Shine On Crazy Diamond
Oct 2, 2025
Meet the extreme performance hero of the mighty Defender family. If you want the best of the best, there’s no need to look past the Defender OCTA.
You’re looking at the most extreme, most powerful Defender ever built. This is the dark lord of dirt.
Boasting 467kW peak power and 750Nm of torque from its 4.4-litre twin turbo V8, the Defender OCTA arrives with heavily revised chassis components that ensure its dynamic capabilities are off the chart.
As to be expected, approach, departure and break-over angles have all increased over the standard Defender 110. The OCTA arrives wearing specially developed 33” diameter tyres – the largest ever fitted to a production Defender. Paired with a 29mm suspension lift, it’s purpose-built to coast over almost any obstacle.
In creating the OCTA, Land Rover also introduced to the Defender model what it refers to as hydraulically interlinked ‘6D Dynamics’ suspension technology. This is designed to eliminate the traditional anti-roll bar of old and instead controls body movement in six dimensions (pitch and roll, with individual wheel control) for better handling. It also reduces body roll during acceleration and braking, providing a near-level body stance. The system uses interlinked hydraulic dampers to transfer fluid between corners to counteract roll and a central unit to manage pitch, keeping the OCTA flat regardless of the terrain under the wheels or the pressure on the stop and go pedals.
The OCTA sees the already brutalist design of the Defender receives plenty of bold revisions. The ride height is raised, the stance is widened, and wheel arches extended. Tough underbody protection delivers the confidence to explore further over rough terrain. The OCTA will also wade deeper than any production Defender before it – through up to one metre of water. Rather handy, what with the winter we’ve had…
The Defender OCTA is no shrinking violet on the tar seal either. On the highway ‘most powerful’ also translates to ‘fastest’. That big V8 means the 4x4 can rocket from 0 to 100km/h in 4.0 seconds – and the active exhaust system ensures it sounds glorious, both inside and out, while doing so. Stopping power also becomes of vital importance here, and the OCTA has that box ticked too, with uprated 400mm front brake discs with Brembo calipers. It also boasts the fastest steering ratio of any production Defender to date and proves surprisingly nimble to place where you want it, whether in muddy wheel ruts up a farm track, or that hallelujah-last-space you’ve discovered in a congested urban car park.
The crisp 3D surround-view camera helps here too. Oh, and the name? The Defender OCTA’s suffix is derived from the toughest, most desirable mineral on earth – diamond – and the octahedral shape that gives their distinctive appearance and durability. As far as names go, it’s on-point in its aptness, as the OCTA sure seems like it’d be impossible to beat: an absolute jewel in the crown for Land Rover.