They all laughed when Land Rover and Porsche started making performance SUVs with big V8s. The companies did too, all the way to the bank, as profits on cars like the Cayenne Turbo or the Range Rover Sport SVR are huge.
A comparison review between these two titans should have involved track time or drag racing, but that's probably not what most customers are after. They want supremely comfortable and fast road cars with the added desirability of the SUV body.
That's probably why Autocar took a more leisurely approach. Their test starts off with a classic suspension test: a full glass of water to see which is the smoothest. And it seems the Cayenne Turbo has a tougher time dealing with that. It's the first hint that this review is going to heavily favor the Range Rover.
Naturally, this being a British review, you have to suspect patriotism is involved. But ever since the new Cayenne Turbo came out, we've gotten the feeling that Porsche didn't try hard enough. The exhaust doesn't sound right, and 550 HP just isn't going to cut it once the new X5 M and GLE 63 come out.
There's no denying that the Range Rover Sport SVR sounds naughtier than pretty much any other car you can buy for the money. It's powered by a 575 HP version of the supercharged V8 found in the F-Type SVR. This makes it heavier than the Cayenne, but handling doesn't seem to suffer.
The reviewer points out that the SVR is more willing to turn and about as engaging as a 2+ ton vehicle is going to be. However, he didn't point out that the Cayenne Turbo is quicker with a 0 to 100 km/h time of 3.9 seconds vs. 4.5 seconds.
Land Rover stepped up their game with this 2019 model, which is a facelift available with a carbon hood and fitted with the Velar's double screens. But would a sensible person pick it over the Cayenne? You could argue that sensible people wouldn't consider any of these in the first place.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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