Sometimes excess seems just right. The old V8-powered versions of the Land Rover Defender were already potent off-roaders, but did Land Rover need a variant with even more power? Absolutely. Say hello to the Land Rover Defender Octa, the biggest, baddest Defender 110 you can buy from a Land Rover showroom.
While previous quick Defenders featured a five-liter supercharged V8, the heart of the Octa is a 626 horsepower 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8, pumping out a full 108 horsepower more than the old Defender V8. If this engine sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same BMW-sourced V8 used in the Range Rover Sport SV. Land Rover reckons it’ll get the Defender Octa from zero-to-60 mph in 3.8 seconds and onto a top speed of 155 mph, and that’s properly quick for a heavy off-roader. Oh yes, just because this Defender can sprint doesn’t mean it sacrifices off-road ability. In fact, it’s one of the more capable models in the range.
The Defender Octa stands 1.1 inches higher and 2.7 inches wider than a standard Defender, and it sits on 33-inch all-terrain tires. Revised fascias enhance approach and departure angles, while maximum wading depth increases to one meter, or about 3.28 feet in freedom units. Add in a serious complement of skid plates, and this thing’s ready to hit the trails.
Of course, more power and capability calls for a new suspension package, and the Defender Octa features 6D Dynamics, a hydraulically linked suspension system that reduces pitch and roll while increasing articulation due to a lack of traditional anti-roll bars. Paired with stronger control arms, this damping system that debuted on the Range Rover Sport SV ought to offer greater on-road stability and improved off-road prowess, a pretty good combination. Up front, 15.7-inch front discs are clamped by six-piston Brembo calipers for some proper stopping power both on and off the beaten path.
See, the Defender Octa isn’t just for crawling. Switch it into Octa mode and kill the stability control, and you get off-road launch control and a unique ABS calibration for going fast over the loose stuff. Glamis hasn’t seen anything quite like this, and we suspect that desert-based Octa owners are going to use this mode to the max.
As for appearance, you won’t mistake the Octa from any other Defender, because it’s going extra-heavy on function. For the sake of packaging the big new tires and feeding air to all the heat exchangers necessary to keep the turbocharged V8 cool, it sports some seriously thick flares and a chunky front grille that’s anything but meek. Should you wish to up the aggression, a special launch edition featuring Faroe Green paint and a matching green interior with forged carbon fiber trim is available, although even the standard version looks rowdy.
On the inside, the Defender Octa will be familiar to existing Defender drivers, but it does feature some meaningful upgrades. Check out those high-back seats, which feature built-in shakers to create the physical impact of sub-bass without the eardrum-blowing boom and packaging nightmare of a 15-inch subwoofer in the trunk. Add in the extra swathes of color-matched materials and fresh trim options, and you end up with a tastefully elevated cabin for the top-dog Defender.
So, massive pace, rugged good looks, and smart interior appointments. What does all this cost? Well, the Defender Octa stickers for $152,000 in America, and $175,000 in Canada. While that’s a great sum, it’s also reasonable value considering the Mercedes-AMG G 63 starts at $183,000 in America and $247,000 in Canada. Expect to see this epic off-roader in action at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with deliveries to start later this year.
(Photo credits: Land Rover)
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Off road launch control.. ala KITT? How would it do against Moab etc?
Pour one out for the Jaguar V8, which seems to be finished. Jaguar has finished production of the F-Pace and F-Type (which had the 5.0-liter supercharged Jaguar V8) and the Defender V8 dropped it when this new Defender Octa replaced it.
Ah yes, going full circle back to putting BMW engines in a Land Rover, it feels like the early 2000’s all over again. And just like last time, these engines will be awful out of warranty, with a plethora of coolant leaks, oil leaks, and timing chain issues. Source: every technician I know at the local BMW dealers that works on the N63/S63/S68 engines.
Yep, except back then, Land Rover (and the rest of Rover Group) was wholly owned by BMW. Indeed, the early L322 Range Rover was basically a Land Rover built out of BMW components. The lore is actually that the L322 was supposed to get the newly advanced electronics in the then-in-development BMW E65 7 Series and Rolls-Royce Phantom VII…but when BMW decided to sell Land Rover, it didn’t want to give a competitor (Ford) its best tech, so it finished up development early with a mixture of reskinned E38, E39 and E53 electronics.
Anyway, Ford gradually removed most of the BMW stuff between 2006 and 2007 on the L322. I never understood the one-year-only 2006 L322 (I had a 2006 Supercharged), which had the facelifted exterior and new Jaguar engines, but entirely the BMW interior, with a new cluster and infotainment system. Quality improved immensely when the interior got redone for 2007, though that sadly removed the articulating upper backrest function inherited from BMW.
