Range Rover Sport review (12/02/2014)
Our roads bristled with the BMW X5, the Audi Q7, the Mercedes M-Class and (if you were really upmarket) GL-Class, the Range Rover Sport and — daddy of them all — the Range Rover.
We were consumed by driving these ostensibly utilitarian machines to demonstrate what fine, upstanding, well-to-do and discerning people we were.
Little notice was taken of the fitness for purpose these vehicles represented for the majority of those who owned and drove them.
And car makers cynically took advantage and produced 4x4s that were more intent on style than substance.
Indeed many of the essential qualities of the breed were effectively lost in this period.
More fool them, or more fool us? The latter, I’m afraid.
The typical Irish buyer of the early noughties could not do without having a massive 4x4 in the driveway.
The original Range Rover Sport is a case in point. First up, it was not actually based on the Range Rover itself; rather it was built on the Discovery chassis. The car looked sporty and the design was obviously attractive — but was it
actually sporty?
The critics’ opinion definitely fell on the negative side of the fence, but that impacted little on the buying public. Land Rover tried hard to make to make it sporty and the engines they utilised were certainly up to the job, but the chassis, when asked serious questions, was not.
Nevertheless the car was a massive commercial success. Even despite that success the design people resolved that they would not allow themselves to be accused of making a compromised product again. That resolve has proved very fruitful.
The second generation Range Rover Sport is a magnificent thing and if there is any truth in the story that the instruction issued by management to the designers of this new machine was simply ‘more Range Rover and more Sport,’ then they have fulfilled the brief comprehensively.
The car has been so well received that the manufacturer is already running into difficulties meeting demand.
Irish buyers will not therefore be able to walk into your local dealer and buy one in the colour or specification you would ideally like.
But, even when you’ve shelled out the King’s ransom you can rest assured you’ve got your hands on one of the best cars ever to emerge from this particular stable.
The Sport now enjoys the same aluminium chassis as its sibling and this has very obviously led to a massive improvement in the car’s on-road abilities.
It is way stiffer than previously and with the addition of all round multi-link suspensions incorporating aluminium wishbones, variable dampers and height adjustable sir springs, makes for an astonishingly improved driving proposition.
Its handling abilities truly have to be experienced to be believed as it does not loll about like a powerless freighter on high seas; it does not pitch and yaw unpredictably, but is perfectly contained.
I use a lot of varied routes to test cars and I can tell you that this thing behaved so well on any road I ran it on, it was so much more like a hot hatch than anything else. It really is as tight as a speed skaters suit and you could pitch it into corners the same way you would a go-kart.
It was really astounding in this element of its performance; the grip levels, the steering precision and ride comfort which was as unperturbed by surface changes as any GTi.
Then you have the twin turbo three litre V6 which throws out coming on for 300 bhp with a considerable swagger. It will achieve the 0-100 kph dash in under 8 seconds and top speed is just on the short side of 220 kph.
Impressive enough as these figures might be, the SDV6, which we tested, demonstrated monstrous torque levels — some 600 Nm at peak — which allow this rather large vehicle perform with the alacrity of a go-kart. Allied to an eight speed ‘box, the whole package is gob-smacking in its breadth of abilities.
And then you have the certain knowledge that if one were required to drive up, say, an Alp, the Sport will undertake the task with the same aplomb and surefootedness as it would a visit to the shopping centre.
Mountain, field and ford — no bother.
And I haven’t yet really got to anything about the interior or the specifications of this car. The Sport is beautifully put together and the ingenuity Land Rover has put into the technical excellence of the package is equally matched by the level of detail it has put into the cabin.
It combines a stately feel with a good frisson of technical innovation.
Imperious is a word that comes to mind with this car and while the Range Rover itself might still be the daddy when it comes to this particular field of endeavour, the Sport is not far away when it comes to being the real deal. Think of it thus: the Range Rover is something
senior royals might like to be trundled around in, but the Sport is something junior royals would happily gad about in.
No matter what the cost of the Sport model you choose, I doubt very much if you will regret spending a penny of it. A truly smashing car.
