BMW X5 vs Land Rover Range Rover Sport [2013-2018]

This Blue Whale you see in the pictures is the fastest Land Rover ever made. Few years back, the idea of having more than 200bhp in an SUV was laughable. But times change and how! This 2.4 tonne mammoth makes a mighty 542bhp and can sprint from nought to a hundred in sportscar rivalling 5.3 seconds. Let me introduce you to the Land Rover Range Rover Sport V8 Supercharged SVR(by the time you finish reading the long name the car might have already reached the moon). It is an SUV that is not only happy at being a comfortable cruiser but is also one of the fastest SUVs to lap the Nordschleife Nurburgring. The question is how have they done that? You already have the Sport supercharged version which, with 500bhp on tap is quick enough in a straight line. But it’s a tall car that shares its kerb weight, centre of gravity, and aerodynamic qualities with a Tata 407 commercial truck. Which is where the SVO men come in. SVO is the high performance division of Jaguar Land Rover. Just like AMG is for Mercedes and M is for BMW, SVO independently engineers, manufactures and customises JLR vehicles.

We take the 2013 Range Rover Sport for a quick spin first on an open runaway and then for some more through an extreme off-road trail to find out if the new one lives up to the expectations.

Rolex is synonymous with luxury time pieces; Johnnie Walker with the finest blended whiskeys and Vertu with obscenely expensive cell phones. Similarly, Land Rover is known for its rugged-looking sports utility vehicles that are capable of crawling over the most difficult of terrains while cosseting its occupants in opulence. But, with the world moving towards more road-oriented and comfortable SUVs rather than luxury mountain goats, Land Rover too needed something to satisfy the rich but pretentious road user. So to diversify its current portfolio and address this growing section of audience, Land Rover built the Range Rover Sport; which apart from its adventurous instinct has elegant road etiquette.