Land Rover has launched the top-of-the-range Defender V8 available in 90 and 110 body styles in the country with prices starting from Rs 1.82 crore (ex-showroom). And it is not the Defender with an SVR nameplate. But it is much more than that as it gets a mighty supercharged V8 in the purest form - without any supplementary electric assist. Let us dive deeper to learn more about the V8 powered Defender.

The Crux - Engine and Transmission

Any Defender model is usually powered by either a four or six-cylinder engine. Here, Land Rover has given an extraordinary alternative of owning your Defender with a V8 configuration - of course, for a price.

For the Defender 90 - a 4,999.7cc supercharged V8 petrol mill is capable of producing 518bhp between 6,000 to 6,500rpm and delivers 625Nm from 2,500 to 5,000rpm. Mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, the Defender 90 V8 can achieve zero to 100kmph in 5.2 seconds and has a top speed of 240kmph. On the other hand, the Defender 110 also generates the same power with its supercharged V8, but it takes 5.4 seconds to complete zero to 100kmph.

Design

Land Rover has not completely overhauled the Defender V8 - it bears the same design as other Defender variants. However, to distinguish it from those other variants, it gets ‘Shadow Atlas’ inserts on some exterior panels while the black contrast roof features a panoramic sunroof too. Besides that, there are exclusive ‘Xenon Blue’ front brake callipers and gloss black rear brake callipers.

Being a top-of-the-line Defender, Land Rover has outfitted this V8 with Matrix LED headlights and darkened taillights. Moreover, this Defender shows off its true identity with the V8 badges located on the front door panels and outboard mounted quad exhaust pipes. Meanwhile, it also comes with rear privacy glass, an electronically deployable tow bar and 22-inch ‘Satin Dark Grey’ alloy wheels with all-season tyres.

Interior

The lavish Ebony interior features ‘Robustec’ seats upholstered in expensive ‘Ebony Windsor’ leather and ‘Dinamica’ suede cloth as well as an extended leather upgrade package. Other interior features include premium cabin lights, ClearSight rear view mirror, a PM2.5 filter with air quality sensor, suede cloth heated steering wheel, illuminated tread plates with V8 badges and satin chrome paddle shifters.

The cabin is equipped with two displays - a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10-inch Pivi Pro infotainment touchscreen. This touchscreen display with the latest Pivi Pro has a plethora of functions and it also supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Features

The Defender V8 gets all the bells and whistles such as heated and cooled front seats, a wireless charging pad with cell phone signal booster, a 14-speaker, 700-watt Meridian surround sound system, head-up display, driver assist package, 360 surround camera, driver condition monitor, emergency braking system, six airbags, activity key, electronic air suspension with adaptive dynamics, electronic active differential, terrain response 2 with the dynamic program, all-terrain progress control, advanced tow assist and even the anti-roll bars.

With the air suspension, the Defender twins have an insane 900mm (three feet) wading depth capability. Interestingly, the height of the Defender 90 is 1,969mm - roughly half of the wading depth capacity, thus apparently half of its body can be underwater, and that is simply phenomenal.

Did you know?

The Defender V8 is more expensive than the Mercedes-Benz G350d 4MATIC, AMG E63S 4MATIC+ and the new BMW M5 and the X7 M50d.