2025 Land Rover Defender 110 OCTA First Drive: The No-Compromise Off-Roader

It’s hard to argue the Land Rover Defender is anything short of a living legend. Its continent-crossing bona fides date to when such feats were still reserved for the most capable explorers and gearheads—we often take for granted how durable modern vehicles really are. Defenders of old have been restored and imitated many times over, and the latest model blew everyone’s expectations away when it arrived in 2020 as a comfortable and capable luxury off-roader. In fact, we named it our SUV of the Year. 

Since then, Land Rover has methodically introduced new variants and features to keep the Defender fresh between more substantial updates. Now comes the burliest and most badass twist yet, the the 2025 Defender OCTA, which is the closest thing to a complete overhaul. It’s the extreme off-road version we didn’t know we needed, but after a few days in South Africa rock crawling and ripping through dirt and dunes at high speed, we already find it hard to live without.  

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“Completely Overhauled” While Being Completely Familiar 

On the outside, the OCTA doesn’t scream “Look at me! I’m cool and extreme!” as it lacks the stickers/billboards that have unfortunately become commonplace on over-the-top factory off-roaders. Thus, the model remains on brand, appealing to customers who appreciate ultimate capability draped in luxury appeal. Moonlight Satin Chrome or chopped carbon fiber are applied as trim, and the OCTA gets a unique grille and new bumpers. A killer quad-exit active exhaust lets the all-new V-8 breathe with a refined snarl. A subtle Edition One badge is applied to early examples, while the reductive OCTA logo sprinkled here and there serves as a final subtle signal of its pedigree. Taken together, it’s a wholly attractive package; our favorite tells, though, are the wider fenders and track width. Despite this, the Defender is still narrow enough to avoid making tight European streets a chore.   

It’s the same story inside, where it’s largely the same Defender we’ve come to know, albeit with two new interior themes, new edge-lit shifter paddles, an OCTA mode steering-wheel button, and performance seats with Body and Soul Seat (BASS) audio tech.  

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Hold Up – All-new V-8?

Oh, yeah—the new engine. Right.  

Under the hood, the OCTA stands out with a new 4.4-liter twin-turbo mild hybrid V-8—a completely different beast than the supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 that made its debut in the Defender SUV 2023. Combusting gasoline to the tune of 626 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque, it’s the most powerful Defender yet with more than 100 additional horses and lb-ft than the 5.0-liter, and peak torque digs in at only 1,800 rpm and stretches all the way out to a healthy 6,000 rpm. It’s estimated to be the quickest, with a proposed sprint to 60 mph of only 3.8 seconds, 0.2 second quicker than the initial target. With the new OCTA off-road launch mode, you can put that figure to the test off the pavement, too. On the road, we’re told the OCTA can reach speeds 155 mph when equipped with the lightweight 22-inch wheels and 275/50R22 Michelin Primacy all-season tires.  

The output is still sent through an eight-speed automatic transmission and two-speed transfer case, but the transmission tuning and throttle response are more aggressive than in 5.0-liter V-8 Defenders. That engine is tuned more for leisurely pavement pounding, but the new powerplant is purpose-built with performance in mind. It was a joint venture with BMW, but the OCTA's 4.4-liter gets its own unique intake, exhaust, oil sump, and calibration to properly serve its purpose.  

Oddly enough, the Defender wasn’t even designed to accommodate eight cylinders, so the fact we now have two such models is an impressive feat. (American companies have some explaining to do given how Europeans keep cranking out new bent eights.) The twin-turbo setup is a more difficult packaging endeavor than the supercharged engine, but the engineers managed to keep thermal management under control. As cool as they look, the hood and fender vents are far more than design frippery. 

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God Bless the Rains

To show off the Defender OCTA’s ability to tackle harsh terrain with maximum effort, JLR brought us to Cape Town. Beyond the variety of surfaces, Land Rover’s rich history in Africa justified the months-long operation to set up the excursion as the logical choice. The Oxford and Cambridge Exploration Society embarked on a trans-African expedition in the mid-1950s, making the Series Land Rovers of the day some of the first vehicles anyone on the continent had even seen. Unprompted by JLR, Land Rovers are so celebrated that among the first things you see in Cape Town’s airport is a massive mural depicting the Defender behind the passport checkpoint.   

