Those caveats aside, I cannot think of many better tools for the job of bisecting Europe in the midwinter. For one thing, the Octa-specific ‘Performance’ seats are superb. I notice they’re trading on eBay for £12k a pop. They’re set high and the vantage point from an Octa is safariesque, but you never feel unduly perched and are able to enjoy rather a sporting driving position. It also lets you confidently put the Octa down a decent country road at speed, in a way that’s almost a match for the Bentley Bentayga.
The Octa’s ease at speed was a surprise. And to that speed, comfort and refreshing visibility, you can add security underwheel, practicality and a gold-plated sense of well-being in sub-zero temps, 1000 miles from home. Charming as the old-style Defender was, it could never do all that.
The bottom line
In the end we totalled 2600 miles. Efficiency? A wallet-hammering 18.4mpg. Maladies? None. Frustrations? Only that the absurdly heavy boot swings shut if you’re on a slight angle. Even the ADAS are simple enough to prod into submission.
The fact is that, for activities approximating ‘proper’ use, an Octa happens to be one of the best cars in the world. Rarely, if ever, have Isofix points, supercar damping, toughness, genuinely good handling and fine long-distance manners mingled in harmony as they do here. Is it worth putting up with the odd bout of self-consciousness? It’s not even a serious question.
The world’s most capable car?
Things I think when driving the Defender Octa: how is it that a car this good off-road can be so pleasurable on it? Will I fit through that gap? Do I look like a bit of a berk? Gosh, how did they make it this good? I go back and forth a bit on what I think is the most broadly capable car in the world. Sometimes I think it could be a Bentley Bentayga because it has to do some off-road things, plus tow 3500kg, be a true luxury car and do anything up to 190mph.
Then I think that maybe it’s a Range Rover Sport SVR, because it retains most of the luxury stuff, is even more dynamically adept on circuit, adds even more off-road ability and oversteers quite a lot. A Porsche Cayenne can pull some dynamic moves too (at the expense, I think it’s fair to say, of overall plushness). And then the Octa arrives, which pushes the soft-riding but with exceptional body control levels further than anything I can think of, with a toughness and resistance to rocks and an ability to jump that makes it feel like some kind of rally raid car. It has all that a Ford Ranger Raptor can do in those circumstances, but with superior isolation.