Land Rover Defender V8 (2021 - 2026) review – Britain's Mercedes G63 rival is no more
The V8-equipped Land Rover Defender has always been an odd model in the lineup, but now it's gone, will we miss it?
The Land Rover Defender is designed from the ground-up for utility, as a daily-use workhorse for everything from the school run to farm work, but in 2021 its engineers stepped outside of this brief. Years before the performance-focused Octa, Land Rover equipped the range-topping model with its indulgent 5-litre supercharged AJ V8, but having made the switch to BMW's more efficient turbocharged unit in 2024, this old-school unit was on borrowed time. Euro 7 regulation forced Land Rover to replace it with a 3-litre mild-hybrid straight-six in 2026, but should we mourn the drop in cylinder count?
We had always known that Land Rover would end up shoving a V8 engine into the Defender, but the question was always which V8 it would be, and whether it’d go after AMG’s wild (and wildly popular) G63. You could argue that the Octa is a closer match, and it certainly is on paper, but the Defender V8's old-school character brings it closer to Affalterbach's offering than you might think, for good and bad.
> Mercedes-Benz G-class review – flawed, but deeply desirable
Engine, gearbox and technical highlights
- 5-litre supercharged V8 & eight-speed automatic
- Extreme weight limits straight-line performance
- Smooth transmission, but calibration is lacking
Objectively, this is a car that’s able to offer the unusual proposition of one cylinder for every seat; Land Rover offered the V8 in 90, 110 and eight-seat 130 forms. Unusually there were a variety of tunes to choose from depending on the model you opt for, but each and every ‘ordinary’ V8 model comes with JLR’s old 5-litre AJ-V8, equipped with a supercharger for good measure – the 4.4-litre BMW V8 is saved for the £148,045 Octa.
More reviews
In-depth reviews
- Land Rover Defender Octa review – the super SUV that’s more fun than sports cars
- Land Rover Defender review – an icon reborn
Long term tests
- Living with the Land Rover Defender 90, the world's first V8 hot hatch
- Land Rover Defender 110 Fast Fleet test – 9000 miles in the go-anywhere SUV
Reviews
At the end of the production run, the short wheelbase 90 V8 was available in P525 or P425 configurations, giving you 518bhp and 419bhp respectively. These numbers sound reasonable, and they are, but when each and every Defender model weighs in the region of 2.5 tons, that power doesn’t go very far – 0-62mph stands at 5.2 and 5.6sec, which is some way behind similarly thirsty £100k alternatives.
The 110 is the platform on which the excellent Octa is based, and so it only received one ‘standard’ V8 trim in the P425 which achieves a 5.8sec 0-62mph time – for reference, the Octa manages the sprint in just over 4sec. The 130, essentially an extended wheelbase Defender, received P500 and P425 trims for 493bhp and 418bhp.
They all make a nice burbly sound, although a relatively muted one from inside the cabin. It’s certainly less vocal than some older Range Rover SVR models, which sounded like an entire Goodwood Revival grid had been squeezed under the bonnet. Nor, being honest, does it feel enormously quick – how could it, given its size and weight? It’s far from slow, though, and feeling 450lb ft push this humongous car down the road at an unlikely rate of knots is highly addictive.
The eight-speed transmission is smooth in auto and responsive on the paddles, but with eight ratios and a relatively low top speed in some trims, you’ll find yourself changing ratios more often than you might be used to.
Performance, ride and handling
- Off-road dynamics remain impressive
- Sudden power delivery can feel clunky
- Weight and gearbox detract from the experience
The Defender’s dynamics are more impressive off the road rather than on. The 130 V8 can off-road very nearly as well as other Defenders; a 90 or 110 has less bulk and better departure angles, of course, but the 130 can still get over challenging terrain. It retains other models’ low-range transmission mode, electronically controlled differentials and Terrain Response 2 software. With the air suspension raised, there’s 290mm of ground clearance.
Open the long-travel throttle and you get a whole lot of nothing. Push a little deeper and forward momentum will suddenly arrive all at once, with the supercharger’s instantaneous punch throwing the Defender’s nose in the air like a dingy with an oversized outboard on the back.
Try to find a flow and the eight-speed automatic transmission then gets in the way, as it either puts the engine completely out of the powerband by slipping into the highest gear possible (the V8’s attempt at keeping things efficient) or hurriedly hunting around the lower gears with yawning chasms of time before one’s finally been selected. The brakes are powerful, as you’d hope in something with this much power and weight to then slow down, but the pedal is long and doesn’t instill confidence, while the steering’s slow ratio (for off-roading reasons) feels out of sync with the pace the powertrain suggests it’s comfortable with.
