The Land Rover Discovery SVX Is An All-Terrain Monster With V8 Power

Like the look of the new Land Rover Discovery, but want it to be a bit shoutier and even better off road? Worry not, as the mad engineers cooped up in Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations have cooked up just the thing.

No longer is a measly supercharged V6 the most powerful engine you can have in a Discovery - this one has JLR’s tried and tested 5.0-litre supercharged V8. Here, it puts out 518bhp, and is hooked up to the familiar ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox, with the rotary dial gear selector switched out for a pistol grip type shifter - the first time one’s been used in a Discovery.

Longer travel dampers have been fitted, as have revised knuckles. At each corner of the fettled chassis, you’ll find chunky, 815mm diameter Goodyear Wrangler tyres, wrapping fancy new 20-inch forged wheels.

SVX has also been given an active centre differential and a locking rear diff, plus software revisions for various systems including Terrain Response 2 and All-Terrain Progress control.

Another Discovery first is the addition of Hydraulic Active Roll Control - Land Rover’s clever active anti-roll bars. Best known for making the Range Rover Sport handle flat and not-at-all-SUV-like, they also allow for greater wheel articulation, further adding to the SVX’s off-road baddassery.

The brightly-coloured icing on the cake comes in the form of many orange trim pieces, intended to reference Land Rover’s hardy G4 Challenge vehicles.

SVX prices will be revealed later this year, with production kicking off in 2018. Each one will be hand-assembled at the SVO Technical Centre.