You know what I look for when buying an SUV? The Nürburgring lap time. It should be right on the sticker between the fuel economy ratings and the crash test results. So it's nice to see Land Rover finally taking this seriously.
And they are taking it seriously. The supercharged, 550 horsepower Range Rover Sport SVR set an 8:14 time at the 'Ring, putting it just behind the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG (8:13), and ahead of the BMW 1 Series M (8:15) and the first gen NSX (8:16). Except, none of those are made of two tons of high-riding metal.
The SVR is the latest project from the Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations unit, JLR's speed- and custom-obsessed outfit that designed and built the F-Type Project 7, among others.
Naturally, JLR is saying it's a production spec SVR, so I'm assuming when someone orders the "World's Fast SUV Around The Nürburgring Nordschleife" it'll come with a cage, custom seats, and harnesses.