Land Rover Defender Octa 2025 review: Attacking African dunes, rocks and roads with the most hardcore Defender ever
A diamond in the rough
The Defender Octa is not only the fastest production Defender ever made, Land Rover told us before our test drives, it’s also just as tough as the standard Defender 110. The Octa (a reference to the octahedral shape of diamonds, the hardest material in the gem world) is also able to handle much higher speeds off road and can wade even deeper (in up to a metre of water). Yet it’s much more agile on asphalt, while inside it’s still relatively luxurious and high tech. In short, the marketing folk argued, this is the Defender with zero compromises.
It’s also a car that finally puts Land Rover’s 4×4 into the ring against the king of performance off-roaders, the Mercedes-AMG G63, thanks to its mighty hybridised 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine (as found in the Range Rover Sport SV), which churns out 626bhp and a peak torque (twisting force) of 553 lb ft. Accelerating from 0-60mph comes in just 3.8 seconds, which not so long ago would have humbled a supercar.
The Defender’s aluminium monocoque construction was a controversial choice when the Defender launched, and resulted in British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe spitting out his dummy and creating his own rival 4×4 with a traditional body-on-frame design: the Ineos Grenadier. But for performance cars, the monocoque makes a heap of sense in terms of rigidity, and is actually three times stronger than the ladder chassis alternative, according to Land Rover.
That gives the Defender Octa an immediate advantage, and out on the road it definitely feels like a performance SUV, not a clunky 4×4. Versus the classic Defender, the new Defender is incomparably proficient as a road car, but the Octa is leagues above again.
A lot of that is also down the suspension system, again borrowed from the Range Rover Sport SV, which uses what Land Rover has dubbed 6D Dynamics technology – a network of “hydraulically-interlinked continuously variable semi-active dampers” that manage pitch and roll on all surfaces, via an upgraded Terrain Response software. Three valves on each damper independently modulate compression and rebound, says the carmaker.
It all sounds terribly complex for an off-roader but Land Rover says it enables greater stability in all conditions on-road, and even more wheel articulation off-road, because the wheels aren’t restricted by anti-roll bars (there aren’t any).
What’s more, the 6D suspension system can handle impacts twice as hard as the regular Defender’s air system, claims Land Rover, and is much smarter – get airborne in the Octa and it’ll prep the dampers for landing in advance. It’s got more travel, too, enabling the Octa to rise up 28mm higher than the regular car, and thereby increase the wading depth from a maximum of 900mm to that metre mark.
All well and good, but it also sounds terribly fragile… and that’s why Land Rover decided to fly us out to the wilds of South Africa for the car’s launch, with a 400-mile route that included long sections of potentially car-breaking high speed gravel and twisty asphalt, along with proper sand dunes and tricky rock crawls. Confident stuff.
On the road up from Cape Town to the Ceder Mountains, with the car’s Terrain Response system set to Auto, the ride felt a little more solid than I’d been expecting but it’s a comfortable place to spend time, even with Goodyear’s three-ply advanced all-terrain tyres – the most extreme off-road versions available – fitted to the bespoke 20in alloy rims. For those who’re likely to spend most of their time driving on asphalt, the wheels can be shod with a Michelin Primacy all-season road tyre, fitted to 22in rims, or there’s a less extreme option for off-roading – BF Goodrich Trail Terrain – if you need a Goldilocks set of rubber.
Either would have reduced the clear thrum from the road surface but it has to be said, the Defender’s sound-proofing is such that you’re relatively well shielded from unpleasant noises while covering large distances, and many miles can be covered in amazing comfort.
The seats are a highlight. Slim and flat-backed, they hold you in well without being overly restrictive and at the end of both days of our trip there wasn’t a hint of exhaustion or aches.
It may sound like a ridiculously first world gripe on a 4×4 but one thing I’d have liked was a massage function. However, as with the Sport SV, the Defender Octa’s heated and ventilated Performance Seats feature “Body & Soul” tech, which involves three ultra-sonic pads that vibrate in time to the music (or a series of “wellbeing” programmes), designed to enhance the sonic experience by helping you feel the rhythm through your body. Around ten minutes of this was enough for me, though, and it stayed off for the rest of the trip.
