Land Rover Defender Octa: riding in the 626bhp V8 all-terrain monster
evo takes an early passenger ride in Land Rover’s most focused Defender model to date in prototype form
Land Rover’s range-topping Defender Octa has had its global debut at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed. evo hitched a ride on board the new 626bhp 4x4 up Goodwood Hill, with chief engineer for vehicle dynamics Shaun Birch.
The Octa’s name is inspired by diamonds (so called because of their octahedral shape), because this Defender 110-based model sets out to be the toughest and sharpest Defender variant yet. It will cost from £145,300 when order books open at the end of July 2024.
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The ‘octa’ reference is also apt because this car has eight cylinders. Unlike the ordinary Defender V8, which makes use of JLR’s now-discontinued supercharged 5-litre V8, the Octa features a BMW-derived 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged mild-hybrid unit, producing 626bhp and 553lb ft of torque (590lb ft in launch mode) to make it the most powerful factory Defender to date. Its output is identical to its Range Rover Sport SV relative.
Performance is predictably brisk, with 0-60mph said to come in 3.8sec and top speed at 155mph when equipped with the lightweight 22-inch wheels and all-season tyres. The transmission is the same eight-speed unit as before, featuring high- and low-range ratios.
To match its heightened focus, the Defender Octa utilises numerous bespoke pieces of bodywork to set it apart from the rest of the range. Covering its widened track and bespoke 33-inch Goodyear all-terrain tyres are extended front and rear arches, adding 60mm to its overall width. A new front bumper has also been designed to match, and Land Rover took the opportunity to modify the grilles for airflow and improve approach and departure angles.
The rear has received the same treatment, with a bespoke bumper incorporating the rectangular tips of its new active exhaust system which has been rerouted to improve the rear departure angle to better than that of a Defender 90. Proving these changes go beyond aesthetics, the Octa now has the highest wading depth of any Defender, at up to one metre.
Land Rover Defender Octa passenger ride at Goodwood
evo stepped into the Octa’s passenger seat at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the car made its dynamic debut. It’s still a prototype at the moment; production-spec cars are still some way off, and so it has prototype stickers and an emergency shut-off button on the centre console, but otherwise the interior feels very much the finished item, with the chopped carbonfibre trim in place and a solid feel of quality.
Rather than turning the Defender into a sports car, the Octa’s remit is to be fun on loose surfaces, with a new Octa driving mode intended for charging around dusty trails and quarries, for example, while also being refined and neat-handling on the road in its other driving modes. The car’s computers can also tell when it’s in the air, allowing the Octa to be jumped higher and further than other Defenders without issue. There are three tyre options, the most road-focused being all-terrain tyres and the most extreme being chunky ‘POR’ (Professional Off-Road) tyres – as fitted to this prototype.
Behind the wheel for our passenger ride is Shaun Birch, chief engineer for vehicle dynamics. He explains that Land Rover took some of the learnings from the Range Rover SV for the Octa, while being keen to keep the Defender’s character. It uses the same ‘6D’ interconnected suspension system, with bespoke springs and dampers for the Octa, and tuned very differently from the Range Rover SV. The suspension system could be set up to allow the car to corner ‘totally flat if you wish,’ he explains, which wouldn’t be appropriate for this car, but has allowed the anti-roll bars to be removed, for greater wheel articulation off-road.
‘On this car, we can really use the system to give you other attributes than in the Range Rover SV; for example massive articulation for rock crawling, or if you’re driving in a quarry, for instance, you can really smash over terrain,’ Birch explains. At the same time, he adds, the system is tuned to still give on-road refinement and performance in terms of roll control and comfort in its road-biased driving modes.
Despite its off-road-focused tyres, the Octa feels stable and predictable as Birch attacks the hill. He explains that the car has been engineered to be playful, and it is possible to pivot it easily and naturally into oversteer, particularly on the POR tyres. He has the car set to Octa mode, which can be accessed via a shortcut switch on the steering wheel (one press for Dynamic mode, a longer press for Octa) and illuminates the transparent gearshift paddles red when activated.
Octa mode is intended more for off-road, loose-surface fun than tarmac, biasing the drivetrain’s torque rearwards and setting the suspension to be a little softer than Dynamic mode for rough terrain. Nonetheless, the Octa feels stable and predictable on the tarmac Goodwood Hill in Birch’s hands.
The Octa’s chassis and suspension was subject to an 18-month development process, with ‘a lot more physical testing in the field’ than typical model variants, given the likely more extreme usage scenario for this car. Nonetheless, you sense the Octa is a car that could be fun on tarmac as well as on dust, gravel and rocks.
On the way down the hill, it’s worth noting that the POR tyres kick out a lot of road noise but the Octa feels a refined car otherwise from the passenger seat, despite its more extreme remit.
Land Rover Defender Octa – everything else you need to know
More subtle tweaks can be found underneath, which now happens to be (slightly) more accessible than before thanks to a 28mm increase in ride height (partly from suspension and partly from the larger tyres). Land Rover has added an aluminium alloy plate beneath the engine to offer greater impact protection, with bronze front and rear recovery points permanently on display. Look closely and you’ll also spot the Octa diamond graphic on each example, with a gloss black diamond displayed on a machined titanium disc.
To ensure its new range-topper can perform both on-road and off, Land Rover has gone well beyond mere design tweaks and a power bump. Hydraulically interlinked in a similar fashion to the set-up found in modern McLarens, the Octa’s new 6D Dynamics suspension is said to make it the sharpest Defender yet and capable of all but eliminating pitch and body roll on the road. Its flexibility also allows for a huge range of motion when off-road, ensuring it maintains the loose-surface performance we’ve come to expect.
Longer, tougher wishbones and new active dampers with separate accumulators are among the uprated chassis components designed to contribute to the Octa’s performance, with uprated 400mm front brake discs and the fastest steering ratio on any Defender also part of the package. As you’d expect, there are a variety of driver modes to take advantage of this new hardware, including an Octa mode to boost performance off-road and apply a dedicated anti-lock braking calibration for loose surfaces.
The cabin features the same rugged design as the rest of the range, but new Performance seats are now equipped for improved support, featuring more substantial bolsters, integrated headrests and in-seat speakers for more immersive sound. Opt for the Edition One and you’ll also receive ‘3D Knit’ materials, chopped carbonfibre trim (similar to the forged carbonfibre launched on the Huracán Performante) and Khaki and Ebony Ultrafabric upholstery; a set of 20-inch forged wheels also come as part of the Edition One package.
The Edition One is priced at £160,800, compared with £145,300 for the standard Octa. Customer deliveries for the production car are currently scheduled to begin in the latter half of 2025.
