{"id":2094006,"date":"2026-08-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2094006"},"modified":"2026-08-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T21:00:00","slug":"land-rovers-building-a-limited-edition-road-legal-v8-defender-dakar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2094006","title":{"rendered":"Land Rover\u2019s building a limited-edition, road-legal V8 Defender Dakar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Earlier this year, three Land Rover Defenders equipped solely with V8s and bravery managed to finish 1st, 2nd and 4th in the new \u2018Stock\u2019 class of the 2026 Dakar Rally. Today, Land Rover has revealed you can buy a road-legal version of that very car.<\/p>\n

Welcome then, to the Defender Dakar: a Defender, honed in the Dakar<\/a>, available to pilot on the public highway. Think of all the attention you\u2019ll get at the local Waitrose!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Of course, Land Rover wants you to enjoy this thing off-road, and has therefore unleashed the full might of its rally-winning Defender, chiefly because in road trim, it\u2019s not subject to race restrictions.<\/p>\n

So the 4.4-litre twin-turbo BMW V8 now produces 626bhp and 553lb ft, delivered to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox. That drivetrain is packaged up into the same \u2018D7x\u2019 base that powered those Dakar winners, meaning it\u2019s really, really tough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Looks it, too. This new road-legal version of the race car that was spun off the powerful Octa road car<\/a> (keep up now) need never worry about kerbs, because it gets 35in tyres on 20in wheels, and fancy Bilstein dampers with \u2018Dunes\u2019, \u2018Gravel\u2019 and \u2018Flight\u2019 modes. No prizes for guessing what that last mode entails.<\/p>\n

It also gets loads of Dakar-adjacent addenda like carbon fibre air intakes, flared arches with exposed rivets, mud flaps, Dakar colourways, and of course, the most excellent thing a beefy 4×4 needs: roof-mounted light pods. There\u2019s of course further underbody protection and a stronger front undershield made of metal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Land Rover has not revealed the interior of the road-legal Dakar car, noting only that it\u2019ll get race seats up front, a second pair of seats in the back, optional racing harnesses, rear helmet stowage (not a reference to your mates sitting in the back), and other \u201crally-inspired elements\u201d. TopGear.com dearly hopes it\u2019ll basically be the rally car\u2019s cabin carried over wholesale, because having to flick multiple switches before setting off to take the kids to school sounds like fun.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s yer lot for now, mind \u2013 it\u2019s being shown off at California\u2019s Car Week, and we\u2019ll be drip fed more info next year. \u201cThis limited-run model will showcase everything we\u2019ve learned in some of the toughest environments and most competitive conditions imaginable. An authentic Defender, made from unstoppable DNA,\u201d said Defender boss Mark Cameron.<\/p>\n

Price? Well, it\u2019s a limited edition, so if you have to ask\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, three Land Rover Defenders equipped solely with V8s and bravery managed to finish 1st, 2nd and 4th in the new \u2018Stock\u2019 class of the 2026 Dakar Rally. Today, Land Rover has revealed you can buy a road-legal version of that very car. Welcome then, to the Defender Dakar: a Defender, honed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-2094006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2094006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2094006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2094006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2094006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}