Gear -- 1 month ago
Words: Rory FH Smith
Suspect looking Range Rovers have sadly become commonplace in the capital, or any populated region of the UK for that matter. With tinted windows, gigantic rims and gaudy aftermarket body enhancements, what started life as an elegant, high-riding limousine has become a mobile canvas for bad taste. In response, Land Rover has developed its own weapon against the aftermarket modders and it comes in the form of the blisteringly quick Range Rover Sport SVR.
Pumping out 543bhp from its supercharged 5.0-litre V8 taken from the Jaguar XKR-S, the SVR can reach 162mph and leave quite a few Porsche drivers standing in the sprint to 0-62mph with a time of 4.5 seconds. With performance figures like these, the SVR claims to be the world’s fastest 4×4, ahead of the blisteringly quick Porsche Cayenne Turbo S. Built by Jaguar Land Rover’s new Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) team, the standard Range Rover Sport chassis on which it’s based has been treated to a through tinkering to ensure it keeps up, while a quad-pipe active exhaust promises to produce a sound to match the performance.
The image-conscious gentleman will be pleased to know that the improvements to the Range Rover Sport are not just skin deep. On the surface, the SVR is offers optional 22inch rims, air intakes in the remodeled front bumper and a rear diffuser that wouldn’t look out of place on a high-performance hot hatch. In the cabin, ribbed leather sports seats embossed with SVR badging can be found in the front and rear to hold the occupants in place, hinting at some nifty handling.
While the SVR is the latest and fastest incarnation of the Range Rover, it’s release was coincidentally timed with the news that the first ever Range Rover, chassis number #001, will be going under the hammer at The Salon Privé Sale in London on September 4th. With the Range Rover Sport SVR due to be priced at around £100,000 when it reaches UK dealerships in 2015 and the original Range Rover estimated at between £100,000 and £140,000, it seems die-hard Land Rover enthusiasts will be torn between the two.
