Last year, Land Rover dropped the Defender OCTA. This is, to put it mildly, not the one you’re going to get dirty. There’s the $152,000 sticker, to start. But there’s also the fact that it’s equipped with a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 that produces 626 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque. This thing is only available in the shorter wheelbase, 110 version, and although it gains an extra 1.1 inches of off-road clearance, really, that’s about making the revised body look appropriately proportioned. Because the OCTA gets:
- Up to 22-inch tires
- Wider (by 2.7 inches) front fenders and revised grille section
- Yellow grille marker LEDs
- A special OCTA off-road drive mode with launch control
- 6D Dynamics suspension designed for better on-road cornering; revised steering for quicker feel
What’s the Black OCTA get? Well, duh: Black! Here’s the how and what.
Back In Black
The Land Rover Defender is the official automotive partner of the band, Oasis. Not a fan? Then you probably don’t know they’re on a global tour. Don’t care? That’s ok. But the putative reasoning for this launch is that co-branding. We have no idea if there’s some musical reason for the black business, so we went with AC/DC instead.
Call us boring, but we’ll take our 110 in Pangea Green or Tasman Blue, a more traditional color, white wheels, and a white roof.
As for the OCTA Black itself, the inking begins on the epidermis, as one would expect. The truck is painted Narvik Black, which is an extant color in the Defender pantheon. Customers can opt for gloss or gloss—but can also ask that their OCTA Black beauty gets an optional Matte Protective Film.
Land Rover makes sure to also black out the undershield, rear scuff plates, recovery eyellets, tow cover, and the quad exhaust tips. The latter gets a gloss black treatment. The Land Rover oval on the grille is also black, with a darkened silver script. And Land Rover lets buyers opt for either 20- or 22-inch black wheels, too, with offset Defender script, and black brake calipers with silver script.
Midnight Cabin, Too
You could already get the OCTA with semi-aniline leather or Kvadrat fabrics, but the Black model goes…black! Now you can get your OCTA with fabrics or leather in that unpigmented hue, and Land Rover says it gets “an exclusive perforation pattern and stitching” on the backrests. If all this somberness is bringing you down, you can get some relief: The armrest hinges are finished in a sunny hue of gray. Goths will rejoice that Land Rover also powder coats the dash detail in a soft coal hue, or you can choose a chopped carbon for that detail.
TopSpeed’s Take
What’s the purpose? Well, Mark Cameron, Managing Director for Defender, filled that in, essentially saying customers were already going to the aftermarket for all-black finishes. So, why give that business up when Land Rover can Sharpie the whole dang beast? Also, it should be said that if you find yourself in New York’s Tribeca, or Hollywood, or Kensington in London, etc., you’ll see plenty of blacked-out G-wagens on the prowl. And we’d bet that Land Rover bosses don’t like missing that business.
Call us boring, but we’ll take our 110 in Pangea Green or Tasman Blue, a more traditional color, white wheels, and a white roof. These are all “core” Land-Rovery attributes, and are pretty timeless.
But then, we’re not part of a band on tour, and we’d be pretty tempted to take ours off-road and get it all muddy.
Which, yes, many on the TopSpeed team have had the pleasure of doing. And also: An all-black Land Rover to our eyes looks like you’re playing at being in the Special Forces or MI5, not a baller VIP. And wouldn’t a real baller VIP roll up in a pink Bentley instead?
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