Launched in June 1970 as “A Car For All Reasons”: coil springs where every other off-roader used leaf springs, disc brakes on all four wheels, permanent four-wheel drive, and a detuned Buick-derived V8.[1] Twenty-six years and 326,070 cars later it was still recognisably the same vehicle.
This entry has no Test Drive, and the reason is a gap rather than a decision. Wikipedia publishes no kerb weight for the Classic in any language, and no output at all for the 3.9-litre V8. The weight was eventually found somewhere neither Wikipedia nor this project’s source survey had looked: NHTSA’s Canadian Vehicle Specifications, which lists 1,996 kg for the 1994 four-door County Classic.[2] The power figure is still missing, and the model cannot run without one.
Everything else is here: the dimensions, the drag coefficient measured on a 1990 car, and the EPA’s fuel figure, which works out at 18.1 L/100 km.[3]
The launch top speed is another honest disagreement. Land Rover claimed around 100 mph; Autocar measured 95 mph in November 1970. Both are recorded.