Review: 2026 Land Rover Defender Octa

Review: 2026 Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider

As forced induction and electrification continue democratize horsepower throughout the automotive industry, luxury automakers have faced a growing challenge: how do you make an exotic machine feel special at a point in time when even mainstream vehicles offer jaw-dropping performance? Ferrari, to its notable credit, has answered this question in part by staying at the forefront of the latest technologies, as evidenced by cutting-edge entries like the SF90 and F80 – both of which utilize performance-tuned hybrid systems in conjunction with turbocharged engines and sophisticated all-wheel-drive setups. While those two mid-engine monsters offer truly stunning capability, there’s also a growing contingent of performance enthusiasts who yearn for the simpler days of long, curvaceous hoods, rear-wheel drive propulsion, and the banshee wail of a high-winding 12-cylinder engine at full chat. And that’s precisely where the 12Cilindri Spider stakes its claim. As the successor to the 812 Superfast, the 12Cilindri leverages clever active aerodynamics, advanced traction and stability control systems, and a trick four-wheel-steering system that manages the movement of each wheel independently to enhance cornering response, but it’s ultimately an homage to Ferrari’s storied V12 heritage. Aside from the no-nonsense name (which literally translates to “12 Cylinders”), the 12Cilindri’s exterior styling clearly takes some inspiration from the 365 GTB Daytona of the late 1960s. And rather than saddling its latest GT flagship with the complexities of bulky batteries, electric motors, turbochargers, and AWD, Ferrari has instead chosen to focus on the fundamentals that have made GT cars like the Daytona such enduring icons: elegant design, a finely honed chassis, and a truly spectacular naturally aspirated powerplant. It’s a 6.5-liter dry-sump V12 that produces 819 horsepower and revs to a searing 9,500 rpm. Ferrari only cites a deliberately ambiguous dry weight of 3,571 pounds for the Spider, which carries about 130 pounds of extra mass as compared to its coupe counterpart. But at a time when an alarming number of new performance cars are saddled with curb weights that start with a five, the potentially sub-4,000-pound 12Cilindri Spider feels lithe and unencumbered by countermeasures expressly designed to combat the laws of physics. Although its primary mission is to enable drivers to carve their way through picturesque locales at a lively pace without compromising comfort, the 12Cilindri has a notably more sports-car-like persona than the Aston Martin Vanquish – its closest rival – thanks in part to the Ferrari’s incredibly rigid chassis, dual-clutch gearbox, and earnestly performance-tuned suspension. While the eight-speed DCT occasionally takes a beat to get things going from a dead stop, and the hunkered-down stance makes the nose-lift feature a necessity when negotiating steep driveway aprons, the 12Cilindri Spider still manages to retain an admirable level of civility around town and out on the highway. Outfitted with a killer Burmester audio system, a retractable hard top that opens in just 14 seconds at speeds up to 28 mph, and sport seats that feature heating, ventilation, and adjustable bolstering as well as multiple massage routines, the 12Cilindri Spider can be a posh, effortless cruiser when called upon to do so. The only glaring deficiency in this regard comes from Ferrari’s HMI implementation, which utilizes frustratingly difficult-to-use capacitive surfaces on the steering wheel and the instrument panel to control features like adaptive cruise control and mirror adjustments, along with the various functions that are accessed via the 15.6-inch digital gauge cluster. While the infotainment system looks sharp and is quick to respond to inputs, Apple CarPlay conked out on more than one occasion during the few days I spent with the car. Nitpicks aside, one feature that definitely works as intended is the steering-wheel-mounted Manettino switch, which allows you to toggle between the available drive modes. Sport is the default, a naming decision which helps set ride quality expectations, but you can also press this switch like a button to enable Bumpy Road mode, which relaxes the adaptive dampers beyond their standard tuning for more compliance on rough pavement. Out in the canyons, I found myself more interested in the additional drama provided by Race mode. In contrast to convention, Ferrari chose to leave the steering, throttle mapping, and brake-by-wire settings the same in the Sport and Race modes for the sake of predictable response, instead heightening the driving experience when set to the latter by easing the electronic assists, ramping up the programming for the gearbox and the electronically-controlled rear differential, and – importantly – opening up the exhaust valves. While it’s still a little bit quieter than I’d prefer, even with the top down, the noise that this V12 makes while working its way past 9k is a soundtrack to your sweetest dreams. It took some conscious effort to stop myself from short-shifting the first few times I laid into the throttle with the gearbox in manual mode. The revs just seem to build endlessly. It’s also a decidedly different experience than what’s offered in the latest Vanquish. The Aston also features a 12-cylinder atomic bomb under its hood, but the crucial difference here is that the Vanquish’s lofty power figures are owed in part to turbocharging. This gives the Aston a substantial advantage in peak torque (738 lb-ft versus the 12Cilindri’s 500 pound-feet), but it also relegates its redline to a relatively pedestrian 7,000 rpm. The upshot is that not only does the 12Cilindri deliver a much more emotive soundtrack when you drop the hammer, it also feels significantly more buttoned down when called upon to hustle through a technical section of road. Its quick steering rack takes a moment to acclimate to, but it soon becomes apparent that the chassis, brakes, and powertrain have no problem keeping pace. <- Gallery -> The Manettino switch also has dedicated settings for partially or completely disabling the traction and stability control systems if you’re feeling brave (or prefer to do your grand touring sideways), but the intervention is so seamless when these systems are enabled that they rarely distract from the proceedings. While the Vanquish twists and shimmies as the powertrain and the electronics have a debate over the fastest way forward, the 12Cilindri just feels more planted and easier to trust when really hauling the mail. In an era when quadruple-digit horsepower has somehow become readily achievable for production cars, the Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider is a reminder that character and emotion aren’t attributes that can be easily quantified on a spec sheet. There will be a time – probably in the foreseeable future – where folks will gaze into the open clamshell hood of a 12Cilindri and say, "Man, they don’t make ’em like this anymore." Like it or not, the days of the unassisted Ferrari V12 are almost certainly coming to a close. With that in mind, well-heeled traditionalists would be wise to savor the moment. View All Ferrari 12Cilindris For Sale Images: Bradley Iger

