The SUV will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next week. The Oct is based on Defender 110 but gets major upgrades for increased dynamics, improved off-road capability, a new suspension setup, updates to the chassis and also gets off-road focused exterior elements. The bookings for the Defender Octa will commence in the second week of July. The Defender Octa is offered in four paint schemes, featuring two exclusive premium metallic finishes – Petra Copper and Faroe Green, as well as Carpathian Grey and Charente Grey. The Faroe Green colour is exclusive to the limited-run Defender Octa Edition One model.
First let’s talk about the powertrain, as mentioned previously the Defender Octa is the most powerful Defender ever. The SUV is powered by BMW BMW-sourced 4.4-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine with mild-hybrid tech. The engine puts out 635hp of power and 750Nm of torque, with torque output increasing to 800 nm with launch control. It comes paired with an 8-speed automatic gearbox can sprint from 0-100 kph in 4 seconds and has a top speed of 250 kph (both claimed).
The Defender Octa features a ‘6D Dynamic’ suspension system which can also be found in the Range Rover Sport SV. It’s a hydraulic system that connects dampers across the vehicle, enabling active management of pitch and roll without a traditional anti-roll bar. This setup ensures sufficient wheel articulation for demanding off-road conditions while maintaining on-road performance and comfort. The SUV also features longer and tougher wishbones and the quickest steering rack of any Defender yet which improves reaction times over extreme terrain and on the track. It also gets a new Octa setting, which, in addition to priming the SUV for the toughest trails and has a dedicated off-road launch mode built in.
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Talking about the exterior design, the overall silhouette remains the same as the Defender but gets slight cosmetic changes and revised dimensions. It gets re-designed front and rear bumpers for better approach and departure angles and the front grill revised for improved airflow. It gets the same LED headlights, and taillights but the Octa additionally gets an encircled diamond graphic which shows a black diamond within a titanium disc on the panel behind the rear window. The Octa’s height has been raised by 28mm, the track has widened by 68mm, and the wheel arches have been extended to fit larger off-road alloy wheels.
Moving inside, it gets the same interior layout as the standard model but here it gets dual-tone theme. Customers can choose between Burnt Sienna and Ebony, or Light Cloud and Lunar. The Octa Edition One only has a Khaki and Ebony interior. The front seats now get improved bolster support and integrated headrests. The Defender Octa has been tested in various extreme conditions such as taking countless laps of the Nordschleife, tackling Michelin’s wet-weather handling circuit in France, testing its traction control on Swedish ice and on most challenging off-road trails in Dubai and Utah. JLR claims it has conducted 13,960 additional tests on top of the standard Defender test programme.