Our route up to the first overnight stop started with highway, then twisty mountain roads where the full potential of the mighty powerplant could be exploited. With the road tyres and the car set to Dynamic, the Octa disguises its 2.5-tonne bulk amazingly well, with fast, responsive steering and little bodyroll. It’s a big, wide unit (68mm wider than the standard Defender, in fact) but still a genuinely a fun thing to hustle along a challenging B-road.
It proved even more amusing on fast, flowing gravel tracks through the 71,000 hectares of Unesco-protected wilderness in the Cederberg Mountains. With speeds frequently up around 60mph here, both the extreme tyres and the Terrain Response’s Grass, Gravel and Snow mode proved their worth. It was only when switching to Dynamic mode for stretches that you get a proper sense of how the car’s electronic brain works overtime in the former setting to eliminate any drama from proceedings, and keep you pointing in the right direction.
It’s less fun in Grass, Gravel and Snow, for sure, but there’s no doubting the genius calculations going on hundreds of times a second to control slip at each wheel and body stability through the suspension, and the sure-footedness at high speed on loose surfaces is astonishing.
The suspension really comes into its own on much rougher terrain, though, and Land Rover encouraged us to go for maximum attack on a specially-created sandy circuit it had dubbed the Octa Arena, up at Bushman’s Kloof – a stunning 7,500-hectare reserve and wellness retreat. Potholed and rutted, the course a proper test for the durability of the 6D system as I hammered along it as fast as my nerves would allow.
Engaging the unique Octa drive mode with a long press on a button mounted on a steering wheel relaxes the roll-resistance by half compared with Dynamic mode to allow increase wheel travel, but ups the damping strength, and shifts more power to the rear corners for a more engaging driving experience. The brakes also shift profile, calibrated for improved stopping power and confidence on loose surfaces, and it’s an absolute hoot to dance around twists and turns at seemingly impossible speeds and over bumps that’d easily break lesser machines.
Every suspension system has its breaking point, of course, but there were no dramas during our extreme test and the Octa shrugged off some pretty extreme bumps, divots and ruts, all while keeping the body amazingly flat and controlled. Next year, Land Rover will be tackling the notoriously car-breaking Dakar rally with the Octa, and the press release notably omits to say what suspension system will be employed on the competition vehicles, but the production version’s 6D system can clearly take a hell of a beating.
What’s truly impressive about the Defender Octa, though, is its versatility. On the way out of Bushman’s Kloof at the start of day two, Land Rover sent us up, over and down the most challenging rock crawling course that I’ve experienced on any 4×4 car launch, and — using the low-ratio ‘box — all the cars brushed it off effortlessly. Watching each of the wheels independently dip right inside the wheelarches then extend to their maximum travel to keep the body as level as possible, and gain as much grip as possible, is truly a wonder to behold.
And it’s equally sure-footed on sand, as our test on the dunes at Lambert’s Bay proved. Here, the advanced all terrain tyres were far from the ideal option but dropping the pressures down to around 20psi and engaging sand mode meant we had a fighting chance, and I’m glad to say I escaped the course without getting beached. This was also, by the way, one of the most entertaining parts of our drive.
The catch with the Defender Octa could be the price, which starts at £145,000 – some £50,000 more than a regular Defender 110. Our test car was even pricier: a First Edition model will set you back £161,000… or it would, if they weren’t all already allocated. And that’s the thing: people don’t seem to be put off one jot by the Octa’s loftier price, perhaps having noticed that the Merc G63 is even dearer (to the tune of more than 20 grand).
Choosing between them is a matter of taste, and another writer on the launch argued that the Mercedes offers a handbuilt product of even higher finish quality, as opposed to the Octa’s production-line finish. But given the incredible breadth of ability of the Defender, both on and off road, and its relatively exclusive nature (there’s no limit on numbers but it’ll still be rare – just over 2,000 First Editions are being produced globally), it could reasonably be said that the Octa is a bit of a bargain.
Related articles
- If you were interested in this Land Rover Defender Octa review, check out our report on the extended wheelbase Land Rover Defender 130
- Click here if you want to know more about the Defender Octa’s Body & Soul seat tech
- And here’s more on how Land Rover is taking on the Dakar rally with the Defender Octa
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