[8][9][10] Noting that the occupants faced backwards and viewed the road through a TV monitor, Meddings said that "all [this] meant to me was that I could design the vehicle without windows.

[1][2][4][14] It is fitted with five pairs of wheels (the three over the front, middle and rear axles constituting the main drive), with additional traction for mountainous environments provided by rear-mounted, hydraulically-lowered caterpillar tracks.

Within the hermetically-sealed cabin, the driver, co-driver and a passenger are seated backwards, facing the rear, to reduce the possibility of injury in the event of a crash.

The SPV is armed with a front-mounted rocket cannon, housed underneath a foldaway panel, and is also equipped with a radar system and ejector seats.

The hydrogenic power unit can be removed and re-assembled as a personal jet pack or other devices of comparable size, components for which are stored in the vehicle's rear compartment.

Comparing it to "a tank driven at ludicrous speeds, while facing backwards and located in secret garages around the world", he argues that the vehicle represents "probably the fastest transformation from covert to ridiculously unsubtle that fiction has ever seen.

"[15] Tat Wood of TV Zone magazine questions Spectrum's logic in keeping its SPVs hidden until they are needed ("inside caravans, gasometers, tubes of Pringles or wherever") given that they are "then abandoned on the road".

'"[18] The SPV's curved front bumper inspired the rounded edges of LaCie's "Rugged" external hard drive, designed by Neil Poulton.

[19][20] In 2022, YouTuber Tom Scott published a video in which he and a tech company build a go-kart with backwards-facing driver and passenger seats, similar to the SPV.

"[23] In a preview of the Polestar 4, Andrew English of The Daily Telegraph compared the car's lack of a rear window in favour of an external camera system to an SPV driver's reliance on a video monitor while seated backwards.