Ollie Marriage
RANGE ROVER SPORT SV EDITION ONE
SV replaces SVR, and with the loss of a letter comes a gain in image. The old Range Rover Sport SVR was a brash, boisterous car for brash, boisterous people. The new one has curated wellness tracks. The signature colour is now an understated bronze, not a punchy blue. Someone’s pinched the exhaust’s lips closed. And applied technology to the handling. The hottest Range Rover Sport has been civilised.
So naturally you’re thinking the old supercharged V8 (one of the thirstiest beasts in the automotive jungle) will have been replaced by a hybrid six? Think again. For all the talk about curated wellness tracks, Range Rover knows its audience. So this uses a BMW-sourced twin-turbo V8 as seen in the M5.
Power climbs well over 100bhp from the old SVR, allowing the 0–62mph time to fall by almost a second. Of course it’s not nearly as fast as an M5 since it weighs the best part of 2.6 tonnes, but this is a deeply, thunderously swift car. With this much power the old one would have been a liability. Not this one. Many tall, heavy SUVs use active anti-roll bars to hold themselves level through corners. The SV has gone beyond, employing cross linked hydraulic dampers that pump fluid around to resist not just roll, but compression under pitch and dive. You chuck it around all you like, it stays level. No other fast SUV bar the Ferrari Purosangue has chassis tech to match this.
But this isn’t as dynamic and sharp as that. Nor is it as nimble and crisp as a Porsche Cayenne or Lamborghini Urus. But that’s not Range Rover’s MO. This is intended to be a burly, capable, secure and engaging SUV. And it mostly achieves that. Used hard, the 6D Dynamics system feels taut, but when the dampers don’t have to work so hard they seem to lose concentration and the ride is softly turbulent. Still, it’s a better, more refined cruiser than anything that you’d consider a rival.
A quicker steering rack improves response and connection around the straightahead and optional £7,000 440mm Brembo carbon brakes give it impressive stopping power... for a car weighing this much. That’s the caveat you have to keep applying to the SV. This is for those who believe a sports SUV isn’t a contradiction in terms.
If you’re a more discerning car enthusiast, and the mention of the BMW M5 has got you thinking, then wait for the Touring. That’ll be faster and more fun to drive with its clever switchable 4WD system. This doesn’t have so many traction tricks up its
