Land Rover (or JLR, as it’s now known) has got a new big dog in the Range Rover line-up, and it’s powered by a V8 borrowed from a rival brand. Oh, and it’s coming to Australia.
The most powerful Range Rover Sport ever is now called SV instead of SVR, and it’s powered by a 467kW twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 yanked straight out of a BMW M car.
When it arrives in Australia, it’ll set buyers back a hefty $360,800 before on-road costs, but there’s a lot on offer.
The brand doesn’t explicitly state it’s running a BMW engine, but there aren’t many manufacturers building mild-hybrid twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8s, and the BMW M5 CS has exactly the same outputs - 467kW and 750Nm. So long, JLR’s supercharged 5.0-litre V8, then.
Despite being a hefty SUV likely weighing in at almost 2.5-tonne, the Range Rover Sport SV is capable of a 0-100km/h sprint in just 3.8 seconds according to the British brand, which calls it the “most powerful and dynamic Range Rover Sport ever”.
Another claim from JLR is that the Range Rover Sport SV features “the world’s first 23-inch carbon-fibre wheel” as an option for the model, which joins carbon-ceramic brakes and a carbon-fibre bonnet as part of a list of options that JLR says can reduce the SUV’s weight by 76kg. That’s enough weight saved to bring an extra person along - or a few boxes of Shiraz - on a rather spirited road trip to the countryside.
While the SV’s power and performance is obviously a huge draw, Land Rover has implemented some of its off-road knowledge into the wicked road-going SUV, and has included its ‘6D Dynamics air suspension’ which in this case takes suspension lessons from more rugged applications and helps the SV stay steady on the road, removing the need for anti-roll bars.
The system “dramatically reduces pitch and roll to maintain a near-level body stance during extreme cornering and acceleration, while also reducing weight, increasing grip, and benefiting comfort and refinement” according to JLR.
While the 2024 Range Rover line-up is available now starting with the $143,600 SE D250, customers are asked to register for updates on future SV model availability at Land Rover’s website.
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