Land Rover launches the fastest Range Rover ever – the 626hp Sport SV
We get an exclusive walkaround of the Range Rover Sport SV and show you around the new performance-oriented bits added
The high-performance luxury super SUV has gotten crowded with multiple players. Options such as the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin DBX707 and Ferrari Purosangue must’ve made it challenging for the ultra-rich to decide. But when the subject revolves around SUVs, the Land Rover brand can’t be omitted as it’s been synonymous with making luxury utility vehicles. And now, it released its fastest SUV ever – the Range Rover Sport SV.
Shivaum brought you an exclusive walkaround of the standard Range Rover Sport about a year ago. But this is its top-end, high-performance SV trim. It stands 10mm lower than the standard Range Rover Sport, but apart from that, there’s nothing down-to-earth about the Sport SV. The highlight figures read: 0-100kph in 3.8secs. Power – 626hp. Torque – 750Nm. Engine displacement – 4.4 litres, and this appears to be the only downsized aspect of the Sport SV, as the predecessor got a 5.0-litre supercharged V8, whereas this produces 50hp more from its 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8.
It seems the Land Rover engineers read a whole lot of build-yourself-a-supercar guides while making the Sport SV cause you can see numerous tweaks copied from that supercar philosophy. Use of carbon fibre, the most used trick of the modern supercar book, has been generously applied across the Sport SV. Though in typical Land Rover fashion, the carbon fibre applied here gets a matte satin finish. You can find that on the Range Rover lettering, grille surrounds, the front splitter, the hood vents and even on the fenders.
There’s no SV badging up front. Instead, Land Rover has added a tweaked bumper with a larger air dam area on either side to better cool the brakes and the engine. The bonnet gets an additional crease up top to show more muscle on the car. And while this can’t be seen by the naked eye, this bonnet is all carbon fibre underneath the paint.
The side profile is easily dominated by carbon fibre-made 23-inch wheels, a world first, that help in saving additional 35kilos of weight. The tires themselves are all-season Michelin pieces that have been specially designed for the Sport SV. Behind these enormous tyres sit a newly designed eight-piston brake calliper setup made in partnership with Brembo, that’s also the largest brakes to go on a Range Rover. Another major change features on the rear axle, where Land Rover has fitted the widest-ever tyres on a Range Rover – 305-section tyres. As the tyres sit out of the body margins, a slight lil protrusion trim has been added behind the rear wheel well to keep the tires within the body frame.
A black blade that surrounds the entire underbody of the car rounds up at the rear. More of the satin-finished carbon fibre can be found on the quad exhausts. The distinguishing SV badging, finished in ceramic, gets installed on the rear.
The cabin of the Range Rover Sport SV features a host of unique elements. An all-new steering wheel gets fitted, offering more contouring so one can grip it better during spirited driving. The steering wheel boasts an SV button at its centre that sets the car up in its most aggressive and powerful setting and lowers it by a further 15mm. The paddle shifters receive translucent and illuminated edges, another world first. More illumination can be found on the seats, which gets SV branding.
The Sport SV’s cabin features elements draped in both, sustainable and luxurious finish. The seats are made from recycled fabric with a mesh finish. The gear lever gets ceramic finishing, and as this is the first edition exclusive to the first year of production with all units already sold out, the centre console gets carbon fibre inlays too.
The sound system on the Range Rover SV has 29 speakers by Meridian, but Land Rover has added even more speakers and transducers to the headrests and the seats for the front passengers to feel the music literally. The company calls this the Body And Soul System or BASS, a new technology developed with SUBPAC that amplifies your audio experience with more vibrations and immersive audio.
The rest of the interior is pretty much the usual Range Rover Sport with a big 13-inch infotainment screen with no knobs on it and featuring the latest Pivi Pro software from Land Rover. The firm claims approximately 80 per cent of tasks can be performed within two taps of the home screen. All the buttons have been removed to make way for a plush-looking center console design, and it boasts an all-digital instrument cluster as well. Everywhere you touch screams opulence and luxury in typical Range Rover fashion.
Potential buyers of the 626hp Range Rover Sport SV will have to wait till they can book one as Land Rover will only be producing an “Edition One” trim with all features and luxuries as standard for the first year of Sport SV’s production run, and all units have been already called for. Further update on the availability of the Sport SV is expected to be released soon.
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