See all New Car Reviews
Pros: phenomenal drivetrain and chassis, unlike any other Defender
Cons: expensive, thirsty, hard to get hold of
Land Rover Defender Octa Design
The Octa is only offered in one of the three bodies available for the current-generation Land Rover Defender, which is the midsized 110. This means it is a five-door, five-seat variant, so those who like the look of the three-door 90 or require the practicality of the huge seven-seat 130 need not apply. Compared to any other Defender 110, the Octa is 68mm wider (mainly by dint of a set of wider wheel arches) and 28mm taller, but beyond that its visual differences are relatively subtle. It has its own designs of 20- or 22-inch alloy wheel - the smaller rims for off-road tyre choices and the larger ones reserved for the sports rubber - plus a set of quad exhausts which are neatly integrated into its rear bumper to preserve its departure angle (a feature relating to its off-road capability). There are a handful of body colours, some of them unique to the Octa like Petra Copper or Faroe Green, and then the new Octa symbol on the body’s side pillars. It’s a small square angled over and set on a circular background to create the most basic visual representation of a diamond – because the octagonal internal structure of a diamond is where this top-dog Defender gets its unique model name.
Land Rover Defender Octa Interior
A little like the exterior, the interior of the Land Rover Defender Octa doesn’t feel appreciably different to that of any other model in the range. It’s a mix of the hard-wearing, functionality of a 4x4 with the luxury trappings of an SUV within, which is nice enough, but when you’re sitting behind its steering wheel it doesn’t immediately convey its flagship status to you. There are some updates, including fancy front chairs which can pulse in time with the music coming from the high-end 15-speaker, 700-watt Meridian surround sound system, as well as a diamond-logoed button on the wheel for accessing the vehicle’s most dramatic on- and off-road driving modes. It also has glass-tipped paddles that can light up red for its wheel-mounted shifters, but beyond that the Octa is rather underplayed in the passenger compartment (save for the Edition 1, with loads of exposed ‘chopped’ carbon-fibre trim surfaces to look at). However, as a Defender 110, it has a good level of standard technology, an intuitive interface, enough room for five people to sit on board, a generally impressive level of build quality, and then a huge boot that is, admittedly, accessed by a side-hinged tailgate – which needs plenty of room behind the vehicle when parked in order to be opened fully.
Land Rover Defender Octa Performance & Drive
Land Rover has sourced a BMW 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 for the Defender Octa, which develops huge peak outputs of 635hp and 800Nm. This has already been used for the Range Rover Sport SV, and from that self-same model the British company has also taken the advanced 6D hydraulically linked active suspension, which aims to prevent body lean when out on the road yet preserve wheel articulation for off-roading duties.
These two features alone make the Octa drive like no other Defender before it. On public roads, the Land Rover is outstanding, with monumental performance always on offer from that mighty engine. Overlaid with a wonderful, alluring soundtrack, the straight-line speed of the Octa is quite breathtaking, but then brilliantly its advanced chassis can more than cope when the corners come. Exceptional body and wheel control plus accurate, communicative steering ensure this is a Defender which feels sporty and agile, and a lot lighter and smaller on the road than it actually is. As performance-focused SUVs go, it’s up there with the very best on sale today.
What makes it all the more remarkable from there, however, is that this improved on-road acuity is of no detriment whatsoever to the Octa’s ability to venture far off the tarmac and into the scenery. In fact, it’s even better off-road than any other Defender because not only can it do slow mud-plugging and rock-crawling as it should do, it’ll ford deeper water than any other SUV on sale (one metre) without drama and it can also, if put into its Octa off-road setting by pressing and holding the bespoke button on the steering wheel, travel almost as fast through the rough stuff as it can manage with asphalt beneath its tyres. Admittedly, you need to specify specialist all-terrain tyres for it to be at its best off-road, which limits its top speed and outright handling capability when you’re on tarmac, but the Octa is still an astonishing car that seems completely unfazed by any sort of terrain or driving requirement you can throw at it.
Land Rover Defender Octa Pricing
The Land Rover Defender 110 range starts at €96,562 but that’s for a base-spec, plug-in hybrid model with ultra-low CO2 to take advantage of our tax laws. The Octa – which outputs at least 294g/km of CO2 minimum and which is positioned as the flagship of the entire Defender family with its super-powered drivetrain – starts at the wrong side of €290,000, if you can even get hold of one. Land Rover is limiting the build numbers and there isn’t a specific allocation pencilled in for Ireland, although the model is showing on the company’s website.
Carzone Verdict
The Land Rover Defender Octa will not be inexpensive to buy and run, granted, but that’s to be expected of something operating at such an exalted level as this. The Octa is little short of a supercar in an alternative form – there’s not a road nor surface nor driving style you can subject it to which would flummox it, and it has all the charm and desirability of a modern-day Defender mixed in too. There’s no doubt about it: this is, by far and away, the greatest-ever Land Rover we’ve had the privilege of driving.