Not all vehicles that roll out of Land Rover factories are built to boulder-crawl and traverse deserts. No doubt the new Range Rover Sport SVR would do an admirable job of both, compared to, say, a Porsche Boxter S, but this particular SUV is made to compete on pavement. Details have leaked ahead of the official debut, and they’re pretty great. It’ll reach 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and top out at 176 mph — quicker and faster than its predecessor, thanks to its familiar supercharged 5.0-liter V8 making a bit more power and torque in its current guise.
Adding to the extra oomph is quite a lot of weight savings: the hood is made of carbon fiber and other composites, and altogether the bucket seats inside save 66 pounds. New brake pads and discs are cooled by equally new airflow vents in the bumper housing. The truck’s weight is well controlled, with engineering tweaks to maintain more even, flat performance during acceleration and braking, which you’re bound to do a fair share of should your right foot be let loose on the gas.
Of course, if you just want to do fast things in a vehicle, you could save about 40 large and pick up an equally quick Porsche droptop; the new SVR stickers at $114,595. But that’s not why we buy fast SUVs, is it?
