Let’s get the first bit out of the way: costing a full twice the price of a base unit, this Range Rover SV stickers at $276,000. Does twice the price get you twice the truck? No, but that isn’t how the luxury segment works, and to even raise the question betrays your standing among Poors.
Having myself raised the question, I assuredly share as much in your status as in your incredulity. Spending a quarter on a Rover or an Urus or a Bentayga or or or isn’t a value calculation, however — it’s an emotional exercise all its own.
Evaluated beyond the perspective of earthly utility, then, the Range Rover SV makes an admittedly maddening bit of sense. Feature-rich with a few stand-out details and the beefy power you’d better demand of the bracket, the new flagship signals status with a mindful, demure nod that its attention-begging peers ought to class themselves up toward.
Luxury upgrades
The Range Rover SV is a luxed-up trim, and it ought to be for twice the usual MSRP — even in this more pedestrian standard-wheelbase configuration. Its delivery is mixed, however, particularly in initial impressions of materials and touchpoints. The Range SV employs effectively the same synthetic ‘Ultrafabric’-heavy swatch book as the standard Land Rover line, just applied more liberally. Otherwise unremarkable zones such as sun visors and the headliner are thoughtfully wrapped to match or contrast seating and door cards.
Metallic-finish touch points eke back style points, however, matching well with Rover’s generally strong updated styling and particularly its interface design. Better still are the available ceramic-finish controls, always cool to the touch and carrying a particularly gratifying sense of heft and grandeur.
Both front and rear seating are well accommodating, with seat massaging and ventilation available to all four aboard (the rear centre seat should not be counted, for the display mounted inside the power-folding centre console that takes up that space manages several comfort functions). Front passengers get classic screw-adjusted inboard armrests, again with cool metallic-finished knobs.
Rear passengers can stream entertainment through curved 11.4-inch displays mounted in the forward seatbacks, but they look out of place, their functionality is limited, and such systems tend to date a vehicle quickly. Why centre-screen comfort functions aren’t mirrored through these displays is puzzling and disappointing, for folding the centre armrest up for a fifth passenger buries this screen and thus any access to several basic comfort features. It’s hard to say how many modern-day rear passengers will bother to connect to these screens for multimedia, so their otherwise unsightly presence might only be truly justified by such backup functionality.
More effective entertainment flows through the available 1,680-watt 35-speaker premium audio system, albeit not entirely up to expectation. Bass-crankers should find it plenty, but while powerful, the system’s range may underwhelm more attentive vocal- or jazz-listeners. It’s still an enjoyable system, to be sure — but one that sounds closer to ~$180k than it does the tested $276,000.
The Range Rover SV’s highlight feature set benefits the rear passenger-side position. With no driver ahead to worry about, rear-right passengers can use the centre tablet to automatically push the front passenger seat forward and out of the way. The seatback can then recline considerably, joined by an ottoman-style leg rest which rises from below and bridges the gap toward the seatback-mounted footrest. The whole procedure can be initiated with a single press, then can be tailored and adjusted to suit.
Open the door, and you’ve also the option for everything to straighten back out for easy egress. It’s a graceful bit of choreography, and while similar can be seen in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and even Genesis G90, the broad door aperture and large, bright cabin make it feel particularly inviting here.
If this rear position is a priority, shoppers (or chauffeurs) may be better served by the Range Rover SV Long Wheelbase (LWB), which stretches this rear zone by 20 centimetres and fits an even more impressive airplane-style centre console. Those too bourgeois to abide plebeian open-alcohol-in-a-vehicle laws can also spec a between-the-seats champagne cooler with delicate crystal flutes, because normal-people rules don’t apply when you can buy your way out of trouble.
Driver’s seat experience and technology
Whereas the LWB emphasizes rear-passenger comfort, the RR SV Short Wheelbase (SWB) fits a conventional footprint for a buyer who’ll be more likely to drive themselves. Attending to these needs are a strong suite of contemporary assistance technologies, along with a particularly easy drive.
