Range Rover with added power and luxury

Goodwood Road and Racing saw the Range Rover SVAutobiography Dynamic at the launch of Jaguar Land Rover’s new Special Operations (SVO) headquarters outside Coventry a few weeks ago; it’s a handsome SUV, with deft SVO styling touches such as diamond-quilted leather seats, contrast stitching and a knurled-finish rotary controller. On the outside, the new side vents, bonnet finish, front bumper adjustments and Range Rover badge are all finished in “Graphite Atlas”. Bright chrome quad tailpipes reflect the more purposeful driving dynamics.

Powered by the Range Rover Sport SVR’s 5.0-litre V8 supercharged engine developing 550bhp and 502b ft of torque, the SVAutobiography Dynamic rides on a specially configured suspension set-up; revisions to the knuckles, links, springs and dampers give a lower ride height and reduced body lean. It reaches 60mph in 5.1 seconds; quite a feat for a car this big and heavy. UK customers have the option of JLR’s 3.0-litre V6 supercharged petrol engine for the first time; the unit develops 335bhp and 332b ft of torque.

An optional Drive Pack includes a new Intelligent Speed Limiter, which uses the traffic sign recognition hardware to automatically adjust the car speed to meet the prevailing speed limit. Driver Condition Monitor analyses steering inputs and road speeds to warn the driver to take a break. The Drive Pack also includes existing features such as Blind Spot Monitor and Reverse Traffic Detection. A further Drive Pro Pack adds Adaptive Cruise Control and Intelligent Emergency Braking.

Inside, the “InControl Touch Pro Services”, essentially a range of apps at the driver’s disposal, includes live apps for the news headlines, weather and flight tracking. Other apps allow drivers to remotely control the climate control, set and deactivate the alarm, and start the engine.

The Range Rover SVAutobiography goes on sale at the end of the year, and will cost from £132,800.