Land Rover Defender OCTA 2027 review

As rumours rumble that a pure electric Land Rover Defender has been further delayed, it’s only right we celebrate the most powerful, quickest, expensive and unhinged ’Fender of all: the twin-turbo V8 OCTA.

This aggressively wide-arched OCTA won’t help Land Rover’s NVES efficiency score, the environment, or your fuel bills, but it will remind you why you love cars. And performance. And noise. 

This excessive, extreme and extraordinary Defender OCTA costs from a punchy $304,500 plus on-roads, price-pitching it with the full-fat Range Rover line-up. 

But if you want what’s likely the world’s fastest production off-road SUV with rough-stuff abilities, the deep-pocketed fraternity need look no further.

Owning one is a mighty flex. But how do you use it? It’s such high value that even the hyper-wealthy must question scraping its sides on bush scrub, rock-knocking the underside, or ploughing through hot soft sand at high revs for extended periods. 

The OCTA will do such things, but the above would feel less anxiety-inducing in a $90k Ford Ranger Raptor.

Different class and buyer, I know. Perhaps it’s nearest rival is the $368,400 Mercedes-AMG G63, a vehicle seemingly the reserve of “have you seen me?” inner-city gym owners. 

Conversely, the Defender OCTA has proper “get me dirty” vibes. It looks tough as nails. Next to a normal Defender, stance is widened 68mm and complemented with fatter bolt-on arches; then sits 28mm higher.

Its air suspension offers up to 326mm ground clearance, and it’ll wade to 1000mm. A chopped carbon fibre snorkel is just one desirable cost option.

Urban dwellers may be satisfied with 22-inch wheels and all-season tyres. But, you must option the satin black 20-inch cast alloys, shod in Goodyear 33-inch diameter all-terrains, as seen in the images and used for our test.

Our drive was across three disciplines: a fast and twisty bitumen track, a sodden skid pan slalom, and a skinny off-road track, all at Brisbane’s Mount Cotton driver training facility. 

Sadly, no loose-surface fast dirt road section – surely the OCTA’s preferred playground – but check out editor-at-large Nathan Ponchard’s video for his overseas test showing such shenanigans.

With its dark and brooding colour choices (Sargasso Blue, Petra Copper or Woolstone Green all float my boat) it looks ready-made for the Dakar Rally. 

As let’s not forget, the same BMW-sourced 4.4L boosted V8 was also used in the Defender Dakar D7X-R which won the 8000km Dakar’s Stock division, plus every stage along the way.

The OCTA doesn’t appear quite as tough as those Dakar racers, but its muscled arches, larger front intake, redesigned bumpers, underbody protection and numerous gold recovery hooks ensures it looks the business. 

The numerous flush rear lights with smoked lenses and tailgate-mounted full-size spare make it a lovely thing to follow.

Move inside the cabin and it’s expectedly plush but with a simple, rugged-feeling fit-out. 

Screen’s a well-placed 13.1-inch effort with myriad off-road info displays and cameras galore, and lengthy choice of drive modes adjusting engine, transmission, stability/traction control to suit.

Some when paying $300k+ may expect a dash more luxe, but this Defender stays true to its rugged roots with lots of useful storage, grab handles and physical buttons. 

It’s no Bentley on the luxury presentation front, and the perforated leathery seats look incongruously thin. But they’re surprisingly supportive, and feature “immersive Body and Soul” seat audio, with bass speakers in the headrests, and “haptic transducers” in the backs, helping you feel the music through good vibrations. 

Immersive stuff, but careful with your playlist or you hop out feeling like you’ve stood too long beside stack amps at an AC/DC gig. 

So, the drive. A long prod on the steering wheel’s OCTA button moves everything to 11. 

There’s a baritone rumble from the engine, which gloriously intensifies as revs build, then delivers the snarls and crackles of a GT3 engine on lift-off.

God it’s quick. Despite weighing 2585kg it’ll find 100km/h in four-seconds flat using launch mode. In OCTA Mode, drive is split 20:80, so the rear squats down and the front rises as you stomp the accelerator. There’s a wonderful, WRC safari rally-like amount of pitch.

On the bitumen, Dynamic Mode’s the pick. Steering, throttle and suspension are optimised for on-road, and there’s decent balance and comfort considering this Landie’s heft. 

But the knobbly tyres mean corners, especially tight ones, must be treated with kid gloves. Too soon or greedy on the throttle and it’s snowplough time, even if the rear electronic diff does an otherwise sterling job of pulling you into an apex.

With the steering wheel straight, rolling acceleration – and the noise – is utterly addictive. The 400mm brakes – giant things – haul it rapidly to a halt. Steering’s sharp, and it has moments of feeling altogether agile in the right circumstances.

A wet skid pan brings more laughs, but again, this isn’t ideal OCTA territory. 

You want a bit of roll on low grip surfaces, and it’s a communicative big thing as it leans side to side – but be careful – for the sheer acceleration on offer means you could rapidly get into trouble if straying off-line.

Kudos to the new “6D Dynamics” air suspension. It’s wildly complex, with hydraulically interlinked triple-valve semi-active dampers sending fluid to dampers on different sides, eliminating the need for anti-roll bars. In short, ride comfort is excellent, and if not in OCTA mode, the pitch is comprehensively managed. 

En route to a challenging off-road climb, I fantasise about rocking up to a dirt khanacross in an OCTA. The loose stuff is what this big SUV needs.

Into low range shift (completely clunk-free) and you can file through countless drive modes. The centre diff, like the rear one, is an active electronic unit. 

It walks the off-road course, and rock mode handily blunts throttle response or we’d rip up the ground. Skinny trails feel hazardous though as this OCTA’s not exactly slim-hipped. Bumping a $300k off-roader would sting.

Quoted fuel economy is 13.1L/100km, but we were nudging 20L/100km during our activities. And while pondering that, I had a quick crack in a Defender 110 P425 with 5.0L V8, and it’s hardly an old slug. 

As these start from $127,100 and are also seriously capable, attractive SUVs, that OCTA price truly stands out for excessiveness.

But if money’s no object, why the hell not? In fact, a stealth OCTA Black can be had from $313,800, while it’s confirmed Australia will ultimately receive an even more hardcore Defender Dakar, sharing OCTA components, no doubt costing more again.

I’d imagine current OCTA owners may get a tad grumpy about this, thinking they’d already secured the ultimate Defender. This Dakar version brings goodies like race seats and a Flight Mode for helping control during jumps.

Just when you believed things couldn’t get madder…