Thursday 17th December 2015

Range Rover Sport SVR: PH Fleet

Dan's dreaming of a white Christmas, if only to get out and play in the SVR

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The outrageous V8 noise from slash cut quad exhausts is one of the talents the SVR exploits to win over even the most hardened SUV cynic. I'm a bit of a child when it comes to such things and I absolutely love it. But even I had to wince on one 4:30am start the other week with the winter's first frost on the screen, reasoning my love for noisy supercharged engines might not be shared with everyone else on the street at such a tender hour. 

From B-road blasting...

Thank god for the heated windscreen then - the idea of sitting there with the engine doing its full, flaps open cold start routine, desperately scraping ice off the windscreen as bedroom lights flickered on didn't really appeal. Saying that, I've only had the one frosty start so far. Before the next I'll have to test the theory that you can turn the ignition on to clear the windscreen before firing up the engine. I've not long lived on this street. I'd rather not turn the whole neighbourhood against me before we've even swapped festive cards and cheer... 

While I eagerly anticipate a white Christmas and a chance to go out doing Range Rovery stuff in the snow, remaining M4 commitments meant James was given custody of the SVR. And left to face his own SUV related demons. Mainly concerning the question of why you would have it over a regular estate car - specifically one with the same 550hp supercharged V8 from Jaguar's recent back catalogue.

"I concluded the SVR was good for footballers and lottery winners and I didn't like it," he says of the first encounter. "I'd read Dan's initial fleet update but it couldn't be that good, could it?"

... to best man duties. A busy month!

Over to James... "In a similar chain of events to Dan the SVR won me over from the first time I started it, and got better with each journey," he reports. "Last week I spent a morning on some greasy Leicestershire roads for the pics you see here and the SVR proved itself freakishly capable. And the claimed Nurburgring lap time is entirely believable, although I can't imagine the brakes have many laps in them. Fast, practical, extremely comfortable, safe, exclusive and with an engine note that turns heads from 500 yards - it really is a compelling package." 

So to its next victim, Community Experience Manager Ollie and assignment as official transport for his brother's wedding. He, it seems, didn't even need to clear the initial qualifier of pre-drive scepticism. "As a lover of Range Rovers, having this car to take the groom to church was my highlight of the wedding and a welcome distraction from the best man's speech that was ever-looming," he says, the bride also on-brand in a Jaguar XJR. His conclusion? "Personally I can't see how this car can be improved!" He'll be a fan then.  

The only fly in the ointment thus far has been the need to replace a tyre, a chunk having been taken out of the sidewall of one of the fronts somehow. I suspect this may have occurred during my not especially crazy off-roading back from town, this on the 'small' 21-inch wheel option and all conditions tyres too. If I've any more aspirations to go off-piste I'd better do it before the planned swap to 22s and more 'driver focused' Continental Sport Contact 5s in the spring... For now, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

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FACT SHEET
Car: Range Rover SVR
Run by: Dan
On fleet since: November 2015
Mileage: 6,165
List price new: £106,635 (Basic list of £95,150 plus £450 for Solar Attenuating Windscreen with Laminated Hydrophobic Front, Rear Door and Quarter Light Glass, £600 for 8 inch High Resolution Touch-screen with Dual-View (includes one set of WhiteFire headphones), £4,000 for Meridian Signature Reference Audio System (1700W) with radio and single slot CD player, MP3 disc, file compatability and conversation assist with 23 speakers and subwoofer, Contrast Painted Roof - Santorini Black, Sliding Panoramic Roof including Powered Blind, £185 for Adjustable, Auto-dimming, Heated, Powerfold Memory Exterior Mirrors with Approach Lamps (approach lamps include illuminated Range Rover graphic), £700 for Surround Camera System with Towing Assist, £750 for Wade SensingTM with Blind Spot Monitoring with Closing Vehicle Sensing and Reverse Traffic Detection, £600 for Traffic Sign Recognition and Lane Departure Warning, £1,000 for Head Up Display, £900 for Park Assist featuring Parallel Park, Parking Exit, Perpendicular Parking and 360° Park Distance Control, £1,500 for SVR Carbon Fibre Engine Cover and £800 for Digital TV)
Last month at a glance: Another potential critic drowned out by V8 noise

Previous reports:
Sport SVR makes an instant splash on the PH Fleet

[bakerstreet]

It says 'ootballer' in the article.

[ensignia]

[quote]£450 for Solar Attenuating Windscreen with Laminated Hydrophobic Front
[/quote]

Someone's taking the piss there, surely?

[Cotic]

ensignia said:

Someone's taking the piss there, surely?

And yet the £4000 for the hi-fi passed you by?

[TNH]

I don't really like this type of car normally, but for some strange reason I feel like I really need this in my life.

[Dan Trent]

So I really should read the manual more!

Just been advised by someone on the development team there is a 'quiet start' option (all things relative) accessible by hitting the start button without your foot on the brake as it would be normally, leaving for five seconds and then firing up. If you do this it'll keep the valves closed in the exhaust apparently.

My thanks to my source and I'll give this a try and report back. Can't believe I'd ever have issue with a V8 being too noisy but in the interests of wanting to stay on good terms with my neighbours I'll give it a whirl.

Cheers,

Dan