The Range Rover Sport SVR is a car unlike any other previously created by the British marque and its Special Vehicle Operations division. Not only does it combine most of the off-roading prowess which make Range Rovers so formidable, but it also features a potent powertrain, suspension and braking systems and can even be taken to the track if needed!
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To fully explore the car’s performance potential, Drive’s Steve Sutcliffe recently headed onto some incredibly picturesque roads in Yorkshire as well as the race track. As seems to be the common consensus about the Range Rover Sport SVR, the performance it provides simply boggles belief.
Beneath the skin, the 2015 Range Rover Sport SVR features the firm’s well documented supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine. When fitted to the standard Range Rover Sport, this engine delivers 503 hp. However, in SVR specification that has been upped to 542 hp with torque also rising to 501 lb-ft. Consequently, the car hits 96 km/h (60 mph) in 4.5 seconds before topping out at an electronically limited 260 km/h top speed. Despite the extra performance offered by this engine, fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions haven’t changed over the less powerful Range Rover Sport.
As you’d expect, power is sent to all four wheels via a revised eight-speed automatic transmission from ZF. It can be used in fully automatic mode or also operated through the paddle shifters or the gearstick itself. Further improving the on-road performance of the Range Rover Sport SVR is a recalibrated Dynamic Active Rear Locking Differential along with torque vectoring and the stability control being retuned. Furthermore, a new Active-Roll Control system is featured which is used instead of anti-roll bars.
