SVO received a pretty good base point for the SVR’s interior, so it hasn’t taken a huge amount of work to make a Range Rover Sport’s cabin feel appropriate for a car costing in excess of £100,000. Material quality, fit and finish are all pretty much first rate.
The resolution on some of the digital touchscreen’s graphics and the head-up display is bettered by that of some of the German car makers, but even the standard Sport counters with a sense of rare opulence inside.
For the SVR, the differences are slight but sufficient to give the Sport another lift – albeit one aimed squarely at those looking for performance cues rather than luxury ones. They get them in the deeply sculpted shapes of the seats, which scream ‘sporty’ in a way that’s slightly out of kilter with the fact that you’re looking horizontally across at them, not down on them, when you open the door.
Land Rover’s high-set driving position is unchanged by buckets that, ultimately, look more supportive than they are. There’s no denying that the driving position remains strong, however, with plenty of room for occupants both front and rear. The steering column electrically adjusts through a vast range and the seats have 16-way adjustment.
Sporty chairs aren’t just reserved for front-seat occupants either. Open the back door and you’ll find rear passengers get the same look to their chairs, right down to the holes for harnesses that will never be fitted. A fifth seat remains, but Land Rover calls it ‘occasional’. We’d like to be in it even less frequently than that.
However, the rear seatbacks still split 60/40 and fold, so, discomfort of the fifth seat aside, the car remains as practical as ever. The boot is large – 489 litres in capacity with the seats up, rising to 1761 litres with them folded.
As for the standard equipment, the SVR is certainly well-endowed. It basically has all the bits fitted to a Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic plus darken headlights, exterior gloss black trim, a specially-made rear spoiler, a quad-exhaust system, an aggressive bodykit, blue Brembo brakes, heated seats all round and perforated Oxford leather upholstery.
