Early in 2018, Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations team (SVO) will go all-in on the 2018 Range Rover, introducing the $208,895 SVAutobiography edition. This all-out luxury statement from SVO comes from a well-funded creative environment within Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations that Managing Director John Edwards describes as offering “opportunities that we never had before.”
With the restraints off, SVO focused its efforts towards turning the long-wheelbase Range Rover into an ultra-lux limo with rear-seat accommodations fit for people who see themselves as royalty. The SVAutobiography’s spacious rear seats unfold like first-class airline seats with nearly four feet of legroom, 22-way adjustments, 40 degrees of recline capability, and heated calf and foot rests. SVO also says that the two rear seats offer a hot stone massage function and the option of being upholstered in leather provided by fine Italian Furniture maker, Poltrona Frau.
Beyond the tres comfort of the seats, the new Range Rover SVAutobiography gives its rear passengers a fixed center console control center that operates the SUV’s rear power-close doors and electronically deploying/folding tables. At the center of this console is a clock designed for the vehicle by Zenith, a 150-year-old Swiss clockmaker. On the digital side of things, a pair of 10-inch entertainment screens and 4G Wi-Fi connectivity will keep you engaged. A refrigerated bottle-compatible compartment is also included in case you feel the urge to propose a toast to the good life.
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As you enter and exit the SVAutobiography’s second row, you cross aluminum treadplates with “SVAutobiography” scripted in.
If you ever happen to find yourself in the front seats of your Range Rover SVAutobiography, you’ll be greeted by two 10-inch touch screens that control your infotainment choices and environmental choices. Should you decide to actually drive your ultra-utility vehicle, an uprated version of last year’s supercharged 5.0-liter V8 engine now brings 557 horsepower to the table along with a 0-60-mph sprint time of just 5.2 seconds.
Unlike many vehicle descriptions, we started this one with the rear seats, so it’s a little natural that we conclude with the 2018 Land Rover Range Rover SVAutobiography’s exterior. As you gaze out your home’s picture window at the new SVAutobiography parked in the drive, you’ll note a new grille with chrome inserts, “Bright Atlas” trim work all around, new-design 22-inch wheels, and a modified rear bumper and exhaust treatment.
If King Louis XIV, in all his love of luxury, had decided it was time to buy an SUV, one gets the sense that the Sun King would have been very pleased to see a 2018 Land Rover Range Rover SVAutobiography parked outside Versailles, and that it may be time for the current Queen of England to add one more Land Rover to her collection in the Scottish Highlands.
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