The supercharged 5.0 is gone.
Land Rover decided.
For the 2027 Model Year, the Defender sheds two engines entirely. The base 2.0-liter turbo-four is dead. So is that old, familiar, supercharged V-8. It made 500 horses. It sounds angry. Now it doesn’t exist.
JLR confirmed it to Car and Driver back in July 2026. No more five-liter supercharger. If you want eight cylinders, you have to pay for the Octa. And oh. It hurts the wallet.
The 626-horsepower twin-turbo Octa sits at the top. Starting around $160,700. Fully loaded, it climbs past $186k. That’s where the enthusiasts will cluster now.
But the rest of the lineup? Uniformly bored.
Every body style except the Octa gets the 3.0-liter inline six. 296 horses. 346 pound-feet. Or the existing turbo-six with 395 horses. The baseline performance drops for entry buyers since the cheap four-banger vanished. You start at $62,900 for the Defender 90 S.
Is it still capable?
Yes. Obviously. But it feels different without that supercharged rumble in the background.
Instead, Land Rover pushes style. Enter the Vertex trim.
It’s loud.
Painted black bumpers on most Defenders become body-color on the Vertex. Yellow tow hooks peek out the rear. They match the yellow brake calipers hiding behind new 22-inch wheels A spoiler sits on the roofline. It’s aggressive styling for an SUV that tries so hard to be rugged but spends its life on highways.
The Vertex starts at $90,400 on the short 90-series. It competes with its own X trim, which costs the same but lacks the color-matched lower section and that specific aesthetic bite. If you drive a 110 or 130, you can fake it with an Extended Exterior Pack. You don’t get the matching paint below. But you get close enough for Instagram.
Interior changes are quieter.
The Defender 110 now offers six seats. Two. Two. Two layout. Second-row captains chairs. Third-row bench for two. It’s a $1,300 option. Cheap enough that it’s almost free relative to the vehicle’s cost. Why it took until 2027 to standardize a simple bench is anyone’s guess.
Color matters to people who buy $70,000 plastic boxes.
Land Rover brought back Namib Orange. A 2020 throwback. The Octa gets Woolstone Green. If you hate scratches, add $5,450 for Gloss Protective Film. Previously only available in matte, it now comes shiny. Because why protect your paint with dullness when you can protect it with… more shine.
The prices keep rising.
90 S at $62,945.
110 base at $66,905.
130 base at $75,905.
Then the options hit.
A Tail Door Gear Carrier adds $760. An Expedition Roof Light tacks on $3,610. Packages stack. Adventure, Explorer, Urban. They pile on like weight in the back seat.
The Defender remains the bestseller. Barely. It still outsells the Range Rover, its taller, more expensive brother. That fact matters more to shareholders than it does to anyone standing in the parking lot at dusk, waiting for the engine to catch.
It still drives away.
It still climbs hills.
It just doesn’t sound the way it did last year.
