This is the ultimate 4WD

Land Rover's Defender Dakar is a road-legal version of its hardcore 2026 Dakar Rally racing Defender Octa complete with a "flight mode" to ensure perfect landings after doing jumps. In another case of completely-unnecessary-but-we-want-it-desperately-anyway, Land Rover is bringing us a road-going - or anywhere-going - version of its Dakar Rally D7X-R racing SUV. The Defender Octa is an already bonkers high-performance off-road beast with its 4.4-litre V8 engine (the same found in BMW's M5) making 367kW and 750Nm, outstanding four-wheel drive capability combined with mind boggling on-road dynamics, but the Defender Dakar goes more berserk. "We've pushed our engineers to go further than they've ever gone before," Defender Managing Director Mark Cameron said. "First, we evolved Defender OCTA into D7X‑R and then we asked: could we make the Dakar Rally‑winning D7X‑R road legal? The result is the Defender Dakar." The Defender Dakar keeps the same V8 engine, transmission and body architecture as the D7X-R and adds a 35-inch all-terrain tyre package with unique 20-inch forged wheels. The ride height is lifted with coil suspension and Bilstein advanced dampers and the track is widened. There's new modes for sand dunes and gravel, plus there's flight mode. Flight mode is a sophisticated system that detects the moment the Defender Dakar becomes airborne over hilly terrain. Then, instead of letting the wheels spin freely in mid-air, which will send an enormous amount of shock force through the transmission upon landing, the torque to the wheels is calculated and controlled to ensure a smooth touchdown. Holding the driver and co-pilot snugly in place are race seats with an optional four point harness. The Defender Dakar is a 2+2 seater with storage for race helmets and a purpose-built spare wheel mount inside the cargo area along with air-compressor. The Defender Dakar comes with the same Dakar Sand and Yanbu Turquoise colour scheme as worn by the D7X-R, with a range of other hues to pick from. Adding to the tough looks is a fixed metal roof with light pods, carbon fibre raised air intakes, flared wheel arches with exposed rivets, along with metal front under shield and underbody protection. The Defender Dakar made its international debut at the Monterey week in the United States over the weekend with full specifications to be announced at the 2027 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. Land Rover Australia has confirmed to CarsGuide the Defender Dakar will be landing locally and said the price and the number of units being made available will be announced in January 2027. As a guide, the Defender Octa Black lists ofr $313,800 or about $10,000 more than the regular Octa. Buyers can expect the Defender Dakar to sit above the Octa Black in the range when the model arrives in Australia.