Bronze Land Rover Defender on a fire road in the Santa Monica mountains

Better With Dust On It

Bronze Land Rover Defender

Gondwana Stone over a short, square, two-door body — the one luxury SUV in Los Angeles that improves when it gets dirty.

Rental in Los Angeles · from $329

Every other SUV on Sunset is trying to look as though it has been somewhere. This one has.

Gondwana Stone is the warm bronze-brown Land Rover introduced with this generation of Defender, and it is the colour that makes the car look like the thing it claims to be. Set against the pale contrast panel across the lower front and the gloss-black wheels, there is nothing else on a Los Angeles road that reads like it.

Bronze Land Rover Defender from the rear three-quarter above the Pacific
01Above the Pacific in the late afternoon. The side-hinged tailgate and the upright back are the shapes the original car is remembered for.

This is the short one — two doors, one window behind each of them, and a wheelbase that stops almost as soon as the door does. It is the Defender at its least practical and its most convincing: the proportions are the original car's, the overhangs are short enough to matter on a fire road, and it parks in places the long version simply does not.

On tarmac the trick is the air suspension, which takes the edge off a patched Los Angeles surface and kneels at the kerb when you stop. It is not a canyon car — it is tall, flat-sided and honest about both — but it is a genuinely capable one, which is more than can be said for most of what it parks next to.

Short, square and unbothered.
Nothing else looks like it.

Round LED headlamp and front wing of the bronze Land Rover Defender
Front wheel and arch of the bronze Land Rover Defender

02The round lamp and the wheel. Everything on this car is drawn as a circle inside a square, and both halves are the same idea twice.

Bronze Land Rover Defender in profile, showing the short two-door body
03In profile the short wheelbase is the whole story: two doors, one window behind them, and the rear wheel almost underneath the back seat.

The particulars

  • Rate$329 / day
  • BodyShort wheelbase, two doors
  • SuspensionAir — kneels at the kerb
  • DeliveryComplimentary to Beverly Hills partner hotels
  • In the fleetOne, in Gondwana Stone

The guest book

  • Booked the Defender for a family trip and it was exactly what we needed, tons of room and super quiet

    Emily L. · 3 weeks ago

  • the Defender fit our whole crew plus luggage no problem, so comfortable

    Bianca R. · a month ago

  • Rented the Defender for a weekend and it was spotless, whole process took like ten minutes. Nick made it super easy.

    Aaliyah M. · 2 months ago

Queries

How much does it cost to rent a Land Rover Defender in Los Angeles?
The bronze Defender is $329 a day. The day rate is the whole of it on this car — there is no weekly or monthly block, so a longer booking is priced day by day. Delivery to our Beverly Hills partner hotels is complimentary.
Is this the short two-door Defender or the long four-door one?
The short one — two doors, with a bench behind them. It is the more characterful shape and the easier one to park. If you need four doors and a full second row for the week, tell us and we will point you at the right car in the fleet instead.
Can I actually take it off the tarmac?
It is genuinely capable rather than styled to look it, and the short overhangs help. Where you may take it is set by the rental terms rather than by the car, so tell us what you have in mind when you book and we will give you a straight answer.
What is it like on a canyon road?
Honest about itself. It is tall and flat-sided and it will not thrill you the way a low car does. It is booked for where it can go and how it looks when it gets there — for the canyon, ask about the fleet's sports cars.
Can I see the dates before I call?
Yes — the diary on this page is the live fleet calendar. If a date is open there, it is open.

The diary

When you can have it

Checking live availability…

Reserve

Name the day and the Defender is yours.

Tell us the dates and we confirm the car straight away — delivered hand-detailed to the address and the hour you name.

Check dates & reserve or call +1 (424) 303-6496

Also in the collection

The terms, before you commit

Refundable deposit
$750
A hold, not a charge. Back with you 5–7 business days after the car is home.
Damage and liability cover
$100 a day
Mandatory, and priced off the deposit rather than the rate. Your own qualifying full-coverage policy takes this line out of the quote entirely.
Driver, 21–24
$50 a day
Twenty-one is the floor, with a licence held two years. The higher band applies above a $1,500 deposit; this car is below it.
Shortest booking
24 hours
No maximum. Delivery is complimentary at our Robertson Boulevard lot and our four Beverly Hills partner hotels; LAX is $75 to the parking structure or $150 to the terminal, each way.

This one is the same rate at every length — it carries no multi-day block, so three days is three times one day. We would rather say that than imply a discount that is not there.

Every Land Rover in the fleet →

The photographs on this page are free to use — 6 frames, CC BY 4.0 →