The Range Rover Sport SVR – Land Rover SVO Gets A Grip On Things

With 550HP V8 power under foot and advanced traction technology, the Range Rover Sport SVR delivers exceptional performance whatever the surface

When you think of high-end off-road vehicles, Range Rover is pretty much the first brand to pop into your head. The brand is so ingrained within motoring culture that its name is synonymous with luxury and off-road ability. When you add sports car levels of performance into the mix, it’s virtually an unbeatable combination.

For this two page article, we’ll be looking at the all-around performance capability of the Range Rover Sport SVR via a series of tests across varying terrains.

Since coming to the market back in February 2015, the Sport SVR has showcased the engineering ability of the Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations. It’s not a common sight on the roads with less than 1000 so far finding their way into the homes of Uk customers. Many of these owners will have been attracted by the scorching 4.5 second 0-60mph time, but the official figure only scratches the surface of the Range Rover Sport’s capability…

When the perfect traction offered by clean, dry Tarmac isn’t available, most sports cars immediately suffer from a lack of grip, stability and performance. But no sports car has the benefit of Land Rover’s legendary all-terrain know-how.

In this unique test, the Range Rover Sport SVR completes the 0-100km/h sprint on standard fit Michelin 275/45 R21 All Season Tyres on everything from tarmac and grass to snow and sand, using Land Rover’s innovative Terrain Response 2 technology.

The intelligent system automatically selects the appropriate driving mode to suit traction conditions including:

• General Driving
• Dynamic
• Grass/Gravel/Snow
• Mud and Ruts, Sand
• Rock Crawl

The driver can also use a simple rotary controller on the centre console to choose a specific mode.

The times recorded are a testament to the Range Rover Sport’s inherent capability. On a notoriously slippery wet grass surface, the 0-100km/h time increased by only 0.8 seconds, while even on Sand the benchmark sprint took only 5.5 seconds.

• Terrain: Asphalt Mode: Dynamic 0-100km/h time: 4.7 seconds
• Terrain: Grass Mode: Grass, Gravel and Snow 0-100km/h time: 5.5 seconds
• Terrain: Gravel Mode: Grass, Gravel and Snow 0-100km/h time: 5.3 seconds
• Terrain: Snow Mode: Grass, Gravel and Snow 0-100km/h time: 11.3 seconds
• Terrain: Mud Mode: Mud and Ruts 0-100km/h time: 6.5 seconds
• Terrain: Sand Mode: Sand 0-100km/h time: 5.5 seconds