I really wanted a 5.0 SC but i just couldn't find one at a reasonable price, hence why i went for the SDV8.

I don't regret my purchase as I think it's a good balance of power & economy. Best I have had is 38 MPG!  2014 SDV8 Autobiography

Gone: 2012 RRS SDV6 HSE, 2007 RRS TDV6 HSE

Fuel cost isn't the 5.0 issue - range and having to fill up 50% more often is.

5.0 is the one to have, its the one I would have had if i could, but too pricey when I was buying.

The turbo lag is mega on the SDV8, I can understand why people say the 3.0 is not that much slower, they really should sharpen it up a little, I asked LR about the lag and they said is to make it feel more refined off the line, feels bloody slow to me

That won't be turbo lag, suspect it's more a perception of how responsive it is to the accelerator pedal from standstill. 0-30 in 2.5s and 6.5 to 60 isn't really slow for something weighing so much.

To feel actual lag/boost threshold you'd need to hold it in a high gear at low revs and accelerate - there won't be much in many modern turbo diesels.

It most definitely is turbo lag when you put your foot down from rest and nothing much happens and then all of a sudden you get a dollop of torque and surge forward with a lot of noise. Not a very refined or pleasant driving experience.

Hmm, I think it is the mapping and calibration of throttle response, not lag per se. Trommel is, I think, correct.

On the SDV8, there is a noticeable delay in throttle response from step-off, closely followed but a disproportionate dump of throttle which causes a lurch...makes pulling away from a give-way a bit of guess work even once familiar.


Unfortunately, this is no great surprise; the general calibration of throttle and gearbox on these products seems very poor cf Mercedes/AMG product, in particular. The 5.0S A/B we had last year was immensely frustrating as a result - clunky commanded down-shifts, poor step-off...as about as competitive, like-for-like, as the dreadful control screen is versus Audi/BMW/Merc mouse/controller.

When I talk to those close to those at the coal-face on this (or, whatever the modern software-mapping equivalent of 'coal-face' should be), I get the impression that there is a still a whiff of 'that'll be good enough...' in the culture there regarding how much detail obsession is needed on stuff like this.


Still a lovely thing, but...if only....

...if it was lag, eventually a given throttle opening (and, granted, it feels like a lot to me) would have built enough boost to give motive power. That's what lag is...one has to wait for the turbine to spool up in response to manifold pressure from the opened throttle and exhaust gas production. That's not what happens, I think, with these cars.

It is impossible, without the sort of electric motor-driven arrangements for turbo spool-up that some makers (predictably, not JLR) are introducing, to eliminate lag entirely. The impression of lag is nowadays greatly reduced from what those of us old enough would remember from 1980's Renault 5s, for example.

As Trommel says, that characteristically delayed 'whoosh' of turbo power that makes F40 owners either smile or go very quiet (!) is something different to the mapping issues we face.

Never heard complaints like that about the 5.0SC before, really?

Granted, I might be slightly OCD on this stuff, but, the 5.0S engine/gearbox calibration seemed...a little uncouth.

For example, pulling for a 3rd-2nd downshift seemed to generate very little accompanying throttle 'blip' and, thus, a rather horrible head-bobbing lurch as the lower gear engaged.

We ended up back-to-back comparing the car with an AMG product for the dealer and an LR technician (I know, I need to get out more...) to try to exemplify 'what good looked like' on gearbox calibration. The LR guy seemed happy with the way that his product performed, saying, "Our customers aren't looking for this [AMG] kind of sophistication..."

Given that (hopefully), his sample is bigger than mine, maybe he's right.

I agree with Flugplatz reference the calibration of the downshift on the sc. It seems to me that the 'engineers' want to make sure that the engine is well in to the torque/power band for a rapid pickup should the driver want, and therefore the down change happens early, resulting more engine braking if you are off the throttle and hence head bobbing.

I would like the drive/sport calibration of the gearbox to be more pronounced. In D it should be much lazier, holding on to higher gears when at low throttle acceleration rather than skipping down a couple of cogs. I've driven it with the paddles and forced the box to do what I want and progress is properly Range Rover. In S it should be always ready for maximum attack.

Nick 2019 D5 HSE Lux SDV6 Indus
55 D3 SE
98 MX5 1.8 RS
gone 17 older variants of FFRR