2026 Land Rover Defender Octa vs. 2026 Jeep Wrangler 392: Which Is Best Off-Road?

• The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 and Land Rover Defender Octa are two V8-powered off-road monsters.
• We took both of them to the desert to find out which one is better through a variety of obstacles.
• The Wrangler is the better choice for crawling and low speed, while the Defender is superior in the sand.

We've put both vehicles through our rigorous Edmunds rating process, and they came out virtually tied. However, those ratings are done on a pavement track and both these vehicles really shine when they get into the dirt. So, we headed out to the California desert for some off-road shenanigans.

Our desert testing started off in the dunes. When driving in soft sand, you need power, power and more power, so it’s a good thing the Wrangler 392 pushes out 470 ponies and 470 lb-ft of torque. After dropping the air pressure in the tires for more traction, we set about seeing how high we could climb. 

The answer? Pretty darn high and with that V8 concert thrumming gloriously in our ears. However, there was something about it that felt on the edge. It was almost like the Jeep had a mind of its own and our steering inputs were just mere suggestions. It could only manage a wide arc at the top of the dune despite the sharper angle we asked for. 

The Defender's twin-turbo V8 outputs 626 ponies and 523 lb-ft of torque, and it conquered the dunes even easier than the Wrangler did, although it took a minute for any sonorous V8 music to kick in. Plus, the quick and accurate steering ratio got the truck pointed downhill quickly while the hydraulically linked suspension cruised over undulations — also known as whoops in desert vernacular. Both vehicles got the job done, but we felt like we had a bit more control in the Defender, whereas in the Jeep, we were merely along for the ride. 

We then found a nice section of whoops to test both vehicles' comfort over the rough rolling desert terrain. At 25 mph, the Jeep's nose stuffed itself into the whoops and then rebounded heavily, tossing us around like rag dolls. It feels like Jeep's engineers didn’t tune the suspension to account for the heavier V8 engine. A solid-axle vehicle is never great in the whoops, but the 392 is egregiously bad.

The Defender, however, has an independent front suspension, which already gives it a leg up when it comes to comfort. Add in the fancy shocks and it's much more livable. At the same speeds, there were fewer head tosses and the truck stayed mostly planted and smooth. This is the rig you want for cruising along at higher off-road speeds.

Our next test: the ziggurat. This obstacle rates chassis flex, a must when you're taking your truck over big rocks. We drive one front wheel up a steep incline until the corresponding rear wheel loses traction. The higher the front wheel goes, the more flex in the truck and the easier it will be to keep all four wheels on the ground. Of course, by engaging the rear locker, any rig can climb higher, but remember, this tests the limit of flex, not the quality of the locker.

Solid-axle vehicles do really well on the ziggurat, and the 392 was no exception. Although the Defender climbed pretty high for an SUV with an independent suspension, the Jeep easily won this contest. 

Our final test was a rocky hill climb, littered with a loose surface and a rock shelf that tested the locking differentials and tires. The Jeep comes with 35-inch BFGoodrich KO2 tires from the factory, an aggressive tire that can handle pretty much anything. The Defender is also shod with BFGs, although they are the 33-inch Trail-Terrains. These tires are still good, but they trade a bit of off-road capability for more comfort and better fuel economy on the pavement.

We put both trucks in low gear to climb the steep 29-degree hill and locked the differentials, putting equal power to both wheels side to side. Well, we did all that in the Wrangler. See, the Defender has an automatic rear "locker." It will switch on and off as the situation needs. It's more like a brake vectoring system than a traditional locker — putting power to the wheel that has traction. 

As expected, both trucks made it to the top, but it was just a tad easier in the Wrangler thanks to the tires and mechanical lockers. Sometimes old-school tech is all you need to get the job done. 

At the end of the day, we realized that this wasn't a contest about the V8 engine, but rather each SUV's specific use-case scenario. Both are excellent in their own right, but the Jeep excels at more rough-and-tumble rock crawling at the expense of comfort. Meanwhile, the Defender is all about refined exploration. Keep that in mind if you're shopping between the two for your ultimate V8 off-road machine.