I've been saying for years that Land Rover should put the AJ133 V8 (LR-V8) into the Defender.

2018 marks Land Rover’s 70th anniversary, so to celebrate this milestone in Land Rover’s history they are making the Defender with a limited production run of 150 vehicles. Instead of the 2.2 litre desiel that it ended it’s original production with, it has a naturally aspirated version of the AJ133 V8 with is also found in other JLR vehicles. The Defender Works V8 will go on sale later on in the year.

The naturally aspirated version of the 5.0 litre Jaguar AJ133 V8 produces 400 BHP @ 6000RPM and 380lb-ft of Torque @ 5000RPM. It has 30 BHP more than the Discovery 4 which used the same naturally aspirated V8. The gearbox in the Defender Works V8 is the 8-speed automatic transmission straight out of the L405 Range Rover with a two-speed transfer box.

The Works Defender V8 is limited to 106 MPH due to it having the aerodynamics of a brick and making unstable at high speeds, but 106 MPH is fast enough for any Defender. It will do 0-60mph in only 5.6 seconds which is only 0.1 seconds slower than the V8 Range Rover SVAutobiography, A car with 150 BHP more.

The Works Defender V8 is available as the 110 station wagon, but unfortunately there are no pictures of that at the moment. All of this will cost you £150,000 for the Defender 90, but seeing as it’s only got a production run of 150 vehicle and will be a collector item, I don’t think that’s too expensive. It’s either this or a Range Rover SVAutobiography for somewhat £20,000 more…….. I think I would go for the 110 version of this.