Range Rover SV Autobiography Dynamic Review: 542bhp Of Restrained Madness

While the Range Rover Sport does a genuinely good job of proving massive SUVs can actually be quite good to drive, the regular Range Rover has pretty much stuck to what it knows best. And by that, I mean being jolly handy off road, utterly relaxing on it, and awash with luxury.

So, when Land Rover announced it was to make a sportified ‘SV Autobiography Dynamic’ version of the Range Rover, I was a little worried. “Ah,” I thought; “they’ll wreck the ride and give it an obnoxiously load exhaust like the SVR, making it very un-Range Rover-like”. After all, it has been worked over by the same Special Vehicle Operations bods that created the SVR, and given the uber RR Sport’s 542bhp supercharged V8.

Thankfully, as I discovered when taking one for a drive for the first time, it’s nothing like that. While it may have identical power and torque figures to the oh-so angry V8 from the SVR - and the ability to hit 62mph from rest in 5.1 seconds - it’s been kept much more sedate. It sounds just as muscular - just not like it’s ingested a crate of Rice Krispies. And in terms of comfort, it’s far softer than any RR Sport, able to waft around and soak up the worst that our marvellously poor road network can throw at it.

That’s not to say it flops all over the place. It doesn’t have the SVR’s uncanny ability to avoid body roll, but it’s still more composed and happy about being thrown around than any two and a half tonne, tall SUV has any right to be. Sure, the front end will push on if you corner enthusiastically enough, but the SV Autobiography can cover ground astonishingly quickly.

So, how have the ladies and gents and SVO managed this? It’s all down to the suspension setup. The steering knuckles, links, dampers and springs have all been fiddled with, and the whole car now sits 8mm lower than before.

What’s more, it actually feels faster than the SVR - even if it isn’t - not to mention more entertaining. The softer set-up means the nose pitches up when you accelerate. It squats down at the tarmac when you brake hard. And yes, it does lean a bit in the corners. It feels like it’s putting real effort into going fast - it’s not taking everything in its stride. And I like that.

Best of all, when you calm down, it just goes back to being a normal Range Rover. You’re sitting high up in your leather throne, lording it over everyone else while enjoying a cabin nice enough for you to genuinely consider living in it. We weren’t overly keen on the red and black theme of ‘our’ test car, of course, but the knurled details like the rotary gear selector and start/stop button are exquisite.

Happily, Jaguar Land Rover has also seen fit to add its new InControl Touch Pro infotainment system into the mix. The 10.2-inch touchscreen setup isn’t without its foibles (it always feels like it takes one or two more finger prods than necessary to get up the sub-menu or setting you’re after), but it’s a huge improvement over the dated, clunky system Range Rovers were lumbered with up until recently.

The downsides? Well, at £132,800 it is enormously expensive, and for that price you’d have hoped that Land Rover might have come up with a slightly more flattering exhaust arrangement. But still, if I were in the fortunate position to be able to choose any Range Rover, crazy Sport models included, the SV Autobiography is what I’d go for. It’s fabulously comfortable, stupidly fast and more than a little bit unnecessary. And who can say that isn’t an appealing mix?