2024 Range Rover Sport SV Edition One Sheds Some of That British Reserve

High-performance SUVs are an extroverted, braggadocious bunch—qualities somewhat at odds with Land Rover Range Rover's genteel image. When the third-generation Range Rover Sport launched for 2023, it did so without a hi-po model, as the top offering was the extra-luxe First Edition. This year, the First Edition is gone, and the Range Rover Sport instead does some chest-thumping with the new SV Edition One.

This is the full-on max-performance variant, akin to the SVR in the previous-gen Range Rover Sport. Beyond the changes that came with the redesign, this new SV marks a major shift in its source of motivation. In place of the old SVR's supercharged 5.0-liter V-8, there's a new twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8, whose 626 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque shade the old engine's 575 horses and 516 pound-feet. Land Rover says the new mill is 30 pounds lighter.

The V-8 is sourced from BMW but gets a Land Rover ECU, intake, and exhaust. It moves the Range Rover Sport into alignment with its closest competitors among steroidal mid-size performance SUVs, all of which rely on similar-sized V-8s (of 4.0 to 4.4 liters) enhanced with two turbos nestled in their valleys. Importantly for bragging rights, its 626 horsepower eclipses the power figures of all its chief rivals—the Audi RS Q8, the BMW X5 M Competition, and the Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S—excepting the gas-electric Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid, which tops 700 horsepower. We place the Porsche Cayenne Coupe Turbo GT, Lamborghini Urus Performante, and Ferrari Purosangue into a different breed of SUV. Land Rover claims the SV Edition One will hit 60 mph in 3.6 seconds on its way to a top speed of 180 mph.

This 4.4-liter engine did appear in last year's First Edition, but that was in detuned, 523-hp form. The rest of the lineup (P360 SE, P400 Dynamic SE, and P550e) relies on a supercharged and turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six.

Beyond the bristling new engine, SV exclusives include Land Rover's so-called 6D Dynamics suspension that pairs the Sport's standard air springs with hydraulically cross-linked dampers in place of anti-roll bars. The model also gets its own rear subframe and rolls on big-baller 23-inch wheels that are either alloy or, as a $10,150 option, carbon fiber (shaving a claimed 20 pounds per corner). Optional carbon-ceramic brake rotors ($9000) measure 17.3 inches up front and 15.3 inches at the rear. They're clamped by eight-piston Brembo front calipers and activated by a brake pedal with reduced travel compared to the standard setup. All-wheel steering is also on hand, and the steering ratio is quickened from 17.5:1 to 13.6:1. The SV crouches 0.4 inch lower than the standard Sport, or 1.0 inch lower in SV mode. That's one of just three on-road drive modes, along with Comfort and the middle-child Dynamic, plus a mix-and-match setting—a total much less daunting than some rivals' numerous settings.

For onlookers, the lower stance and the big wheels are the major SV tells. The model also gets a revised lower fascia that incorporates brake-cooling ducts, lower-body skirts, and a carbon-fiber hood.

Range-Roving on a Racetrack

Portugal's Portimão Circuit, which hosted F1 Grands Prix in 2020 and 2021, isn't typically where you'd find a Range Rover (except maybe in VIP parking), but it's where we had a go in the SV. Sitting in pit lane, we punched the SV button at the center of the steering wheel, and, separately, put the stability control into Dynamic mode (full off is also available for the brave). On the track, the SV powers down the straightaway before the carbon-ceramic stoppers haul it back down, the left pedal nicely firm underfoot. Turn-in is alert, the fixed steering ratio making for faithful responses. You can grab a paddle to downshift, but the gearbox is predictive enough to set you up and keep the engine in the punchy heart of its torque range. Despite the SV's lowered ride height, this Range Rover still feels tall on a track.