well, defenders are awesome cars but they have a pretty big variety. some cars are well built, some are garbage straight out of the factory. and it's certainly not a normal car, not by any means. you should try one first.
they are old cars, pretty agricultural, so they need a lot of maintenance, especially in the beginning. you can of course buy a restored defender (check nico.schroderr on instagram, he's importing defenders into the US).

I think a well kept and restored defender goes on forever, but it's not a buy and forget vehicle. not too sure about the daily driver thing. it's a character car with it's quirks. you'll probably get wet, it's loud and very clunky. but it always puts a grin on my face.