It forces you to rewrite what your idea of performance is.
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It forces you to rewrite what your idea of performance is.
It’s Defender’s unparalleled flagship. Our Defender Octa road test took place against the backdrop of Speed Week 2025. We drove it among the company of other more traditional sports cars. 911’s, RWD BMW’s and Alfa Romeo’s, hot hatches etc. The Defender was the anomaly in that sort of company, yet on paper, it certainly ticked all of the sports car boxes. But still, you’d look at it and your brain would say nee man. Ngeke. A Defender, a behemoth of pressed aluminium and off-road intent has no business standing among the best performance cars in South Africa. Not here in this company, next to badges forged on racetracks since the early 1900s? And yet… actually, there it stood…Not by accident. Not as a novelty. Quite simply because it forces you to rewrite what your idea of performance is. That’s what it did to us.
This isn’t a Defender in the old, slow-crawl-through-the-muck sense. This is the most unfiltered, unrestrained, physics-haunting Defender ever built. It’s a machine that was created with a very clear performance purpose: to go further, faster and harder across the most gruelling surfaces than any of its ancestors (and us) thought possible. It exists because JLR needed a test bed for its Dakar 2026 intentions, and the moment you drive it, you understand exactly why the brand felt brave enough to return to the world’s toughest race. The Dakar challenger, the new Defender DX7R didn’t just win its class at the Dakar – it dominated the class bagging 1st, 2nd and 3rd on the podium. As it did at the Dakar, the Octa that you and I can buy, totally obliterated what we knew about Speed, re-calibrating our brains and expressions of performance.
On paper, the Octa speaks volumes. It’s powered by a BMW-sourced, 4.4-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 petrol motor. Paired to an 8-speed ZF-transmission with the option of a proper paddle-shift system, the Octa is good for 467kW and 750Nm. Of course, power is sent to all four of, in our case, the 20-inch, BF Goodrich Trail Terrain tyres that are set up to move to the conduct of a complex, interlinked suspension system. In Octa speak, it’s called the 6D Dynamics Air Suspension, a hydraulically operated system that controls vehicle suspension and chassis in six dimensions of movement. There are no anti-roll bars on the Octa, and the interlinked system can condition each wheel for optimal damping depending on the terrain and need. The Octa has also been raised by 28mm, its track width widened by 68mm and its underbody bolstered with further strengthening and protection. Every measure of performance on the Octa is far better than ever including its rock-crawling ability, departure and break-over angles, its wading depth, now 1-metre, its acceleration, braking, agility too. All lovely…on paper. In reality though…the experience is staggering.
In order to really test the Octa’s ability, we set up a rally stage using the gravel service roads on the exterior perimeter of Aldo Scribante, a complex series of switchbacks, dips and hairpins. Our 3.4km stage was unreal in its mix of loose sand, rocky patches and everything in between. It even included a massive compression dip and a koppie off which the Defender was made to fly. And let’s be clear: it can fly. Properly. We sent the Octa down this narrow, gravel-strewn runway at 120… 130… 160kph, and it took flight again and again. Smooth take-off. Stable mid-air. Superbly clean landing. No rear tail wagging, no “uh-oh” moments and no warning chimes – just calm, confident rebound with pre-primed dampers that soften every time the Octa goes airborne.
Those antics done, the Octa stirs a dust storm through the rally stage. There’s a wild nature to how that engine delivers linear and raw power in every gear. Those translucent, edge-lit paddles work an absolute charm allowing you to hold a gear as you throw the Defender into controlled and measured tail slides. Its steering is unexpectedly pliable and its ride height and masterful damping make for surging runs into a technical dips that compresses the whole body into the earth without any anxiety or bottoming out. But it’s the brakes that beggar belief, upgraded discs and pads as well as re-calibrated ABS system mean the Octa stops on loose surfaces with the same level of confidence as when on tarmac. Swop the gravel and ruts for the Aldo Scribante Raceway or the open road, an the Octa continues to dazzle. Sure it’s more top-heavy than every other sports car here, but it still a Defender. It is still a massive chunk of vehicle with enough space to cart an overlanding family to the outskirts of nowhere.
On the inside, the family will at the very least, enjoy Defender levels of luxury and sapce accommodation. The Octa is still a comfortable, exceptionally thought out cabin but just to remind you of its speciality, the Defender Octa sports some unique touches. You’ll immediately notice carbon fibre weave inlays on the doors, the dashboard and the superb, seamless Octa Performance seats. They offer the perfect level of comfort for the open road and the right level of side bolstering and support for when you’re at full opposite-lock in the dirt. The seats also incorporate part of a multi-sensory audio experience which speaks to the high level of luxury and appointments at this price level. What’s quite remarkable about the Octa is how functional and normal it seems from the inside. It feels absolutely the family car, with Land Rover’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment, a generous helping of charging ports and a wireless cradle, not to mention a cabin that is airy, extra spacious and hard-wearing. These are all pointers to a great family car. Can you see where this is going?
Also found on the interior is a glowing red Octa button at the bottom of the steering wheel. It’s not novel in terms of what it does but it is novel for Defender. It’s the button that transforms the Octa from calm family car to weaponised terrain monger. And I like that. I like that I don’t have to comb through a bevy of drive modes and menus to get to the good stuff. You still can operate the various drive modes, but the Octa button dials it all up to max and allows for the hair-raising, goosebump-inducing experience that you can see in some of these images.
At close to R4M, the Defender Octa isn’t anywhere close to cheap. It straddles the line of trying to entice G-Class customers or hyper SUV shoppers, some of which are a lot more expensive. Yet, for what it is, the Octa can be argued to be the best value-for-money buy among them. It really is an overengineered car. It really can do things that owners will quite possibly never have to or need to do.
The Defender Octa Black is also an option at some R300k more money. It adds the level of stealth and blacked out trim treatment that is so popular nowadays.
Ultimately, the Defender can do it all and it will fit a lifestyle that allows for that. If it’s going to spend 99% of its time in city traffic, it would work just fine but it would be a complete and utter waste. Rather buy the Cayenne you may be considering. But if you’re about ultimate lifestyle enjoyment – the off-roading, outdoorsy type who will actively look for opportunity to drive the Octa where it was ultimately intended, then you’ll find more joy and value to Octa ownership than you may imagine.
As the off-shoot tangent at Speed Week 2025, the Defender Octa didn’t just earn its place there. It nearly stole the whole show. It really did. The Octa didn’t just challenge our understanding of performance as a concept – it shattered it. A car this size shouldn’t rocket across sand or gravel with the poise and control of a small sports car. It shouldn’t accelerate, brake or turn the way it does. It shouldn’t jump and land with such calm. It’s a car that feels equally able to be weaponised as it is to be called upon to very comfortably drive the family to church on Sunday in unnoticeable modesty. There’s a duality to the Octa that is mind-shifting. As the more experienced rally ace Mandla took the team for a spirited run in the Octa, their reaction summed it all up. Equal parts terror, equal parts awe. Wide eyes. Nervous laughter. “How is this possible?” was whispered more than once. Ntsako exclaimed, “thank God we didn’t all die.”
Any issues with the Octa. Not much. TopGear UK named it the Best Off-Roader for the 2025 Awards. We did the same, only to add another award to its cabinet – All The Car You Need. Some excalimed that its “Defender-ness” didn’t quite stir the soul as performance car with more evocotaive designs might. Some said, “it’s still a Defender after all.” Some said it was “really expensive.” I disagree with all of those opinions.
We fought hard to bring the Defender Octa to Speed Week, and we’re so glad we did. Our time with it is etched into our collective memory forever. What a car.
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