Yahoo Autos Land Rover Defender 110: Can you sleep in it?
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The Land Rover Defender is an impressive off-roading machine that, at 11.5 inches, has a better ground clearance than both the Toyota 4Runner and Jeep Wrangler, can hit speeds of 149 miles per hour, and drive through water nearly 3 feet deep, all for less than half the price of a Mercedes G-Wagen. All of this is why it is an Autoblog Editor’s Pick with a score of 8.5 out of 10. But can you sleep in it?
Your first thought may be, why? And that’s a valid question. Most cars weren’t designed with sleeping in mind, but a lot of people do just that, whether out of necessity or as an easy way to get out and go camping without having to pack a tent. I myself have fallen into the latter category time and time again, most recently relying on the room in the back of my 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek for a weeklong camping trip. That trip was fine, but we’re not here to talk about an 8-year-old Subaru, let’s see how the Defender fares.
Space
The biggest thing when it comes to camping in your car is whether there is enough space in it for you and possibly a partner to lay down comfortably. This also depends on whether the seats fold flat, which in the Defender 110, they do. Once down, there is roughly 64” of space lengthwise from the door to where the seat cushions are folded forward, which you can see pictured above. 64 inches isn’t a lot, even to me, a relatively short guy at 5’7”. Thankfully the cushions that are folded forward act as somewhat of a nice pillow allowing for a few more inches of room before you hit the front seats. If you don’t mind your feet dangling a bit and you put your head towards the rear of the car, you have much more room, about 77 inches worth, or the length of a full-size mattress.
If you happen to do most of your camping alone, you’re in luck, kind of. By lying diagonally you have considerably more space, 76 inches in fact.
Width-wise, at its narrowest point the Defender is 45 inches across, right in between the width of a twin mattress and a full mattress, which is a solid amount for two people sleeping side by side in a car. The Defender is quite a bit wider towards the middle of the vehicle as well if you need the room.
Height is something that isn’t considered a lot when it comes to sleeping in your car, but I can tell you from firsthand experience that waking up in the middle of the night and smacking your head on the ceiling when you sit up is no fun. Thankfully I don’t have that problem in the Defender, which is 36” at its lowest point, enough room to allow me to sit up straight with an inch or two to spare.
Power sources
When I go camping, most of my days are spent hiking or fishing or taking photos, and I usually have my phone on me. That means at the end of the day I need to charge it, which is usually where a power brick comes in handy. Thankfully in the Defender that isn’t needed because in the rear there are plenty of ways to charge your phone, including two 5-volt USB ports in the back of the front seats, two more USB-C ports near the bottom of the center console in the rear, and three 12V auxiliary power outlets, one at the very rear and two next to the USB-C ports.
I tested these out when the vehicle was turned off, and all of them worked, so you don’t need the vehicle running to charge your phone. That being said, plugging in multiple accessories and charging them while never turning on your car is a great way for a long camping trip to end with a dead battery, and though it’s unlikely, you may just want to play it safe.
