Overdrive
Other interesting cars we’ve been driving
Defender is refined and able,
Feel the earth move
2025 Land Rover Defender OCTA Elliott Hughes
BACK IN 1947, when Maurice Wilks sketched the original Land Rover, it’s doubtful he foresaw a 635bhp version on the distant horizon. Yet that’s what the Defender OCTA is: a leather-lined powerhouse that conceals a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8, shared with the Range Rover Sport SV and the BMW M5, no less.
Conventional wisdom suggests that stuffing a 635bhp V8 into a lofty 2½-tonne off-roader makes as much sense as strapping a jet engine to a canal boat – but the OCTA has a trick up its Barbour jacket sleeve. That ace is JLR’s 6D Dynamics suspension system. Instead of conventional anti-roll bars, the system uses hydraulically interlinked semi-active dampers to dramatically reduce pitch and body roll on the road while providing greater wheel articulation should you venture into the wilderness. Meanwhile, a central Load Distribution Unit controls squat and dive under acceleration and braking.