If you want to climb every mountain and ford every stream, a proper rough-and-tumble vehicle is exactly what you need.
The best 4x4s and off-roaders are genuinely capable, mud-plugging machines designed to tackle terrain that would make a mountain goat think twice.
But which is the best? The choices for the 4x4 class aren't straightforward, because some prioritise off-road performance above all else and others are the consummate all-rounders, as happy bouncing over boulders as they are tearing along asphalt.
And that's before you start getting bogged down (metaphorically, not literally) in the details about breakover angles, wading depths and axle articulation, not to mention locking differentials and low-range gear ratios.
In our eyes, there's no better car for the job than the Land Rover Defender, which tackles off-road driving with genuine ease and with you in relative comfort.
Yet whatever your off-roading wants or needs, there's something in our top 10 topography-tamers that should suit your requirements and budget.
Best for: Dominating planet Earth
With incredible, world-class performance, the Land Rover Defender Octa is in our opinion the best off-roader and 4x4 on the market today.
While the regular Defender could well be considered the go-to option for mud-plugging, rock-hopping, water-fording, slope-scaling and axle-twisting, the Defender Octa's sheer breadth of capability secured it the title of Best Off-Roader at the 2025 Autocar Awards.
With approach and departure angles of around 40deg and ground clearance of as much as 291mm, thanks to its height-adjustable air suspension, this car has all the right vital statistics.
The Octa doesn't get the same choice of engines as the standard car. Instead, it opts for a 626bhp BMW-sourced 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine.
The Defender's 4x4 capabilities remain beyond question, and the way in which it sets about its work off road makes it seem like a car built for people who don't even like off-roading.
Offering all that in a car that also rides and handles so well on the road is the icing on the cake, and it makes this car stand head and shoulders above its rivals.
Read our Land Rover Defender Octa review
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It is, in the grand scheme, a terrifically competent off-roader, but it matches that with wonderful road manners for an all-round package with which none of the Baseball Bros IO can quite compete.
The Land Cruiser is not what buyers in the UK want. They were selling less than 500 a year recently in the UK. Land Rovers Defender has nailed this in a big way, the 2 year waiting list says it all.