One of the most over-the-top vehicles in the Land Rover stable is now in Malaysia – the Defender V8 brings eight-pot power to the cooking L663 lineup, joining the P400 straight-six. This also marks the debut of the enormous eight-seater, extended-length 130 model to complement the five-seater 110, making it one cylinder for each occupant.
This privilege does not come cheap – the V8 is priced from RM998,000 for the 110 and a cool RM1,198,000 for the 130, and that’s before taxes and options. For context, the base 110 P400 retails at RM998,000 with tax, while the high-performance Octa starts from RM2,298,000, so expect the taxed price to be somewhere closer to the latter.
The V8 is one of two Defender models to be powered by eight cylinders, the other being the aforementioned Octa. But in place of that car’s BMW-sourced 4.4 litre mild hybrid unit sits Jaguar Land Rover’s old 5.0 litre supercharged AJ-V8 that, in the 110, pushes out 525 PS and 625 Nm of torque. All this is sent to all four wheels via a ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox, getting it from zero to 100 km/h in 5.4 seconds.
Despite being larger and therefore heavier, the 130 gets a detuned version of the mill that churns out 500 PS and 610 Nm. Mind you, that’s still enough to fling the three-row leviathan to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds. All models get the usual low-range transfer case and a variety of on- and off-road drive modes as part of the Terrain Response system, plus a 900 mm maximum water wading depth.
Unique to the V8 models is an electronic limited-slip rear differential with yaw control for “more agile and engaging” handling, working with the standard torque vectoring by braking. You also get retuned adaptive dampers, stiffer suspension bushes and thicker solid anti-roll bars.
The V8 retains the same modernist, blocky design as other Defender models, although eagle-eyed onlookers will be able to spot the V8 front door badges, 22-inch matte grey five-spoke alloy wheels and quad exhaust pipes. Inside, you get Windsor leather and Kvadrat fabric upholstery as standard, along with a metallic grey dashboard beam.
The 110 is a known quantity, but the 130 is new for Malaysia and adds an extra 340 mm in rear overhang. At 5,358 mm long, the car is even longer than a long-wheelbase V223 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, despite sharing the same 3,022 mm wheelbase as the 110. The 2,008 mm width and 1,970 mm height remain unchanged.
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