But—and I say this as a huge BMW fan—BMW has never been good at V8 engines. That’s not where they excel. It’s a shame Jaguar Land Rover didn’t go with someone else, like Mercedes-Benz or GM.
Of course, BMW loves to loan its tech and engineering to other automakers. I call BMW the German Sugar Daddy for that reason.
MAs a corollary, it’s too bad JLR didn’t source BMW’s B58 I6, which *is* good and which handily trounces JLR’s own Ingenium MHEV I6.
No doubt sometime in the future when these trickle down to the working class, this rig will generate some YouTube videos of horribly complex disassembly operations to repair something gone wrong under the hood.
This one I had nothing to do with, although this is positively subtle compared to my proposal at the time….
Lord.
Do you think sister brand Jaguar will be around in ten years? I’m not sure their bid for electrification will go anywhere, and they still face the uphill battle of not having the same sorts of budgets and engineering resources that VW, Daimler and BMW do.
I honestly don’t know. My gut feeling is going all in on EV will be a mistake because it feels like the market is softening, so if they’re smart they will design protect for ICE in the new cars even if they don’t release them at first. I have not seen any of the new Jaguars – the previous stuff I had seen (including the cancelled XJ) was a mix of stunning and completely uninspired but all of that is cancelled now.
One thing I would say is I wouldn’t bet against Gerry McGovern coming up with something completely amazing and modern, but whatever he does the traditionalists won’t like it because he doesn’t do heritage or retro.
Land Rover = Nope. I want a car that runs “on the button” as the nation of manufacture (theoretically) would say…
I’m confused what LR is doing to the Defender. It’s offering a price range of nearly-$100k between low-high end models.
Is that what Luxury means now?
How does one actually “forge” carbon fiber trim?
Plastic with stickers would be a forgery to me. But a thin carbon fibre overlay on fibreglass might be a better forgery.
I believe they take scraps and put them under hydraulic pressure to bond them with resin/heat.
Cool, another luxury off roader that’ll never leave pavement for the conspicuous consumption crowd to peacock with in the Whole Foods parking lot. We definitely need more of those!
…with that out of the way these could make for intriguing buys once the initial leaser has taken the mammoth depreciation to the face, because that 4.4 liter V8 is actually quite robust due to the fact that it’s built to handle the boost of full M products. Will it be conventionally reliable? Of course not, but as far as boosted fancy European engines go it’s about as good as it gets.
not to mention it’ll depreciate 65K in two years.
Can I get one after some massive depreciation and still drive it to Whole Foods?
To be fair it’ll be Costco and Home Depot. Is that okay or do I still need approval from others?
Why buy an off-roader, with it’s compromises, if you aren’t going off-roading?
Can’t be conspicuous consumption if it doesn’t shout it.
Might as well get the base model, it says the same thing to everyone around you.
Yeah this seems surprisingly subtle to me.
I admit I’m not up on what the hot ticket ride is in private school pickup lines on the coasts these days, but I’d be a bit surprised if it was a Defender with a small lift kit and fender flares.
The crowd I saw at the pre-launch party were mostly the stupid rich entertainment industry types, CEO’s ect with a small group of randos that got invites (me) and journalists from Land Rover magazines. This seems more of a weekend toy vs family hauler, they have their driver using the Range Rover Vogue and/or Bentley Bentayga for kid pickup duty.
I want to see an Ioniq 5N outfitted with then off-road wheels, flares and suspension and see how they compare head to head.
I haven’t compared weight, but I bet it’s surprisingly similar, and size and HP are pretty close. I wonder if for $80k you could have a nearly equivalent performing electric option.
When I was at the Octa pre-launch party I got to play with the stability system. They had a unit set up with a ping pong ball on a plate sitting atop it, if you pushed the ping pong ball the system would automatically move the ball back into the center. I asked the Land Rover person if this could do the same at 90mph on dirt roads and they said “Absolutely”.
The sub’s in the seats are powerful enough that I’m pretty sure it’s intentional to help do “other things”… ahem.
Edit: Also there is a Octa first Edition that starts at $175k US and there are only 300 allocated to North America. Additionally, these things need two raised air intakes and it looks surprisingly good.
Did they eliminate the 2 door version?
Land Rover is not usually a favorite of mine, but I gave them immense respect for putting the big engine in the small SUV, while Ford and Jeep made you buy a 4 door. It would be sad if they gave that up.
According to Land Rover, the D90’s wheel base was deemed to short for what this thing is supposed to be able to do.
Not surprising, but disappointing nonetheless.
Even Bowler had to lengthen the old D90 when they built the Wildcat. Granted the new D90 is actually an inch longer than the Wildcat but the Wildcat only puts out 285hp, 626hp on a 101 inch wheel base that high up would be sketchy as fuck. I even found the P400 X-Dynamic to be a little too twitchy for my liking.