The Range Rover SV is a hulking vehicle, but it drives like something significantly meeker. Rear-axle steering pitches up to 7.3 degrees, turning opposite the fronts at speeds below 50 km/h; and easing with them to drift between lanes at speeds above. Such systems have a habit of making vehicles feel smaller than they are, but this setup in particular stands out for its ability to hang a U-turn even in two-lane residential Toronto streets. It may sound mundane, but this is one of the standout features when living with this vehicle. Check out our video review for a demonstration.
Power is abundant, delivered through the industry-favourite ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, via a BMW-sourced ‘N63’ 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8. Commanding 607 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque, the Range Rover SV’s 2.7-ton (5,985-lb) curb weight feels a massive overestimation. The truck pulls with might, but without the usual feeling of great power battling mass; it simply breezes. Part of this owes to dual-pane acoustic glass and extensive sound deadening, which isolates the usual throaty grumbles that belie these rigs’ race to pace.
The Range Rover SV is a luxed-up trim, and it ought to be for twice the usual MSRP — its delivery is mixed, however
Towing is rated at 8,200 pounds (3,720 kg) — more than many standard-size pickups, and enough for such substantial cargo as a loaded race-car trailer. A Class IV receiver with flip-down four- and seven-pin connectors hides behind a pop-off bumper panel. Pulling a parts car some 300 kilometres on a tow dolly, the Range Rover SV barely registered the load. Even with a whole Volkswagen’s weight in tow, merge-lane acceleration easily outpaced what the car could achieve itself.
Towing is further assisted by the Range Rover’s adaptive air suspension, particularly in the case of load levelling under tongue weight. Land Rover boasts that its twin-valve dampers can respond in as few as five milliseconds, informed by the usual telemetric data-sets as well as GPS-based predictive programming to firm up for roll mitigation. The system is predictably smooth across moderate undulations, but doesn’t necessarily carry the SV with the Maybach GLS’ cloud-like flow. Fitment of those towering 23-inch wheels — and the sidewall compromise therein — also limits the rig’s steadiness over smaller, sharper bonks.
Digital interfaces are accessed through the now-standard curved glass displays we’ve praised in the Defender. Land Rover’s infotainment software makes strong use of these readouts, with a handsome and responsive 13.1-inch primary interface that makes easy work of core features, if seeming slightly labyrinthine when digging for less-used settings.
The figures registered on these displays can surprise, too. Acceleration to 100 km/h hits in under five seconds, while mild-hybrid-assisted fuel consumption keeps to a respectable (for its class) 12.7 to 13.6 L/100 km in unencumbered highway-city testing. Official NRCan fuel consumption is posted at 14.4 L/100 km (16 mpg) city, 11.3 L/100 km (22 mpg) highway, and 13.0 L/100 km (18 mpg) combined.
Range Rover SV pricing and competitors
2025 Land Rover Range Rovers start from $135,350 in Canada (US$109,375), but the Range Rover SV enters at a richer $241,300 (US$210,475). Optioned up as you see here with garnishes including $1,800 in sumptuous deep-pile carpet and $13,200 of satin-finish paint, the unit tested carries an MSRP of CDN$275,995.
The Range Rover SV options so far above the standard Range Rover models that competition is relatively thin. A prime competitor for the RR SV is the Alabama-built Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600, but anyone seriously pursuing that path ought to be embarrassed. Likewise doubling its standard model’s price for a base MSRP of CDN$235,000, the Maybach GLS is a touch cheaper — and a pile less tactful. Loud on the chrome and heavy on piano blacks, the Maybach GLS eschews any sort of modesty (or, arguably, tact).
For sporting pretense, the AMG-powered Aston Martin DBX starts from $302,100 and offers less outright luxury but greater sporting capacity than the Range Rover SV. Note that the new Range Rover Sport SV more directly targets this sport segment, with pricing back in the lower 200s.
More aggro is the Lamborghini Urus, which starts from a comparable CDN$275,717. Also from Volkswagen Group is the divisively styled Bentley Bentayga, starting from a more aggressive CDN$260,500 in comparable V8 guise. Savings!
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