New Land Rover Defender OCTA “achieves the impossible” with 626 bhp and 6D suspension

Meet the holy grail of high-performance Defenders: the OCTA. Designed to push boundaries on and off road, you won’t believe what this Landy is capable of.

Remember the old Defender? Ah yes, a rather agricultural-feeling tool with the performance of a tugboat and the same interior accoutrements as Fred Flintsone’s Flintmobile. Well, Land Rover’s latest offering couldn’t get any further from that formula if it tried.  

Where the original excelled off-road at the expense of almost everything else, the new OCTA is being hailed as “the very definition of breadth of capability.” And they aren’t kidding: more power than a Ferrari Portofino, faster acceleration than a Porsche Cayman GT4; all whilst retaining Land Rover’s indomitable rock-crawling, mud-plugging, trail-bashing ability.

The most powerful Defender ever 

Let’s not forget that the regular Defender V8 was already packing a pretty startling 518-bhp courtesy of a supercharged 5.0-litre lump, so quite why it needed even more grunt is anyone’s guess.  

Nevertheless, Land Rover has managed to boost that figure by over 100 bhp for a total of 626 bhp. Rather than compromising the longevity of that older Jaguar-derived engine by tuning it further, the newfound shove was achieved by borrowing the 4.4-litre, twin turbo V8 found in the formidable Range Rover SV.  

As a result, the acceleration is in a whole different league than before. Supercharged variants manage an impressive, hot-hatch-chasing 5.2 seconds from 0-60 mph, while the OCTA’s sprint falls into serious sports car territory, at just 3.8 seconds. Top speed has also increased to a (presumably electronically limited) 155 mph, on account of its colossal 2.7-ton kerbweight and sub-optimal aero. And when it comes time to rein it all in, larger 400 mm Brembo brakes offer enhanced stopping power.  

Land Rover’s unparalleled off-road prowess 

Usually when a brand tries to turn a 4x4 into a sports car, compromises must be made. There seems to be nothing of the sort going on here, though. Rather than dropping the Landy’s ride height to aid cornering, Land Rover has jacked the Defender up by 28 mm to improve ground clearance. A 68 mm wider track means high speed stability doesn’t suffer as a result.  

“Hydraulically‑interlinked 6D Dynamics suspension” is arguably the OCTA’s greatest party piece for roads less travelled. Enabling greater wheel articulation than before, the new setup in combination with an OCTA off-road mode and rugged Goodyear all-terrain tyres, helps to “unlock the full potential of Defender.”

A more luxurious interior  

While the brand’s most lavish cabins will always be reserved for top-flight Range Rovers, the OCTA’s interior is the nicest we’ve seen on a Defender yet. Two new lightweight materials offer refreshing alternatives to leather, and the Range Rover SV’s ground-breaking Body and Soul seat technology allows passengers to feel the music, as well as hear it.

What does OCTA mean?  

Though it sounds like it could be an acronym of some kind, the OCTA name is a nod to the Defender’s toughness and durability. As a reference to the octahedral shape of a diamond, the title was chosen as Land Rover wanted the apex Defender to share the gemstones qualities of strength, rarity, and desirability.  

Sounds cool, but it’s more than just a marketing gimmick. Nearly 14,000 extra tests were carried out to challenge OCTA’s high-speed off-road durability as engineers “entered realms of capability and robustness that have never been explored before.”

How much does the Defender OCTA cost?  

Orders books are set to open soon, and £145,300 is the first figure you’ll see. Ouch. 

For some, that’ll be a difficult number to justify for a machine with such historically humble origins, but then where else can you get sports car performance, a cosseting, tech-rich cabin, and Baja truck thrills, all rolled into one package?  

Is this the Defender of your dreams, or would you rather spend that kind of money on Range Rover instead?  

Hero image credit:  Land Rover