If nothing else, you know what to expect when a Manhart modified car lands: it’s going to have more power, bigger wheels - and lots more gold. So it goes for the SV 650 Range Rover Sport, with 24-inch (!) wheels the same colour as the decal set and engine cover, plus a 30mm ride height drop. Subtle it most certainly is not.
What’s under those golden engine accents is of a little more interest, however. This SV 650 is based on a P530 Sport, which now uses the BMW 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8. Manhart’s expertise is in BMW engines, so it makes sense that the new Sport would receive their attention soon enough. Plus we all know that modified Range Rovers are always in demand, which is precisely why a new SV is imminent.
Thanks to the MHtronik powerbox (so presumably without any hardware changes), what was 530hp and 553lb ft has become an enormous 653hp and 664lb ft. Not only would that suggest this is a very fast Range Rover Sport - it now comes with Urus levels of power, after all - it points to the amount of potential locked up inside the engine. So the factory-build go-faster version is unlikely to be a shrinking violet either. Expect more detailed mods than ECU interrogation from Land Rover, but evidently the engine has an awful lot to give.
Elsewhere, Manhart has treated the SV 650 to a new exhaust from the particulate filter back for an ‘even more distinctive sound’; again, its experience modifying the 4.4 promises a lot there. And that’s kind of it for the moment, the Sport’s standard chassis deemed capable enough of handling a substantial uplift in power. We’d expect the new SV to upgrade a few more bits and bobs, but don’t be surprised if there’s demand already for a really, really fast Sport on big wheels. Maybe even with the gold bits, too.
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