Spot the difference! Land Rover Defender gets subtle 2026 makeover

While some might still refer to it as the ‘new Land Rover Defender’, the current version of the brand’s prestigious off-roader has been around for more than five years now – and to keep it up to date, it’s received some cosmetic and technical tweaks.

The changes aren’t limited to the passenger car, either. The commercial Hard Top model is included, too, which like the rest of the updated range is now available to order from £57,135 – reducing the entry point to the Defender range by £295. 

While the exterior initially looks unchanged from the Defender launched in 2019, there’s a new LED headlight signature with foglights as standard, plus smoked lenses for the rear lights and new exterior colours in Woolstone Green and Borasco Grey. 

Details such as the textured pattern on the bonnet inserts and side vents are new, and along with fresh optional 22-inch seven-spoke alloys, every model now gets gloss black Defender-branded wheel caps, plus a gloss black grille bar with a dark Land Rover badge. 

These changes will be introduced on the entire Defender line-up of three-door 90 and five-door 110 and 130 models, but the new range-topping OCTA super-SUV gets its own special tweaks. 

The ferocious 626bhp OCTA now comes with more unique exterior paints, including Sargasso Blue and Patagonia White, with the latter mated to a matt protective wrap. A new ‘chopped’ carbon fibre effect on exterior and interior accents can also be added on the OCTA. 

While previously entry-level Defenders were fitted with a 10-inch touchscreen, and higher-end X-Dynamic HSE and above versions got an 11.4-inch display, now there’s a new 13.1-inch touchscreen taken from the Range Rover Sport that is said to provide a “fast and intuitive interface”. 

We’ve found the screen in the Range Rover Sport to be a huge improvement over the previous unit, thanks to Land Rover’s uprated infotainment system, boasting sharper graphics and quicker responses to inputs.

The interior doesn’t just feature a new screen, however; there’s a reshaped centre console design, and if you specify the ‘Signature Suite’ upgrade you’ll get removable side pockets.

Some new technological updates have arrived, too, with optional adaptive off-road cruise control that’s an evolution of Land Rover’s ‘All Terrain Progress Control’ and should help reduce driver effort while off-roading – particularly in a convoy. A new driver attention monitor has been added as well to provide audio-visual alerts to ensure drivers are paying attention to the road. Land Rover is keen to point out that this can be disabled using the driver assistance menu.

The company hasn’t mentioned any powertrain changes for the updated Defender, so we can expect the same choice of mild-hybrid 3.0-litre straight-sixes in diesel or petrol form, a supercharged 5.0-litre V8, the 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder plug-in hybrid and the rambunctious BMW M-derived 4.4-litre V8 in the OCTA. 

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