Range Rover SVAutobiography Dynamic: Driven

The SVR for grown ups is just as appealing as that prospect sounds

Maybe bling isn't your thing, but you've got to admire the 'glamourisation' of Land Rover these days, if only from the point of view of inexorably rising sales. Gerry McGovern, Design Director, is utterly unapologetic about the luxurious transformation his models are undergoing. Even the poor old Discovery has been stripped of its boxy, utilitarian shape, and forced into some sexy, figure-hugging clothes. And wait until you see the latest addition to the Range Rover family, set for a reveal at the Geneva motor show in March.

SVR power, with some better manners

For now we have the latest Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) Range Rover, the SVAutobiography Dynamic. This is a short-wheelbase (hence more 'dynamic') version of the SVAutobiography that launched in New York last year. Whereas the latter was intended for passengers, with acres of legroom and a fully decked out rear cabin with chiller cabinet et al, the former has a decidedly more driver-focused character. Whether dreams are made of this stuff... well, each to their own.

And so we have the same 5.0-litre supercharged V8 petrol engine, developing 550hp and 502lb ft of torque, as found in the jackhammering, mountain-slaying, subtle-as-a-box-of-frogs Sport SVR, but it's now been told to sit down and shut up - "calibrated", as the engineers have it. The result in the grown-up Range Rover is something altogether more pleasant: the power isn't dialled down one jot, but the raucousness is. This 2.5-tonne slab of aluminium still shifts off the line, whippet-fast, clicking up through the eight-speed auto 'box imperceptibly, but it settles into a low-slung growl from the quad chrome exhausts and a long-legged gait that makes it a contender for cross-Continental cruising.

Waft car
The ride is a blessed relief, too. When it comes to luxury SUVs with a shedload of horsepower, the tendency of late is to dial out all roll for an unnervingly flat ride through fast corners. The result is then a 2.5-tonne, four-wheel-drive car that goes like stink round a circuit (because, you know, we all like to put an SUV through its paces on a track), but which creates at best a headache round twisting hairpins and at worst, like yours truly, a huge dose to travel sickness from the divorced sensation between brain and body. Give us a little bit of body roll any day of the week, please, not least to remind us of the unparalleled off-roading prowess the Land Rover badge still carries.

Careful on that interior spec now!

That's not to say this car wallows: careful revisions to the knuckles, links, springs and dampers mean the car sits 8mm lower and responds a little quicker to driver inputs. The Dynamic is also kitted out with Land Rover's Dynamic Response system, controlling the front and rear axles independently for greater low-speed agility and high-speed stability, and the Adaptive Dynamics tech that monitors vehicular movements up to 500 times a second, reacting to driver inputs and road surface changes to smooth out the drive.

The steering is a joy, too: entirely linear, without any of that strange unpredictable loading you get from some variable systems, butter-light through your fingertips but precise as a blade, partly due to that independent control of the axles, despite the car sitting on 21-inch or 22-inch alloys.

Dressed up for the town
Exterior styling hints that tell you this derivative has come out of the JLR toy box include side vents, bonnet finishes, grille, front bumper accents and badge all finished in Graphite Atlas, a stylish dark grey. The SVAutobiography is also the first Range Rover to get red calipers and Brembo brakes; not a bad idea given the combination of performance and weight.

Fast, assured, luxurious, enjoyable - it's good!

Inside, there isn't quite the opulence of the LWB version with the focus having shifted back to the driver. But there are enough differentiators to mark it out as a cut above, not least the quilted leather on the seats, which come in duo tones. Our test car had black (Ebony) seats with strident red (Pimento) inserts - not for the faint-hearted. The gearshift paddles are a burnished red metal, with a red painted line circling the rotary gear selector. Smart, but not overly wacko. There's also a decent smattering of knurled aluminium on various knobs and switches, which seems to be the luxe material and finish of choice for switches these days. It's a nice touch, and one you miss when you get back into an 'ordinary' Range Rover - i.e. one that's a mere £90K - and find yourself surrounded by black plastic.

Oh, and that 1700W Meridian Reference sound system is the business, which, frankly, you'd expect from a car that values a premium experience inside the cabin as much as it does the performance under the bonnet. That combo might not be to everyone's taste, but when you consider that SVO is all about the twin pillars of performance and luxury, this is surely the derivative that best exemplifies the badge.

RANGE ROVER SVAUTOBIOGRAPHY DYNAMIC
Engine: 5,000cc supercharged V8
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 550@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 502@3,500rpm
0-62mph: 5.4sec
Top speed: 155mph (limited)
Weight: 2,457kg (EU with driver)
MPG: 22.1 (NEDC combined)
CO2: 299g/km
Price: £132,800