Land Rover Reintroduces Defender With 400bhp N/A V8 And Huge Price Tag

To celebrate the marque's 70th anniversary, Land Rover will make 150 V8-powered Defenders, costing £150k apiece...
Land Rover Reintroduces Defender With 400bhp N/A V8 And Huge Price Tag

Almost two years on from the final Land Rover Defender rolling off the production line, a replacement is still conspicuously absent. But that’d fine, as Land Rover has, umm, re-introduced the old one. Sounds odd, but stick with us, as on paper, it looks like a belter.

It’s called the Works V8, of which 150 will be made. And the name gives a big clue as to what it’s about: the thumping V8 engine under the bonnet.

Land Rover Reintroduces Defender With 400bhp N/A V8 And Huge Price Tag

Yep, a 5.0-litre, naturally aspirated V8 producing 399bhp (let’s just round it up to a nice, even 400bhp shall we?) and 380lb ft of torque, fed through an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox. The atmospheric eight-banger will whisk the 90 Station Wagon version from 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds, on to an electronically-limited top speed of 106mph. A slightly slower 110-wheelbase Works V8 will be available too.

Land Rover Reintroduces Defender With 400bhp N/A V8 And Huge Price Tag

The brakes have - thankfully - been upgraded, and it’s been given a ‘handling kit’ with uprated springs, dampers and anti-roll bars.

Eight different colours are available, each with a ‘Santorini Black’ roof, arches and grille for some tasty contrast. The door handles, fuel cap and Defender bonnet lettering are all machined aluminium parts, and the whole shebang is finished off with 18-inch diamond-cut ‘Sawtooth’ wheels wrapped in chunky all-terrain tyres.

Land Rover Reintroduces Defender With 400bhp N/A V8 And Huge Price Tag

The inside has had a good fettle too, including some leather work for the dash, door cards, headlining and the new Recaro seats. Rather than stick in a modern-look infotainment system, Land Rover Classic has fitted its ‘Classic Infotainment System’ that blends in very nicely.

Land Rover Reintroduces Defender With 400bhp N/A V8 And Huge Price Tag

The cost of all this? There’s no easy way to say this: prices start at £150,000. Even for a heroic V8 anachronism in our increasingly electrified motoring landscape, that’s hilariously steep, but we wouldn’t bet against Land Rover Classic shifting each and every one very quickly indeed.

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Comments

Simone Mascia

I NEED IT RIGHT NOW

01/17/2018 - 11:14 |
4 | 0
GTRTURTLE 🔰 🐢(Oo \ S K Y L I N E / oO) (Koen

LR Defender Guy

01/17/2018 - 12:02 |
0 | 0

Thanks!

01/17/2018 - 22:48 |
0 | 0
suchdoge

No Manual option?

01/17/2018 - 13:23 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

What is the purpose of this?

01/17/2018 - 14:30 |
0 | 0
Olivier (CT's grammar commie)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

[DELETED]

01/17/2018 - 14:57 |
0 | 0
Olivier (CT's grammar commie)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

01/17/2018 - 14:58 |
6 | 0
Wrangler

So they’re making a bowler?

01/17/2018 - 16:19 |
0 | 0
TheNOISYCar

‘’ unlike the final brand-new Defenders that rolled off the assembly line in 2016, the Defender Works V8 has been created from low-mileage pre-owned vehicles’’

So these aren’t new at all :/

01/17/2018 - 16:44 |
0 | 0

and after further digging this particular one was GY15 NDC in black Autobiography edition registered 17-07-2015

01/17/2018 - 16:51 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

£150K gets me a nice G class with £50K to spare for another car. And the G-class will look more fancy!

01/17/2018 - 17:04 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Is there another gearstick for the passanger or what? I’m actually confused, please tell me what is that.

01/17/2018 - 18:23 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

It is the gear reducer, I guess it’s called this way in English… the one you use to shorten the gear ratios to go offroad and have more torque to the wheels

01/17/2018 - 21:09 |
0 | 0
AAA Insurance

Misread the title, thinking it said that they would introduce the defender for a “limited” 70 year run.

01/17/2018 - 18:35 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Id rather buy an old one, put a cummins engine in there and have 400bhp, and the ability the create a smoke screen

01/17/2018 - 19:37 |
0 | 2