The Land Rover Defender has been turned up to eleven

After a production run of 67 years, the Land Rover Defender was laid to rest in 2016 – and a nation of car lovers went into mourning.

The king is dead, long live the king! The new Defender took the throne three years later – and now we have this, the ultimate iteration.

The new Land Rover Defender V8 comes with an epic 525bhp 5.0-litre supercharged engine making it the fastest and most powerful production Defender ever.

Now, true Defender, er, defenders will turn their nose up at such frivolity.

On the outside

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On the inside

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After all, what use is zero-60mph in 4.9 seconds when you’re herding sheep down a country lane? But let’s face it, the closest that most new Defender owners will come to a spring lamb is their Easter roast.

Indeed, one of the main reasons the layman may have been put off from buying an original Defender was that it was a brute to drive and tortiously slow.

No such problems with the new V8 edition. And thanks to unique suspension tuning – including bespoke spring and damper rates and a new Electronic Active Rear Differential – it can take corners, too.

In fact, it’s the most agile and engaging Defender drive yet. Even off road, its Terrain Response system has been upgraded with a new Dynamic mode in case you do drift onto the rough stuff. 

Land Rover Defender V8 from £98,505; landrover.co.uk