Range Rover Sport SVR to roar in at $218,500

LAND ROVER has announced that its fastest and most powerful vehicle ever, the Range Rover Sport SVR, will go on sale in Australia in May for $218,500, plus on road costs.

Based on the 2015 Range Rover Sport and $36,500 dearer than the current range-topping Autobiography Dynamic, it’s the first Special Vehicle Racing (SVR) product to come out of the newly created high-performance division Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations.

Land Rover Special Operations managing director John Edwards said testing and tuning has produced an SUV with supercar performance, while retaining on-road comfort and off-road capability.

“The Range Rover Sport SVR is a natural progression beyond the core vehicle’s outstanding on- and off-road capabilities and leading-edge design,” he said.

“Its exhilarating performance will satisfy a particularly demanding customer set.

“A thorough range of revisions specially developed by Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations combine to make this premium derivative even more distinctive both inside and out, as well as taking its dynamic capabilities to the next level without impacting on comfort, refinement or all-terrain versatility. The Range Rover Sport SVR is truly the world’s most capable performance SUV.”

Following extensive testing at Germany’s grueling Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit, Land Rover claimed its Range Rover Sport SVR completed a lap of the 20.6km track in 8 minutes and 14 seconds.

The British manufacturer said last year that it was the fastest lap for a production SUV, however Porsche recently usurped it with its 419kW Cayenne Turbo S completing the lap in 7:59.74, more than 14 seconds quicker than the SVR.

To extract this type performance, the division tuned the super SUV’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 to produce 405kW and 680Nm – 30kW and 55Nm more than that of the regular Range Rover Sport. The extra horsepower and torque helps cut the 0-100km/h sprint by 0.6 seconds to 4.7 seconds.

Shift times in the eight-speed ZF 8HP70 automatic have been reduced by 50 per cent ensuring the revs are kept in the power band. In Dynamic mode the transmission won’t even shift at the redline.

The engineers also tuned the SVR’s chassis for better agility, tighter body control and higher cornering speeds using lightweight aluminum components.

The suspension is fully independent and has double wishbones at the front and a multi-line set-up at the rear. Air springs have a modified piston profile to improve handling and the adaptive dampers have been calibrated for better agility while maintaining a high level of comfort.

The electric power-assisted steering has also been revised to add more weight for a feeling of better connection.

The Range Rover Sport SVR is distinguished from its siblings on the outside by new front bumpers, restyled and larger lower air intakes, blacked-out bonnet lettering, revised bonnet and wheel-arch vents, a new dark-finish grille, extended roof-mounted spoiler, a gloss black rear diffuser and a chunky quad exhaust.

The SVR comes standard with 21-inch alloy wheels with 275/45 R21 tyres.

Optional 22-inch wheels with 295/40 R22 Continental SportContact 5 tyres will also be available.

The cabin gets sports seats up front wrapped in Windsor leather and feature the SVR logo. Aluminium trim is standard inside, however, owners can also option carbon-fibre to cover the dash, door panels, centre console and steering wheel bezel.

While this is a high-performance SUV the engineers have ensured it retains the excellent off-road capability associated with Land Rover.

There’s permanent four-wheel drive and a two-speed transfer case with a low-range option, while an electronic multi-plate clutch in the centre differential distributes torque with the ability to send 100 per cent of it to either axle if need be. A water wading depth of 850mm is the best in its class.

The SVR's main competitors in Australia will include the aforementioned Porsche Cayenne and BMW's 423kW/750Nm high-performance X5 and X6 M twins and Mercedes' ML63 AMG.

In June last year Jaguar Land Rover announced the creation of the Special Operations division. With a technical centre located in the British car-maker’s heartland of Coventry in the United Kingdom the department is tasked with producing bespoke, high performance and limited-edition vehicles.

The Jaguar F-Type Project 7 is expected to be next car produced by the operation with Land Rover Australia confirming that it will be coming here, although timing is yet to be announced.