Land Rover Defender Octa First Drive Review

The Defender Octa is Land Rover’s haute cuisine—following a tried-and-tested recipe: stuff a ridiculously high dose of power under the hood of an off-roader and watch the world drool. And drool we did. But there’s more to this pricey off-roader than just a BMW-supplied, 4.4-litre, nearly 630bhp V8, roaring its way from a standstill to 100kmph in just four seconds!

The Defender Octa also has a fantastic road presence. In fact, one of the biggest reasons to buy the Octa—and the Defender in general—is the way it looks. It causes a stir in your heart that makes you want one. Even after half a decade of remaining mostly unchanged, its proportions, squared-off lines, butch stance, and the promise of going anywhere and doing anything keep it firmly in the want column.

For the Octa, there’s a new, mean matte colour scheme. This is accentuated by black chrome detailing—whether it’s the badging, wheel arch outlines, roof rails, or the ORVMs and pillars A to D. Then you have the technical-yet-purposeful-looking 20-inch alloys wrapped in BF Goodrich all-terrain tyres. I also quite like the bronze finish on the tow hooks; they add a bit of pop to an otherwise mean but understated look.

Land Rover has given the Octa’s interior a properly utilitarian, pseudo-military vibe—especially in the khaki interior trim our press car came with. One can also order it in brown, black, or a whitish tone, which might be the more sensible thing to do. You see, this is a nearly Rs. 3 crore car, but the khaki interior doesn’t do it any favours and makes the Octa’s cabin look quite ordinary and low-key.

Other Octa-specific bits include sportier front bucket seats, new paddle shifters with edge illumination, and an additional button at the bottom of the steering wheel with a diamond logo. A long press on this button awakens the rally spirit—the ‘Octa mode’—making it gravel-road ready by supplying up to 85 per cent of the drive to the rear wheels. The rest of the interior is similar to what you get in the regular 110, which means acceptable room and seating for three at the back, average-sized boot, and loads of glass area courtesy of the panoramic sunroof.

In terms of utility, there’s good storage in the front central console, usable door pockets all around, and a drop-down central rear armrest complete with two cup holders. And given that this is the most expensive Defender you can buy in the country today, it’s also the best equipped.

Did we mention the Defender Octa is drool-inducing? Well, it is—and the credit for that squarely lies in the way it drives.

That engine—the BMW-supplied 4.4-litre V8—is a gem. It’s relaxed, quiet, torquey, and friendly when you want to take things easy. Not slow, mind you—just easy. But when you shift to Dynamic and floor the throttle, the engine transforms into this hungry monster, devouring the road with an insatiable appetite. Think Taz from Looney Tunes, but without the dim-wittedness.

The Octa just squats, grips, and shoots ahead with such flamboyant theatrics, that you can’t get enough of it. We found ourselves in Dynamic almost all the time—fuel efficiency be damned—and flooring the throttle at every given instance. The sound, acceleration, feeling of superiority, and invincibility... it's just too heady a mix to let go.

This did present a challenge, nonetheless. Hauling over 2.5 tonnes of mass with such ferocity builds tremendous momentum. And we found the Octa’s brakes seriously lacking when it came to cutting it down. The pedal felt wooden under hard braking, and the brakes in general seemed to lack the power and bite needed to stop something this massive efficiently. They did feel fine during our regular city runs, but we expected better to truly appreciate the Octa’s performance potential.

There are other downsides too. The steering—though quicker than the regular Defender’s—still feels vague and devoid of feedback. There’s also pronounced body movement when not driven in Dynamic mode, which makes the SUV feel large and loose. But then again, Dynamic mode ruins the ride comfort, which otherwise is quiet, absorbent, and almost all-conquering—especially for an SUV running on air springs.

But then, the Defender claws all that criticism back with how it defies physics when it comes to handling—again, in Dynamic mode. It doesn’t roll as excessively as a car this heavy and tall should. It changes direction quicker and more eagerly than a car of this size and weight ought to. As a result, you end up treating and driving the Octa like a much smaller, sportier SUV than it actually is. And it continues to oblige.

As for off-roading, we did take it on some slushy, rocky, and gravelly trails, but nothing challenging enough to bring the Defender’s full capability to the fore. For that, we’ll have to wait another day.

If you like your SUV big, burly, fast, and athletic, the Defender Octa is a no-brainer—provided, of course, you have Rs. 3 crore to spend on a car. And then many lakh more for upkeep if you end up driving and treating it the way it was envisioned. Yes, it isn’t very luxurious, and the look and feel of the interiors are nowhere near its price tag. But as we said, this one is an emotional buy—it stirs the right feelings when you look at it, when you drive it, and when you realise that, come hell or high water, this one will just keep going.

Photography: Kaustubh Gandhi