The Discovery 5 that the Defender replaced was our daily driver, long trip car, grocery getter, tow vehicle, and general all around transportation appliance.
The Defender will fill all of those roles with a much better chance of getting off road than the Discovery as well. I always felt the Discovery was a bit too fat and soft for stuff more challenging than the dirt roads but I did take it on a fairly ambitious trail and it surprised me at how easily it walked up it. It did have the rear locker but I was always overly cautious about dinging it up because I knew I would be trading it on the new Defender when I purchased it.
I've owned about ten different BMW's (a lot of 2002's, E-30's and a few other models) and I'm a BMW enthusiast but they have gotten overly complex along with Mercedes in my opinion. I know you're going to ask that the Defender isn't? but I deliberately chose the least complex model available with all of the good off road options and a few comfort items that the Discovery 5 provided. I'm a retired Lockheed engineer and third generation gearhead who has been rebuilding, modifying and generally screwing around with cars for 54 years. I've bought cars for the dumb reasons of "I've never owned one of those" and "none of my friends has one of these" which in the days before the internet was a very risky strategy. But one universal guiding light since I was around 12 years old was an abiding attraction for Land Rovers - - I saw a 109" Series II wagon in marine blue at a Dairy Queen in Clayton, GA and thought it was the coolest car I'd ever seen. Almost sixty years later I still feel that way - so yes I was going to buy a new Defender.
We took an hour long drive in the 110 today, around the downtown Roswell area, out into the surrounding countryside and even down a potholed dirt road and I can tell the new Defender feels taught, more solid and smaller than the D5. My wife thinks the seat fits her better and after adjusting my seat and the mirrors I really like the driving position. Time will tell if its as nice a long distance car as the Discovery 5 is - odds are that the Disco will have the edge here - but the four cylinder has plenty of power and makes neat noises when asked but is VERY quiet running errands. The suspension feels firm and very well controlled and the Meridian sound system is outstanding as is the bluetooth cell phone quality. A friend called while we were running down the dirt road and he was very impressed with the conversation he could have with both of us - he has an LR3 and said the phone quality at his end was outstanding - much better than his car.
My long range plans with this truck will be to travel down a bunch of the BDR routes - starting in the east but ideally exploring the western BDR's as well as the TAT. We did about 100 miles of the Mid-Atlantic BDR in Northern Pennsylvania and I've done about 50 miles of the NEBDR (it starts in my wife's home town of Hancock, NY) in the Discovery 5 and that was fun. I have two Series IIA's and a very well equipped D90 for my designated trail rig so the new Defender will be our main car. I also have a Miata for when I need to hit some twisty paved roads. The Defender will be the perfect tow vehicle for my vintage Eriba Puck travel trailer. I need to finish the total restoration of my 1967 Series IIA 88" pickup - its at the rolling chassis stage and I need to start painting body panels. Only a real enthusiast would own four Land Rovers - but I know one guy who has over 30 so I figure I'm only mildly obsessed.
This Land Rover is #20 for me - the twentieth Land Rover I've owned since I bought my first Series II in 1972.