Land Rover Range Rover Sport

Range Rover Sport SVR First Drive Review

You got to love the subtlety here. No chrome, no over the top badging, and nothing – not even a body kit – that screams ‘special’. But, make no mistake this mystic blue coloured Range Rover Sport is no ordinary car. It is the manic but agreeable twin of what is already a quick, desirable and expensive piece of machinery. So, why build it? Because you can! Enter Jaguar Land Rover’s SVO or Special Vehicle Operations unit.

Might sound like something the MI6 might conjure up, but the SVO’s sole purpose is to build ridiculous vehicles, because there are a wealthy set of buyers who want one. Actually, SVO wants to do more than just attract the wealthy; it wants to build itself into a brand that will sit above the current JLR line up, like Mercedes’ AMG, if you please. SVO will have two types of these outrageously likeable cars – SVR and SVX where R stands for kickass road performance and X stands for go-further than ever before. Not verbatim of course, but that’s the essence.

And this, the Range Rover Sport SVR, is the first ever R to have rolled out. And we love it!

 As we mentioned, JLR’s SVO division has done really well here to present the Sport SVR as a sleeper. It has this gorgeous paint hue, of course, but other than that, it’s less bling and more gangsta. The Sport SVR gets blacked out Range Rover badging that goes well with the dark roof, dark ORVMs and dark fender grilles, all finished in gloss black. JLR calls it the Black Design Pack.  The SVR badging is subtly placed as well. At the front it is located on the lower grille while at the rear it’s a little more visible courtesy its location on the boot lid.

 SVR is all about performance, so it’s not surprising to see that JLR’s SVO division hasn’t bothered with redoing the Sport SVR’s interiors. These are near identical to its more ‘ordinary’ twin, the Range Rover Sport. The dash, the steering, the centre console and the door trims and design are the same as the latter. The only thing that’s changed is the finish.

 This is what it all boils down to. A 5-litre supercharged V8 monster of an engine mated to an 8-speed automatic. It is the same engine from the F-Type R, so it makes a colossal 543bhp of max power, and a hardly believable (for a petrol, mind) 680Nm of peak torque. So, when you let go off the brake with the throttle flat on the floor, the Sport SVR first squats on its hind, picks a hint of wheelspin, digs into the road and with a snarl so loud and lovely, it literally catapults you to the end of the road. No matter how far that end might be.

Like we said at the start, we do love the Sport SVR for it is quite a sensible car contrary to what the world will have you believe. And here’s why. It’s a Range Rover. So, it is big, burly and British. It’s also luxurious, quiet (when needed), and comfortable (okay, not entirely, but it isn’t painful either).  And it is fast. Very fast. It turns, it brakes, and when you run out of road, it off-roads too. It is so multi-faceted that if you aren’t worried about the huge petrol bills it might run up, it’s the perfect buy.

Photo Courtesy By : Kapil Angane