When Land Rover axed the classic Defender SUV in 2020 after 37 years of production – depending on how one interprets the model’s extended timeline – the controversial next generation entirely overhauled the iconic SUV’s characteristics. No more solid axle suspension, no more clattering diesel and underpowered gasoline engines, and no more boxy steel body panels. Instead, the new Defender takes a solid step into the modern luxury arena, with a playfully plasticine exterior design hiding plenty of tech on the inside and underneath the hood.

The Defender then reached entirely new heights with the 2025 debut of a range-topping Octa trim, which swaps in a 626-horsepower BMW V8 and supercar-derived suspension. Fender flares over bigger tires and a wider track bulk up the Octa’s beefy stance, hinting at perhaps even more off-road capability than the venerable Defender Classic.

And then, Land Rover entered an even more hardcore variant of the new SUV into the grueling Dakar Rally, as a testament to this newfound performance. While the Dakar raged in Saudi Arabia, I took an Octa loaner in Los Angeles, curious to discover where in the spectrum between luxury SUV, supercar, and rock-crawler the Octa winds up, especially after an admittedly disappointing first experience in a base Defender 130 from the new generation just over two years prior.

As good as the Octa looks, with the improved proportions playing up that rally-racing aesthetic, the powertrain proved impossible to ignore. Land Rover actually sourced the twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 from BMW, where the internal-coded “S68” engine motivates the current M5, X5M, and X6M. Paired to the same ZF eight-speed automatic, in this case 626 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque unlock a claimed 0-60 time of four seconds flat – not bad considering the Octa weighs in just shy of 6,000 pounds.

Every time I pushed the start button early in the morning, I felt a twinge of pity for my neighbors as the grumbling exhaust fired up. Any sense of sorry immediately evaporated when I punched the gas pedal, though, which inevitably sends the rear suspension into a strong squat. Suffice to say, I fully believe rumors that with enough grip for a hard launch off the line and the airbags set to Comfort, the Octa can actually wheelie the front two tires off the line. Luckily, an enormous set of six-piston front and four-piston rear brakes can haul down that speed and weight with surprising ease.

Now imagine a Defender Classic trying to rip around like a supercar. Guess again. At the moment, the Octa package only comes on the 110 chassis, not the longer 130 (which unlike the Classic, actually shares the same wheelbase but adds a longer trunk for increased cargo capacity and a third row of seats). Nor on the short-wheelbase Defender 90. Using the 110 as a base results in impressive approach and departure angles of 40.2 and 42.8 degrees, respectively, or a steep line from the tires to the Octa-specific front and rear bumpers – all the better for conquering obstacles without scraping.

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To test the Octa’s off-road cred, I headed out to familiar trails in the Southern California desert for some high-speed ripping and low-speed rock-crawling. Unlike the Defender Classic, the new generation switched to independent suspension all around, which typically means less articulation and reduced traction when the trail gets tough. But the Octa’s model-specific hydraulic roll control system, which Land Rover dubbed “6D” because it manages body motion in all directions by replacing the sway bars used on lower trims, maxes out potential wheel travel as much as possible. Especially with the air suspension pumped up to the tallest ride height, I rarely noticed a tire lift off the dirt. Though in fairness, doing so lifted the body so much that even at six-foot-one with long legs, I often struggled to climb in and out of the driver’s seat.

