Range Rover Sport SV

The ultra-high-performance Range Rover Sport is here, this time with a greater focus on engaging the driver rather than annoying everyone else sharing the road with it

- STUART GALLAGHER

REMEMBER THE OLD RANGE ROVER SPORT SVR? Painted bright blue, with a pair of Recaro seats that wouldn't look out of place in a Project 8 and an exhaust system that came out of the factory set to Obnoxious mode? Its replacement is nothing like that, and that's a very good thing. What you're looking at is one of the most accomplished fast SUVS of all - which it needs to be, because despite what you thought of the old SVR, in terms of positive financial performance no model in the Land Rover line-up got close to it.

A chassis that wouldn't look out of place underpinning a new F-type supports the SV. Air springs are retained, but they have been recalibrated to benefit from a series of hardware and software changes, including new hydraulically linked active dampers, resulting in the removal of the anti-roll bars. There's also a new rear subframe, the rear-wheel steering has its own calibration and the rear diff is new too. Hooking this all together is a new '6D Dynamics' control system to manage pitch and roll, replacing the standard Dynamic Response Pro electric anti-roll system.

In SV mode there's a directness and linearity in how the steering reacts to your inputs, allowing for a clean arc to be scribed through varying radii. The weight and response rate feel natural and instinctive, its willingness to allow corrections without shocking the systems unexpected from a car in this sector.