In an exit game, players have to solve puzzles and complete various tasks in order to escape from the escape room within a set time. Something to try if you want to get away from everyday life. Or you can simply climb into a Defender OCTA, head off-road and leave every path behind.

Just get me out of here. That is pretty much the basic idea when life is drowning in monotony. Well, and for exactly that case there are escape rooms. And speaking of the games: ten years ago they were popping up like mushrooms in the forest after a downpour. People let themselves be locked in a room and have to get out of their prison again within a set time with the help of hidden clues. Something to try. But you can also use the OCTA as an escape room. You get in, leave the well-trodden path, the rut of life, and break out. End: terrain.

It is precisely for this rough territory that Land Rover developed the OCTA. The biggest development step is the 6D Dynamics suspension. Behind it lies a system of hydraulically interconnected dampers that replaces conventional anti-roll bars. The goal: the wheels should stay in contact with the ground for as long as possible in order to transmit drive. If one wheel has to compress or extend a long way, the other wheels keep contact with the surface for longer. This way traction is maintained for longer. Only when the mechanics reach their limits do traction control and brake interventions step in.

You get into the OCTA, leave the well-trodden path, the rut of life, and break out. End: terrain.

Add to that 323 millimetres of ground clearance, approach and departure angles of 40.2 degrees at the front and 42.8 degrees at the rear, and a wading depth of one metre, in case the escape leads through a river. It can happen. And: the new 33-inch all-terrain tyres increase the contact patch on loose surfaces.

A large part of the OCTA’s off-road capability, however, lies in its software. Land Rover calls it “Terrain Response 2”. Behind it is a driving programme that detects the surface or lets the driver select it: sand, mud, rocks, gravel or snow, for example. Depending on the programme, the distribution of power between the wheels, the automatic transmission, the accelerator and the traction control changes. On sand, for instance, the system allows more wheel slip so that the vehicle does not dig itself in. On rocks, throttle response is much finer, so that the Defender can be eased over obstacles centimetre by centimetre. The exclusive OCTA mode adds a further calibration. It sets up the suspension, steering, ABS and control systems for fast driving on gravel.

And that is exactly where the OCTA differs from many classic off-roaders: of course it takes you pretty far, but that is not the decisive point. It is also fast in places where others have long since eased off. Well then. Sometimes breaking out of the daily grind is not about puzzling over how to open a door. It is about closing a car door, starting the engine and simply putting your foot down.

Text: Wiebke Brauer
Photos: David Breun
Location: ADAC Driving Safety Centre

ramp #71 Yabba Dabba Doo!

There’s Fred. Fred is happy. The moment the siren wails, he slides down the tail of his dinosaur, jumps into his stone car and shouts: “Yabba Dabba Doo!”

For more than sixty years, everyone has instantly understood what that means. Psychologists later came up with all kinds of terms for it. Philosophers distinguish between happiness and joy. Neuroscientists explain dopamine. Find out more