Replacing the SVR was a thorny issue for Land Rover. It has engineered quite the solution...
How to solve a problem like SVR? The original model, launched back in 2015, was Land Rover at its niche-filling, tongue-in-cheek best. Knowing that the raucous concept was likely to rub some of the tweed-wearing faithful up the wrong way, it drove the car so deep into the Halfords’ accessory aisle that no one could possibly mistake it for a core product.
Accordingly, several things have disappeared along with the letter ‘R’. One is the addenda-happy styling. Land Rover likes to talk a lot about ‘reductive design’ these days as a fundamental point of difference, but the relative conservatism of the SV is undeniable evidence of the principle in action.
Unabashed throatiness will have decreased, too. BMW has often coaxed a wonderful exhaust note from the same unit, but no Land Rover engineer we spoke to was prepared to place it on the pedestal next to the outgoing V8. No great loss if you weren’t a fan of the first-generation SVR’s look-at-me flatulence, yet the exuberant V8 soundtrack was indisputably part of the fun-first mindset that distinguished the car from many direct rivals.