Land Rover Defender V8: Last of its kind

The V8 engine. There’s nothing quite like it. It isn’t about power. Today, power has been democratised. EVs are shaming V8s at the lights, and are doing so at a fraction of the price. The V8 is, instead, about character. They’re living, breathing, mechanical beasts – that sit at the heart of some of the most desirable machines of all time. They’re stronger and more complicated than the average straight-six, but a lot more accessible than the exotic V10s and V12s.

The Defender V8 isn’t new. It was announced first in 2021, and was an addition to the Defender line-up that already had 4- and 6-cylinder engines. A bigger, more powerful, more desirable engine to sit at the top of the range. JLR took the 5-litre supercharged V8 from their back catalogue and placed it neatly in the engine bay of the Defender. Mind you, this was some time before the latest slew of BMW-powered Land Rovers made an appearance. At ₹1.4 crore, the Defender V8 is the most affordable V8 you can buy new in India today.

This engine? It has an interesting history. It can trace its roots way back to the early 1990s, when it was showcased as a prototype. Ford acquired Jaguar in 1989, but the AJ-V8 was an all in-house development by Jaguar. The first car that got the AJ-V8 was the 1996 Jaguar XK8, and then the 1997 XJ got it as well. Since Jaguar was owned by Ford, the engine also found its way to the Lincoln LS and Ford Thunderbird. Even the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, another Ford brand at the time, had this engine. There was a massive update to the engine in 2009 – enough for it to be called an all-new engine. The AJ133S.

That’s what’s under the hood here. This is the same V8 that was in iconic Jags like the XKR-S and F-Type. Also under the hood of the Range Rover Sport SVR and F-Type SVR. Fun fact – even after the Tata acquisition, the engine continued to be manufactured by Ford in the UK until 2020 when Ford shut its factory down, and then JLR took manufacturing of this engine in-house. It's an engine with real history. Real provenance. And the Defender V8? Is the last car in the world to be running this engine. The rest of the JLR range has shifted to the BMW 4.4-litre V8. This really is the last of its kind.

Stepping inside and firing it up is an experience in itself. It barks to life in anger, the quad exhausts showing off their oratory skills even before you start driving. This engine is an old school V8. It might have forced induction by way of the Eaton supercharger, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it features big displacement. It exists from a time well before downsizing. Supercharging works differently from turbos. Rather than harvesting exhaust gases, a supercharger draws mechanical power to suck more air into the engine. Doesn’t help efficiency, but certainly helps immediacy. No lag, no waiting for boost to build – step on it and the engine responds. Oh, and it sounds mad. A shrill whine layered over the gurgling exhaust, a constant reminder that this engine is very different from the highly boosted turbo-petrols that are in vogue today.

Yes, there are modes. In Comfort mode, the gearbox sits in a gear too high and you need to dig deeper into the throttle travel to get things moving. But there’s a workaround. Dynamic mode. Only available in the V8 Defenders. The throttle sharpens up, the exhaust gets louder, and the Defender seems to wake up. Push the gear selector from D to S, and you’ve got a 2-tonne weapon on your hands. The behemoth responds instantly to your demands for acceleration, ripping through the revs and your eardrums, with the nose pointed skywards.

Is it quick? 0-100 in 5.8 seconds – solid figures but not class-leading. The Defender Octa covers the same sprint in about 4 seconds. But that's entirely beside the point. Performance, like I said, has been democratised. EVs have rewritten the rules for 0-100kmph sprints. What this V8 excels at is something seemingly missing from the modern car. Character. The supercharger whine, the exhaust bubbling on lift-off, the way the whole chassis feels like it's barely containing the engine underneath you – it adds up to a driving experience that's genuinely special. On Indian roads, you'll use a fraction of the V8’s performance. In traffic, a light foot is enough for rapid overtakes. With a clear stretch ahead, it's properly, entertainingly silly. The fuel economy is equally silly – somewhere between 4-5kmpl. You'd better make peace with that before you sign the cheque. I saw all of 341km on a full tank. Mind you, the Defender has a 90-litre tank.

The chassis changes are mild, and mostly there to allow you to keep the performance in check. Stiffer springs and dampers rein in the body movement, a thicker anti-roll bar helps it handle corners with more composure, and there are larger brakes with six-piston calipers to rein it in again. The steering is noticeably quicker than on the four- or six-cylinder cars. It's not a revelation, but the extra directness is welcome. Turn in, though, and the Defender's bulk and the all-terrain tyres remind you of what this SUV actually is. Understeer arrives if you push into corners too hard, and the ESP works overtime. The Defender V8 is no RS Q8 or Urus. It won’t stay on the arse of a supercar through the bends. It’s just a tall, heavy SUV with a big engine. And proper 4x4. As is expected, all the off-road hardware is present: low-range, Terrain Response, air suspension, the works.

I’m going to stop with the gushing, though. The Defender V8 isn’t perfect. For one, it needs to look like it has a V8. Save for the quad exhausts hanging under its rear bumper, it looks bang identical to the 4-pot Defender. It needs a little more visual drama to slot it squarely between the standard Defender and the Octa. Secondly, I would have liked paddles. I know you’re going to say – SUV and paddles, are they really necessary? They are. The gearbox isn’t the most quick-witted and you’ve got to really shove down on the throttle to wake it up and get a downshift. Going to Dynamic, selecting S on the transmission is all too tedious. A simple downshift on a paddle shifter when you want a burst of acceleration would have fixed that. The Octa has them, why can’t the standard V8 get it?

Which brings me to the elephant in the room – why does this exist when the Octa does? The way I see it is that the Octa is out there playing with the big boys. We recently put it up against the Mercedes-Benz G 63 and it held its own. That is the big league. You get all the toys – a modern, electrified V8 that gives you serious firepower. Active suspension that transforms the platform’s dynamics, a wider track, more visual drama, carbon on the insides. The Octa sits at the top of the Defender food chain. The standard Defender V8 is more of a regular SUV with broad shoulders.

Which then brings me back to price. I know I have got to be very out of touch with reality to call a ₹1.4 crore Defender “affordable”. But the numbers don’t lie. Like it or not, it is the most affordable V8 in the country. The SQ8 is probably the next most affordable V8 and that sits a whole ₹40 lakh more expensive – before options. The sky is the limit with the V8 – the G 63 sits at ₹3.7 crore while exotica like the Urus are north of ₹4 crore. Base, ex-showroom. And no one is buying an Urus without throwing in an M340i-worth of options on it. In that light, ₹1.4 crore feels like a steal. It doesn’t have the performance, the acceleration or the crazy chassis tech to compete with the bleeding edge of the super SUV segment. But it isn’t trying to – that’s an Octa’s job. The Defender V8 instead exists for a different reason. It’s just a regular ol’ luxury SUV with a big engine. A reminder of a time gone by. One that we quite often yearn for. And with regulations tightening their noose on the headers of old-school engines, this 5-litre V8 may not live very long. Enjoy it while it lasts!