Unlike my legs, the Octa never struggled too much going up a steep incline with plenty of ruts and rocks exposed after recent Southern California rainstorms. Provided that is, I found the proper mode and setup. But that was easier said than done, because in typical British automaker fashion, the user interface left me more than frequently frustrated.

For one thing, physical switchgear for off-road settings inexplicably hide within the climate control panel. Other settings can only be accessed via the central touchscreen. But sometimes, to activate off-road modes, playing around in the gauge cluster via the steering wheel controls becomes necessary – including to adjust the tire pressure monitoring settings to then turn on Octa mode via the big button at the bottom of the steering wheel.

The logic loop of so many settings and features will boggle the minds of even experienced off-roaders who know what every term means. Why not use dedicated buttons for each individual mode? Or at least make everything accessible via the touchscreen, rather than prompting to other menus that take forever to find? Well, Land Rover seems to want to inspire trust in the machine – no matter how much I wanted to control each individual setting without having to stick in Custom Terrain mode and fiddle through the menus constantly. Best practice, instead, was to give up on trying to lock the rear differential via the icon that looks just like a button. Just set it and forget it via the drive modes, and let the powertrain do the work.

That made me a little nervous while trying to find the four-wheeling limits of a $170,200 SUV (as tested). But even though the computer needs to react to changing terrain, traction, and driver inputs, the powertrain and suspension do work together to get the job done. If not particularly pleasantly, precisely because the driver’s ability and vision get entirely removed from the equation. Also, because the stiff hydraulic pressure in the suspension and the overall weight resulted in plenty of clunks, crashing sounds, and unwelcome trundling up harder aspects of the climb.

I barely needed low range, which improves the crawling capabilities thanks to a shorter 3.73:1 rear axle ratio, because the BMW V8 simply puts out so much torque. The transmission refused to stay in first gear when in four-low anyhow, which kind of makes the exercise futile in the first place. And the whole rig seemed much happier at higher speeds to completely unlock the booming BMW engine’s horsepower. Still, we’re a long way off from Land Rover’s D7X-R Dakar racecar, which skips out on the hydraulic 6D suspension in the name of custom Bilstein shock dampers and coilovers all around. The D7X-R also gets a roll cage, an absurdly enormous 145-gallon fuel cell, and steps up to larger 35-inch tires, too.

On my tester, a set of Khaki and Ebony “Ultrafabric” seats played up the off-roady theme, and the same for the optional 20-inch wheels that I believe should be mandatory versus the larger 22-inchers that then rule out BFGoodrich’s mid-tier Trail Terrain A/T tires. I found the suspension actually preferred running the tires at slightly lower pressure, 42 psi front and 44 psi rear, but personally, on my own Octa I figure a set of bigger and beefier KO3s should do much better. Just don’t ask about fuel economy – I averaged almost exactly 13 mpg over the course of a week and a few hundred miles, which sets this Defender into solid full-size pickup truck territory.

At this level of aspirational adventure SUV, the Octa more accurately splits the gap between Mercedes-Benz’s stalwart G-Wagen and Ford’s impressive Bronco Raptor. But the base G only comes with a hybrid inline-six now, and stepping up to the AMG G 63 in the name of a V8 engine then ups the price tag nearer to $200,000. The Bronco Raptor, meanwhile, stickers well below six figures with a bit more rugged and truly hardcore trail-ready capability thrown in. Yet both the G and the Bronco feature similar interior volume issues as the Octa, which never feels roomy or comfortable despite the larger footprint compared to the “base” Defender 110 that start at a much more reasonable $63,500.

For the 2026 model year, Land Rover will add a 1.7-inch bigger central touchscreen across the lineup, a blacked-out exterior package, and new headlights. When those options arrive, they won’t change too much of the Octa’s character as mall-crawler extraordinaire. For those who truly know what they’re looking at, the Octa might pique the right amount of interest from 4x4 fans, too. It can certainly do the off-roading capably, if not enjoyably – and from style points alone, clearly takes the cake in the Defender lineup. Now, if only Land Rover took the next logical step to bolt those fender flares and the bigger tires onto a short-wheelbase Defender 90 with the supercharged V8, the more traditional suspension, and a starting price tag more reflective of true capability, then the Octa might occupy a more appealing and unique slot in the off-road market.