We started our 400-mile journey in the Cederberg mountains, tackling paved, winding roads. There, the OCTA was far more exciting than we guessed, although we shouldn’t be surprised given the Defender is highly engaging to drive for an SUV. That was the clincher when we tabbed it as the winner in a comparison test against  the Lexus GX550 last year. 

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That’s a Wicked Suspension  

Dive deep into what’s underneath the Defender OCTA—like its full-length underbody protection—and you’ll find it’s more of a different beast there. It still uses an air-sprung independent multilink setup at each corner, but beefier components are mounted with different geometry, and the air springs are hydraulically linked in place of an anti-roll bar. It’s an incredibly robust setup, as we discovered when another driver on our program blasted a 14-inch-tall concrete block on the roadside with a front wheel at 25 mph and nothing of any consequence broke. After a tire swap and sacrificing a trim piece, that particular Defender was on its way again. 

 Maximum ground clearance for intentional excursions improves from 11.5 inches to 12 inches, and although wheel articulation is one of the mainstream Defender’s few weak points, the OCTA’s new system can decouple each wheel independently in real time. Having to rock crawl in and out of Bushmans Kloof wilderness reserve, we loved the system’s active nature and avoided having to fiddle around with anti-roll bar disconnects. Because the corners are linked diagonally instead of laterally, the OCTA has better pitch and roll control than similar competitive systems like that of the Rivian R1T and R1S. Triple-valve continuously variable semi-active dampers round out what the company calls the 6D Dynamics suspension system, with separate comfort, jounce, and rebound valves working to keep the Defender OCTA steady even over many of the washboarded gravel roads we encountered.  

 We put the OCTA through its paces again on the high-speed off-road track at Bushmans Kloof. Enabling OCTA mode makes the stability controls and background roll stability controls the least invasive of any Land Rover/Defender product for maximum off-road mayhem. More power is sent to the rear wheels than in the Dynamic or alternate terrain modes in other Defenders, for example. Defender’s first ever 20-inch forged wheels house massive, 15.7-inch rotors and six-piston monobloc Brembo calipers—two more pots than in 5.0-liter V-8 models—a strong setup that kept us from overshooting turns on the course. And we appreciated the quicker 13.7:1 steering ratio as we countersteered with the gas pedal firmly planted. We heard some of the exhaust on the road, but not enough—here was the opportunity to finally hear it open up. 

Next we headed to Lambert’s Bay sand dunes, where the sweeping turns and wider, more forgiving roads let us push the OCTA more than we could in the mountains. Three tire options are available, with the choice of all-seasons and available 22-inch wheels or two off-road options. But even on the most aggressive off-road rubber, we can imagine the OCTA would still be a riot around the Nürburgring, where Land Rover lapped it extensively during development. Do you know any other off-roaders that spent development time at legendary road courses? It’s a telling sign that JLR pulled out all the stops to make the OCTA happen. That any vehicle can have so much personality on so many surfaces is pure magic. The dunes only reinforced that opinion. The quicker ratio was helpful in the sand, and even with electronic assist, the large wheels and tires gave us enough feel to pilot the OCTA properly. Airing down the tires to 20 psi provided the grip load distribution we needed, and of the entire convoy, not a single tire came off the bead.   

For expeditions of all types, the OCTA has an increased payload capacity (JLR did not have an exact number yet) and keeps the 7,716-pound max towing of the Defender 110 with a 5.0-liter V-8. Static roof loading is still 370 pounds, or 291 pounds after installing the roof rack. (Zero load up top is required to activate OCTA mode.) This is a shift from other hardcore off-road vehicles that typically become less capable of doing work. For even more capability, water fording depth jumps to nearly 40 inches. Is there anywhere the OCTA can’t go? Even halfway around the world, we couldn’t find such a place.

What’s Not to Love?

It’s hard to find any complaints with the Defender OCTA. The ability to both serve as a luxurious daily driver and then, at the drop of a hat, explore the deepest corners of the planet is what makes the Defender lineup one of the most versatile in the world. The OCTA is all that, cranked to eleven, and early sales have been brisk. What’s next? We’re told there’s likely one more boundary-pushing vehicle coming, so stay tuned.