The Land Rover Defender OCTA combines imposing gravitas with athleticism

Aside from its subtle styling upgrades and imposing gravitas, many would be hard pushed to tell this beast apart from its straightforward sibling – but peel back some layers and you’ll find substantially reinforced and revised underpinnings

Words: Rory FH Smith

Press imagery: Land Rover

For almost 80 years now, the Land Rover has been the solution to any off-road conundrum. When it first hit the road in 1948, the vehicle championed practical mechanics and utilitarian styling, and was initially made of aluminium in response to the steel shortage after the Second World War. Since then, Land Rovers have conquered the extremes of the Earth and the Hurlingham Academy school run with impunity and a degree of mild discomfort that diehard owners will never admit to. But it’s always been a creature of understatement, never one to show off its (largely non-existent) performance credentials. Until now, that is.

Before word got out that Land Rover was mulling a V8-engined, rally-spec Defender, it was laughable to think of the beloved brute ever being a match for something as athletic as, say, a Ferrari or a Porsche. But now I’m standing in front of a car wearing a Defender badge that will comfortably challenge a Ferrari F50 in a traffic-light sprint with its 0–62mph time of 3.8 seconds. Another difference is that this can also hurtle across landscapes that would reduce its Italian counterpart to fusilli-sized pieces, pronto.

The vehicle in question is the Defender OCTA, and, aside from its subtle styling upgrades and imposing gravitas, many would be hard pushed to tell it apart from its straightforward sibling. But peel back its chopped carbon fibre trim, wider wheel arches, deeper grille and hefty wheels and you’ll find substantially reinforced and revised underpinnings, including a high-tech ‘6D Dynamic’ air suspension system. As for the obscure name, it is derived from the octahedral shape of a diamond, which is both hard and desirable – two values the car certainly lives up to.

But to understand how this car can blitz through terrain you’d rather not walk across, you’ll need to understand that 6D suspension. For those of us lacking an engineering degree, it’s a system that pumps hydraulic fluid around the four corners of the car in a split second to eliminate any body roll and pitch. What that means in practice is a car that can suck up lumps, bumps and boulders without transferring the ensuing strain and pain to the cabin. On the road, it works to keep the car handling flat through the corners, ensuring its 626bhp is transferred to the ground through all four wheels. It’s something I’m especially grateful for on this particular drive, which will take me from Cape Town to an oasis in the South African wilderness called the Bushmans Kloof, via perfectly smooth tarmac roads, corrugated dirt tracks and sand dunes. There are faster ways to get there, I’m sure, but where’s the fun in slogging a £160,800 Defender down the motorway for five hours?

En route to the Cederberg Mountains, the OCTA’s pace and ability to crack on when required is undeniable if a little more subtle than previous generations of Land Rovers that sported the shouty and louty supercharged V8. The OCTA’s new 4.4-litre twin turbo V8 is derived from BMW. It’s more mature in its power delivery and the sound it produces, but it’s still potent, particularly when coupled with the OCTA’s trick software and faster steering rack, which allows the car to make short work of the twisty mountain passes we encounter.

With all that tech on board, the OCTA weighs in at 2.5 tonnes, which is heavy by anyone’s standard. Despite that, it can still haul itself across boulders the size of small buildings before hurtling above the seemingly never-ending moonscape north of those spectacular Cederberg Mountains. That agility is thanks to the Defender’s short overhangs, which come in handy for entering and exiting steep slopes, with its forceful powerplant providing the lift needed to vanquish any terrain-going challenge.

After swerving a dazzle of zebra, we find ourselves on a trail that closely resembles a rally-raid stage in a remote corner of the nature reserve. With rutted tracks, jumps and plenty of prickly undergrowth to careen off into, it’s the perfect opportunity to press the button positioned at the bottom of the steering wheel and activate ‘OCTA Mode’.

In an instant, the car is braced for off-road pandemonium, dialling down on the invasive stability controls while sending more power to the rear wheels. It’s an intoxicating mix of all-terrain ability, vigour and acceleration that means the OCTA can tear around the mini rally circuit at a pace you’d be hard pushed to match on a perfectly smooth racetrack. Only the deafening thud of rocks thumping against the bodywork and the roar of the V8 at full tilt hint at the chaos occurring outside.

Anyone who is in the market for a rough-and-ready mutant Defender will need £145,300 for the ‘regular’ OCTA, given the £160,800 First Edition has already sold out. While that might seem steep for a tweaked and tuned Defender, in a world where we’ve surpassed peak performance on the road, a car that can up the ante in the wilderness might just be worth it.