Land Rover Defender vs Maserati Grecale

What's the difference?

This feels wrong to say this, but it’s so refreshing not to be driving an electric vehicle. There I said it.

After testing so many EVs lately reviewing a car that has an actual engine is a nice change. And this car definitely has an internal combustion engine - it's the Land Rover Defender Octa Black with a twin-turbo petrol V8.

The Defender Octa is the ultimate form of the 110 Defender. It’s wilder looking, more powerful and more capable, while the Black edition adds darkened elements inside and out for even more visual appeal.

While the Defender Octa Black is special, it’s not alone in a world of high-performance luxury SUVs and its head-to-head rival would be Mercedes-AMG’s G63.

I had the Defender Octa Black for a week and while I didn’t take this beast off-road where it is superbly capable, I put it to the test on some challenging tarmac as well as some challenging real-world family duties.  

There's something about Italy and four-wheeled transport. Even the most functional vehicles developed there somehow morph into high-performance hot rods.

For example, as the SUV phenomenon has swept the world Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati have more than matched the German big three and others in elevating the humble family truckster to supercar status.

And the Grecale Trofeo is the latest example of Maserati's inability to let an SUV be simply practical. It's a mad twin-turbo V6 all-wheel-drive version of the more typically four-cylinder-powered mid-size SUV.

We spent a week with this ferocious beast to see how much spice it can add to family life.