The new Land Rover Defender Octa is the most powerful and capable Defender ever

Limited to 1070 examples, with a spec sheet befitting of its top-end £158,000 price tag, the new flagship Defender, only available in the 110 body shape, is a way of showcasing the peak capabilities of the brand.

“This is a Defender on steroids; the pinnacle,” said brand boss Mark Cameron. “Nothing else on sale feels like this.”

The first model from the new Octa sub-brand for special-edition Defenders is powered by the same 4.4-litre BMW-derived V8 as the Range Rover, but here ramped up to a huge 626bhp and 590lb ft to rival the Mercedes-AMG G63.

That’s enough grunt to push the 2510kg SUV from 0-60mph in a supercar-baiting 3.8sec and all the way to a top speed of 155mph, coming close to the Range Rover Sport SV for outright pace, and dwarfing the standard Defender V8 – which uses JLR’s older supercharged V8 – by 108bhp.

But despite its prodigious on-road performance, the focus for the Octa is more on providing greater levels of off-road ability than any Land Rover yet.

As testament to its durability and duality, engineers put the Octa through 13,960 tests, clocking up 683,508 miles in challenging – and wildly varying – conditions all around the world, including on sand dunes in Dubai, around snow and ice circuits in Sweden, on track at the Nürburgring and at the unforgiving Dakar Rally proving ground in the south of France.

The Octa is also, JLR proudly boasts, the first car to be able to traverse every trail at Eastnor Castle, the famed proving ground Land Rover has been using for more than 60 years.

This was all “to demonstrate it could push the boundaries of what a Defender can do”, without compromising on-road drivability or comfort, Jamal Hameedi, boss of JLR’s SVO division for special vehicles, told Autocar.

“No one has ever made a car that is as good on-road as it is off-road, with no compromise to go between the two,” he said. “This was a white-sheet vehicle… to create something that is as fun on the Stelvio Pass as it is on a rally stage.”

Key to this flexibility is the Octa’s highly advanced chassis set-up.

The Octa is fitted with the technical 6D Dynamics suspension system from the Sport SV, which hydraulically links the dampers front to rear and side to side to actively keep the cabin as stable as possible without a physical anti-roll bar.

New front and rear bumpers increase the Defender’s maximum approach angle of 40deg (up from 37.5deg), departure angle of 42deg (from 40deg) and breakover angle of 29deg (from 27.9deg).

Ride height is also increased by 28mm over the benchmarked Defender 110 V8, with a maximum ground clearance of 319mm. Its wading depth has also improved by 100mm to one metre.

The maximum articulation is also significantly increased to 569mm from the standard 110’s 430mm.

Moreover, the Octa features longer and tougher wishbones, toughened underbody protection, and the quickest steering rack of any Defender yet to improve reaction times on extreme terrain - and the track.

As well as the standard drive modes, the flagship is equipped with a new Octa profile, which as well as priming the SUV for the toughest trails, has a dedicated off-road launch mode built in.

To get the most out of the flagship SUV engineers had to create a bespoke off-road tyre. Wrapped around specially designed 20in rims, the Advanced All-Terrain rubber was created in partnership with Goodyear and features a bespoke tread pattern. It is limited to a 99mph top speed.

“There's so many little stories where we refuse to compromise – that was the mentality – and that new tyre is one of them,” said Hameedi.

“Traditionally, an off-roader would say, ‘oh I want an 18in wheel with a tall sidewall for puncture resistance’, but then that ruins your on-road steering and handling, and you can't fit proper brakes.

“So we said: ‘no, we need proper on-road steering and handling, a lot of lateral stiffness, big brakes [Octa gets 400mm disks with Brembo callipers] because of the power, and to be puncture resistant’.

“But no one has all that. So, what we had to do is we had to invent a tyre from scratch.”

There is, though, a less extreme alternative that splits the difference between the bespoke All-Terrains and the standard, road-focused all-seasons, with a top speed of 130mph.

As well as its flared arches, exclusive alloys, and loftier ride, the Octa stands out from the standard Defender with a new, more open grille design and diamond Octa badge on its C-Pillar. All Octa models feature a contrasting gloss black roof and tailgate.

Inside, it gets new performance seats with a 3D-knit texture, an integrated headrest and a seamless finish, something that will be made available in other JLR products soon. The Octa also features the top-rung 11.4-inch infotainment screen, centre console fridge and Burnt Sienna semi-aniline leather as standard.

Priced from £145,300, the limited-run Octa is not only a crucial source of revenue generation for future product development, particularly the electrification of all four JLR brands, but it also shows how far the Defender brand can be taken, JLR UK boss Patrick McGillycuddy told Autocar.

Speaking at one of the Octa’s special ‘Elements’ client preview events, he said: “The capability and breadth of the brand is immense, as is, now, the capability and breadth of the product.

“We limit the volume to give these cars a special appeal, but they’ve also got to be incredible things; incredibly well engineered.”

The most hardcore variant will be the launch-spec Year One edition, which comes with the top-rung tyres, 20in wheels, a roof box and rear ladder. It is marked out from the standard Octa by carbon detailing, Faroe Green paint and khaki interior elements.

The more road-focused Octa (half of owners never take their Defenders off the tarmac) comes with 22in alloys wrapped in all-season rubber and retractable side steps.

Special colours also arrive with the Octa, such as Petra Copper, Faroe Green, Carpathian Grey and Charente Grey. Matte finishes – which include a protective film – of all colours are also available. These colours will all later filter into the core Defender range.

First deliveries of the Octa, which will make its dynamic debut at next week’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, will begin later this year. Order books open 31 July.

Although the Defender Octa wears a new flagship badge, in essence this is a Defender SVX.

It is a way of differentiating the Range Rover from Defender brands, said Defender boss Mark Cameron, with the former keeping the SV nameplate for its top-spec models.

In future, Discovery and Jaguar will also follow suit, SVO boss Jamal Hameedi said.

“Every brand will get its own special interpretation of what flagship means to that brand,” he explained.

Deciding what form these will take is the difficult part, he added. “It is challenging because you're innovating and creating as you go along. For example, if we would have done the Octa as an SV we would have had a formula to what we needed to do. But this is not an SV, so we had to change the rule.

He added, though, that this greatly enhances the engineers’ and designers’ freedom: “We can do whatever we want. We’ve broken the chains of the formula.”

How does JLR see the Defender brand?

“If we look at how we're carving up what used to be the Land Rover brand, Defender owns most of that, especially that go-anywhere, epic adventure side. So it's almost like you're translating what people know is Land Rover to now being Defender.

“That includes the Land Rover-branded experiences we offer, too, that will in time transition to Defender and we will use that to show customers what their cars are really capable of.”

What’s the brand direction for Defender?

“It’s going to be even more bulletproof, more robust, more durable, more ‘kick it and it still comes back for more’. We will, of course, be pushing forward with electric too and what that means for the brand, as well as a refresh for the current model to keep that fresh.”

How do you differentiate from Range Rover?

“It’s quite a task. At the moment we do have a shared retail footprint, but by having a really clear definition of what one brand is and what another is, and designing and engineering to the brief, you ultimately start moving to the separation.

“In short, Defender is ‘tough luxury’, and Ranger Rover is ‘refined luxury’. Although your delivery of what luxury is is totally different, it doesn’t mean you can’t charge a similar price.”

What’s your typical customer?

“These customers have a bit of a dream for something different. Yes, their day-to-day may be a school run or city commute, but they have this desire to be somewhere else, to go to their Everest; doing something epic one day.”

“And, according to our data, at least 50% of owners take their cars off-road at least once a month.”