Watch Rangie SVR get to grips with any terrain
This is why any real-world car with 405kW on tap needs all-wheel drive, says Land Rover.
In this fascinating mash-up video, it shows what happens when you launch a Range Rover Sport SVR – at full tilt boogie! – from a standing start on a variety of less-than-perfect surfaces, running on standard-issue Michelin 275/45 R21 All-Season tyres and using the hottest-ever Rangie’s Terrain Response 2 drive mode system to keep things under control.
It selects the appropriate driving mode automatically to suit traction conditions from General Driving, Dynamic, Grass/Gravel/Snow, Mud and Ruts, Sand, and Rock Crawl – or you can use the rotary controller on the centre console to choose a specific mode.
The first ‘test track’ was the main straight at Rockingham circuit in Corby, with the rotary switch in Dynamic mode, which stiffens up the suspension, preventing excessive weight transfer to the rear wheels – and in fact the SVR hit 100km/h in 4.7 seconds, just two tenths down on the factory’s quoted time of 4.5 seconds, set under ideal conditions.
Wet grass
The second test was on one of the slipperiest, most challenging surfaces you’ll ever face: wet grass. For this one, Grass/Gravel/Snow mode softens the throttle response, pre-loading the centre differential, short-shifting and smoothing out the gear-changes while the traction control system intervenes earlier to prevent the tyres from braking traction. It was run at Land Rover Experience East of England, and the SVR recorded a surprising 5.5 seconds to 100km/h, only 0.8s slower than the tarmac time.
For the gravel test they took the Rangie to a disused quarry, where it recorded a no-nonsense 5.3 seconds; for snow, they went all the way to to Jaguar Land Rover’s winter test facility in Arjeplog, Northern Sweden, to record a safe 11.3 seconds, the slowest time of the programme by a big margin.
Pendine Sands
Back in Britain at one of Land Rover’s test facilities, the Mud and Ruts setting was selected, enabling the Rangie to reach 100km/h in a respectable 6.5 seconds; then it was off to Carmarthen Bay in South Wales for the Sand test, on the most famous tidal flats in the the world, Pendine Sands.
Sand mode lock up the centre differential, sharpens up the throttle response for a quicker build-up of engine torque and holds on to gears longer – all of which delivered a 0-100km/h blast-off in an unexpectedly quick 5.5 seconds – just a second slower than the ideal time on tar!
The final mode on the dial is Rock Crawl which, as its name implies, isn’t about speed – it’s about helping you cross rocky terrain without dumping your Range rover on its side or bashing a hole in the sump, by working together with the low range transmission, softening the accelerator response for precision control and raising the air suspension for maximum ground clearance.
For this video it coped easily with a nasty 32 degree incline at the Land Rover test centre.
https://youtu.be/qs6Bpf-2Rzc
http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/4-x-4/watch-rangie-svr-get-to-grips-with-any-terrain-7484421
