2016 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR: First Drive

What is it: 2016 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR, five-seat supercharged sports SUV.

Price Range:  $110,475, for starters.

Competitors: Porsche Cayenne, BMW X5M/X6M, Mercedes-AMG G-Wagen, Bentley Bentayga (eventually)

Alternatives: Range Rover Sport, Mercedes-Benz GLE, Infiniti QX70, Audi SQ5, Cadillac Escalade

Pros: It can be driven off-road in the mud and on the track with nothing but a rinse of the undercarriage. Seriously. We did it.

Cons: Wind noise and a weird, buzzy noise cancellation system.

Would I Buy it with My Own Money: Dear Lord, yes. No questions asked—because it’s a race-track hustler and off-roader in one machine, and who doesn’t want that?

Want to tackle the Nürburgring? Perhaps traverse the Sahara? Compete in Pikes Peak? Ford a river? Oh, and you want to do that all on the way to drop the kids at school?  There’s only one vehicle on the market that can probably handle all of that and not end up in a heap and it’s the new 2015 Range Rover Sport SVR .

The Range Rover Sport SVR gets 550 horsepower and 502 ft lb out of its supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 engine, and its mated to the same eight-speed transmission used in the standard Range Rover Sport. Before you even ask—it really did do a lap of the famous Green Hell in 8 minutes and 14 seconds. It also does 0-60 in 4.5 seconds and has a top speed of 162 mph—and it still handles off-road work like a boss.

We did something no one who buys this car will ever do at the track at Monticello in New York: We took it through a muddy, rocky, slippery off road trail, hosed off its underbelly, and then took it on the track ten minutes later.