s tricky to tell from the images whether that’s controlled directly by the steering wheel, but the important bit is that it’s ‘fully functioning’ – at least according to the press release. Better still, 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 also incorporates full suspension, and even from these images alone you can see it works a treat.

LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 new pieces

At first glance, not many new parts appear to have gone into developing 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 – except for its mudguards, which look to be a System-led spin on the Technic mudguards included in 42110 Land Rover Defender. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be surprised to learn that at least a couple of sand green pieces here are newly-recoloured, but we’ll have to wait until we’ve got the model in hand to know for sure.

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10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 launches April 1 for VIP members and April 4 for everyone else. You’ll be able to buy it from LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores for £209.99 / $239.99 / €239.99.

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