RE: Range Rover Sport SVR: PH Fleet

RE: Range Rover Sport SVR: PH Fleet

Sunday 19th June 2016

Range Rover Sport SVR: PH Fleet

SVR called in for a pit stop; returns with extra bling



Winter is definitely over, right? I thought so a while back and then we had some flurries of snow in April and it all got a bit weird, making the planned switch to the bigger 22-inch wheels and Continental SportContact 5s seem oddly premature. I think we're safe now.

Brits well represented at the tunnel run
Brits well represented at the tunnel run
The timing worked out well actually, the indicator chiming in at around 14,000 miles showing and requesting a 12-month service (fluids, filters and £369 inclusive at my local dealer). I put the call into the JLR press office and they agreed to take it in, give it the once over and fit the bigger wheels as promised. So equipped you get the full sport in Range Rover Sport, the Contis the 'option' tyre for essential SUV activities like setting 'ring lap times and carving up B-roads like an oversized GTI. Green laning too? Not so much.

Certainly the Pirelli all season tyres on the original 21s were looking a little frilly round the edges after our Blyton tomfoolery. But, to be honest, I rather liked the movement in the car that resulted. Sounds mad to say you can play a Range Rover on the throttle but so good is the SVR calibration of the Sport's locking diffs, active anti-roll and other gizmos you genuinely can. I imagine it probably looks a little alarming to other road users to see an SVR four-wheel drifting off a roundabout but the feedback through the controls is so good it feels entirely natural. Well, OK, a bit naughty. But huge fun.

Full visual attitude now sorted
Full visual attitude now sorted
Will more rubber kill this sense of playfulness though? I've only just had the car back and it's been whisked from my hands by SVR lover Ollie for the trip to Le Mans so I'll have to wait for my chance to judge. Indeed, Ollie's been rather good at finding excuses to liberate the SVR's keys from my hands of late, taking it along to a recent London tunnellers meet. Not that I took too much convincing - there can't be many better cars for the job of making noise in confined spaces. Bigger wheels are, of course, essential equipment for such urban posing missions too. They do fill the arches a little more and help with the overall proportions; it's just a shame the design isn't significantly different given they cost an additional £2,485. See the configurator pics for the before and after.

Ollie's love for the SVR is a common reaction too it seems. Just last week I was on the launch for the F-Type SVR, the first Jaguar to carry the badge and one with a tough act to follow given Sport SVR sales have "exceeded expectations" according to SVO boss John Edwards. He's hardly impartial but his love for his own SVR company car seems genuine enough, to the point he confided he's ignoring emails from his own fleet people demanding the return of his having well exceeded his mileage allowance. It's just one of those cars, it seems.


FACT SHEET
Car
: Range Rover SVR
Run by: Dan, when he can get the keys off Ollie
On fleet since: November 2015
Mileage: 15,230
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 compatibility 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: 21-inch wheels are so last season - now we're rolling on 22s!

Previous reports:
Sport SVR makes an instant splash on the PH Fleet
Get me to the church on time
No soggy bottom for Dan, despite Christmas flooding
Sport loses its spark
The (off) road leading home
A bit of paddling at the seaside

 

 

Author
Discussion

andy355

Original Poster:

1,341 posts

237 months

Sunday 19th June 2016
quotequote all
Does it really only cost £370 to service? My 2 litre evoque has cost me £500-600 each year for the service only

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Sunday 19th June 2016
quotequote all
Sport.

I'll believe that when I see the RR team running in GT class at Le Mans. biggrin

belleair302

6,835 posts

206 months

Sunday 19th June 2016
quotequote all
800 quid for a digital TV.....hahaha what a complete ripoff.

AJXX1

334 posts

118 months

Sunday 19th June 2016
quotequote all
£1,500 for a chuffing engine cover - who's going to see it? Do you park up at ASDA and leave the bonnet open so that people can admire your carbon fibre engine cover? also, £800 quid for a (no doubt tiny) TV!

Sorry Land Rover, I've been a fan for years but this really is pathetic, more so whoever has the dosh to throw away on these frivolities.

Edited by AJXX1 on Sunday 19th June 12:15

vixen1700

22,668 posts

269 months

Sunday 19th June 2016
quotequote all
Saw and heard one of these on the long M11 slip road at Bishop's Stortford last week, my word it was flying and sounded immense. eek

belleair302

6,835 posts

206 months

Sunday 19th June 2016
quotequote all
A vehicle designed by marketing types for the UAE, LA, Miami, East Coast USA, parts of London, Surrey and Hertfordshire, the odd footballer and Moscow. For us mere mortals we shall have to look elsewhere. Do they ever go anywhere off road, not in the UK or USA. Oh well. Would rather have a two year old BMW SUV or Porsche than a RR Sport SVR and the new Jag SUV looks lovely.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Sunday 19th June 2016
quotequote all
belleair302 said:
Do they ever go anywhere off road,
They most certainly do go off road - parking on the pavement is de rigueur.

AH33

2,066 posts

134 months

Monday 20th June 2016
quotequote all
The price laugh

£100k on a soccer mom's wagon. I always assumed these things were £50k for the absolute top of the range.

AJXX1

334 posts

118 months

Monday 20th June 2016
quotequote all
belleair302 said:
Do they ever go anywhere off road
Don't be silly, they'll all be painted rental spec white and used to drop Charlie and Pippa off at school via L2 of the nearest DC. They'll likely never so much encounter a muddy pool, else the paint will get dirty.

It's a shame really.

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Monday 20th June 2016
quotequote all
belleair302 said:
A vehicle designed by marketing types for the UAE, LA, Miami, East Coast USA, parts of London, Surrey and Hertfordshire, the odd footballer and Moscow. For us mere mortals we shall have to look elsewhere. Do they ever go anywhere off road, not in the UK or USA. Oh well. Would rather have a two year old BMW SUV or Porsche than a RR Sport SVR and the new Jag SUV looks lovely.
No doubt the exception, but I saw a mud-covered on in Lincolnshire over the weekend.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Monday 20th June 2016
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
No doubt the exception, but I saw a mud-covered on in Lincolnshire over the weekend.
I guess Fiona must have got lost on her way to the shops in Milton Keynes...