With the new Land Rover Range Rover now being available for orders in many regions around the world — including the United States where it starts at $101,000 — the British automaker is focusing its attention towards the performance derivatives of the luxury SUV. A new prototype was recently caught on camera testing around the Nurburgring and it looks to be a trial car for the upcoming Range Rover Sport SVR. Or, simply put, the top dog in the new Range Rover family.
This is not exactly a sports car by any means — performance SUVs are not made for the track, though this one looks very composed, lapping the famous German track. There’s relatively little body roll and knowing the weight of this vehicle is probably somewhere around 5,200 pounds (2,358 kilograms) or more, its cornering abilities look very impressive. After all, the Range Rover Sport SVR needs to be as good as a BMW X5 M or a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, for example.
Gallery: Land Rover Range Rover SVR spy photos
Speaking of the performance SUV from Bavaria, the new SVR will reportedly rely on the same 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 that powers the X5 M. This information hasn’t been confirmed officially by Land Rover, though the prototype in this video strongly suggests the information is correct. Judging by the engine sound, this is likely not the 5.0-liter supercharged V8 of its predecessor. Admittedly, the exhaust sound is not as dramatic as on the previous Range Rover Sport SVR, though there should be healthy improvements in terms of performance.
According to a recent report, the BMW-sourced V8 will deliver somewhere around 600 horsepower (447 kilowatts), making the new SVR slightly more powerful than its predecessor. The 0-62 miles per hour (0-100 kilometers per hour) acceleration could be improved by as much as 0.7 seconds to 4.0 seconds in the new model. A maximum speed of 180 mph (290 kph) is expected.
