Land Rover Defender vs Mercedes-Benz X250

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.  

Some of my favourite television shows or movies are flawed. When I talk to people about those films and about those flaws, there's a pattern - they don't know what they are and are therefore a bit confused. I don't know why that appeals to me, it just does.

Cars can be like that. There are some cars that aren't sure what they are. One of the exemplars of this is the Toyota C-HR - a small SUV aimed at young get-up-and-go types but bought almost exclusively by baby boomers, attracted to the badge. Young folks want more performance, lower cost and Apple CarPlay.

Hindsight suggests that the less-than-stellar sales performance of the much-heralded Mercedes ute, the X-Class, might be down to confusion. Mercedes thought it would be one thing and it turns out the market thinks it's another.