IF LOOKS COULD KILL

With a staggering number of customisation options, the new Range Rover SV is absolute extravagance. We got an exclusive first drive.

- RIAAN JACOB GEORGE

There is the Range Rover and then there is the Range Rover SV. The ultra-luxe SUV offering from the house of Jaguar Land Rover takes the existing luxury of its flagship Range Rover and adds copious doses of opulence, resulting in the SV. Just to set a bit of context, the SV would easily set you back by ₹1 crore, over and above the price point of a standard Range Rover (with ex-showroom prices starting at ₹2.3 crore).

But the SV is so much more than its hefty price tag or heightened sense of status. The catch lies in the fact that you cannot just walk into a dealership and purchase an SV 'off-the-rack. This is an entirely customised car-bespoke in the truest sense of the term-which you have to create ground-up. This bespoke Rover is then made to your specifications in the United Kingdom and shipped to India. We got a first look and drive to this mega SUV recently and took it out for a spin outside Mumbai.

Is this a driver's car? Yes. Is this a car to be enjoyed in the backseat? An even bigger, resounding, yes. Our test drive featured a four-seat configuration. The backseat is luxuriously named 'SV Signature Suite', on long wheel base models, because it offers the comfort of a First Class private jet experience. The seat reclines generously, all controlled through a chic touchscreen on the centre console. But the 'Suite' monicker is, indeed, justified by the presence of a refrigerator to store your bubbly and flutes, and a large table that futuristically deploys at the flick of a touchscreen. The sweeping centre console, with its screen and deployable cup holders, and counter top occupy the place where a fifth seat could possibly rest, should extra seating hold sway over cushy wining.