And while it can feel brisk if you’ve kept your foot down for long enough, thanks to a near 2.5-ton weight figure it’s not actually that quick, all while eliciting little more than a distant growl from the four exhaust tips. It’s also thirsty (18mpg was about as good as we could get in mixed driving), and while the inherent interior quality and materials are excellent, covering a Defender’s steering wheel in suede cloth feels a little inappropriate.
It’s all rather disjointed. Where a G63 seems to transcend its ultimate ridiculousness to be a car that sort of has a point (even though it really doesn’t), a V8 Defender feels half finished, taking away some of the Defender’s best bits and highlighting its worst. Thankfully, the Octa turns all of this on its head.
Interior and tech
- Rugged yet premium interior build quality
- Clever storage with optional built-in refrigerator
- Snappy infotainment and good (optional) sound system
Inside it's typical Defender, with a great blend of rugged design and premium finish. There are elements of exposed bodywork and rivets on the door cards, but this is executed with taste and all feels very well assembled. As impractical as the V8 might be, there are plenty of nifty features like a sliding central storage compartment, a proper refrigerator in the centre console and those roof-mounted window panels in the back to let some extra light in. It's a nice place to be and feels as if it will stand the test of time (and daily use) well, but the same probably can't be said for your wallet in the case of the V8...
Living with it
'It likes a drink,’ said ed-in-chief Gallagher as he handed me the key to the Defender. A few weeks later I’m beginning to understand what he meant, regular £115 hammerings of my credit card highlighting the reality of running a V8-engined barn-door-shaped SUV as your daily driver. Short journeys see 16mpg if you’re lucky, with 20-21 on middling trips. Anything over 22 is basically hypermiling.
Despite the regular forecourt trauma, the Defender 90 V8 is one of those gloriously unnecessary models that’s hard to justify but impossible to resist. First impressions are of a car that shamelessly taps into childhood Tonka Toy nostalgia thanks to satisfyingly stubby styling and the way it sits high on its 22-inch rims. It’s also stealthy, a pair of small V8 badges set low on the flanks and a quartet of modest-diameter tailpipes the only things that denote its status. Think of it as the anti-Urus.
The three-door body is neat but, as you discover rather quickly, highly impractical. At least if you’re the ones trying to climb up into the rear passenger compartment. The tailgate that swings out rather than up can also be a pain if someone parks too close behind you. On the plus side there’s plenty of room for front and rear seat passengers – the same as in the longer 110, in fact.
The downside is a very tall, shallow boot that’s okay for a line of shopping bags, or perhaps a suitcase and a squashy bag. Pity the family dog that gets squeezed in there. I’d be curious to know how many people walk into a Land Rover dealer with their heart set on a 90 and come out having ordered a 110 because they can’t live with the shorter-wheelbase model’s compromises.
I ran a Jaguar F‑type P450 RWD a few years back (see evo 305) and there’s more than a little of that car in the way the Defender makes progress. The supercharged 5-litre V8 is a lovely engine and works very nicely with the eight-speed auto ’box. It’s more powerful here than in ‘my’ old Jag to the tune of 75bhp (making 518bhp in total), though that’s masked somewhat by a kerb weight of almost 2.5 tons. I know, I had to re-read that figure, too.
Thus far, wintry weather has played to the Defender’s all-wheel-drive strengths. On a very early morning dash through snow and slush to attend the first Sunday Scramble of the year at Bicester Motion, it made light work of conditions that would be an ordeal for most cars. It might sound like a cliché, but the Defender just feels like nothing will faze it.
SUVs are seen as a scourge by many, but I’ve always rather enjoyed the best of them. The nice thing about the Defender is it seems more authentic than most and doesn’t try too hard. It’s fun too, with impressive reserves of performance and rough-and-tumble dynamics that make it fun to thread down a decent A‑ or B‑road. I’m looking forward to getting to know it better once the weather thaws. – Richard Meaden, evo issue 332
Prices and rivals
At the end of production in 2026, short-wheelbase Defender 90 V8s kicked off at £97,120. A huge amount of money, for sure, but it’s pretty much totally stacked with kit, with the floating Pivi Pro infotainment system, a great sound system, all the cameras, all the glass and all of the wheels.
In terms of rivals, the G63 is the obvious choice, but the Octa is more closely aligned in terms of performance, and especially price now the AMG costs from £190,975. Lamborghini’s Urus costs from £214k, is a more dynamic and less off-roady rival, and will no doubt appeal to the same sort of customer. Aston’s DBX is by far the best to drive, and is a more stately SUV compared to the rest.
