Range Rover Sport review: Out of Range for some, but it purrs along
The all-new Range Rover Sport
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RANGE ROVER SPORT |
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★★★★☆ |
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from €114,150 - €123,785 as tested |
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a sublime 4.4-litre twin turbo straight six with a little electric help, delivering over 500 bhp |
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stunning in every regard |
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a serious, serious beast |
There can be few brands that scream ‘privilege’ in the same way as Range Rover.
Although such as the BMW X5, the Volvo XC90 and the Porsche Cayenne revolutionised the large SUV segment by making cars that were actually a pleasure to drive and had car-like road manners, it was the original Range Rover back in 1970 and it brought elegance, grace and desirability to territory that was previously only occupied by strictly utilitarian vehicles.
The original Range Rover was itself a pretty utilitarian thing and far from the upmarket beast we have come to know, love and hanker after. Sure it was designed to be more classy than any previous Land Rover, but it still only came with two passenger doors, vinyl seats and plastic dashboards designed to withstand being hosed down when dirty.
Stuff like carpets, power steering, cloth/leather seats, air con and fancy-dan wooden trim only came much later after the landed gentry – the car’s primary buyers – had popularised the Range Rover as a vehicle suitable for their varied needs.
I mean, these people needed something which was as at home in their vast Scottish estates as it was on the streets of Chelsea. The Range Rover provided it.
Initially however, the car was far from the fashion or social status item it has subsequently become. In truth, the early examples were little more than good-looking and slightly more polished versions of the legendary Land Rover Defender.
As our world became more sophisticated, so too did the Range Rover and so too its appeal to people who did not live in the Cotswolds, shoot grouse, attend debutante parties and have a title in their name.
But the addition of the Range Rover Sport in 2005 blew those old cliches out of the water and popularised the brand like never before. All of a sudden laddish dot. com. entrepreneurs, wide boys and upwardly mobile types who would never have a title, land in Scotland, or shoot wild animals, were driving around in these things.
The car became a symbol of the brash new world we lived in at the turn of the century. So much so that if you didn’t have a Range Rover of some description, you were considered a lesser being. The rush to get into one became tsunami-esque.
Indeed thing were so bad in places that people coming to ritzy West Cork holiday destinations would rent a Range Rover for their holliers in case they might appear under-resourced. That they didn’t own them did not matter, as long as they were seen in one during the all-important first fortnight in August when all the swells were in town.
Despite all this societal frippery, the fact of the matter was the Range Rover Sport was a damn fine car and those resourced enough to afford one actually became genuinely attached to them, such were their on-road qualities. That they could also climb a small Alp without breaking sweat was little more than an afterthought.
The Sport was a break for Range Rover from the company’s previous ‘old-money’ image and brought the brand to a whole new audience – one for whom the Range Rover name meant a lot, but the ‘Sport’ appellation added a new level of appeal.
This week we are trying out the latest version – the third generation of the Range Rover Sport – and if we were impressed by the two previous iterations, then it is far to say the new one surpassed all expectations.
Although the look of the car has not changed radically, the very comprehensive wash and brush-up by the Gaydon designers has given the Sport an even more polished look than previously. The thing is, however, that almost everything under the skin here is new or heavily revised.
The Sport now sits on JLR’s MLA-Flex platform – the same one as the new Range Rover itself sits – and is powered by the same choice of engines. It even has the same wheelbase and the same technology such as rear-wheel steering and active anti-roll bars that make it possible for a big 2.5 tonne vehicle do things it should not be feasible to do.
Inside, it is fizzing with technology – most of which is actually useful and relevant – and, size-wise has been boosted to provide much more passenger room in the back and bigger load space too in case you have to take the horse to France and will need a suitably expansive wardrobe.
A nod to the environment is also seen in the faux leather ‘Ultrafabric’ upholstery whose manufacture did not involve any animals or their hides, which is actually beautifully tactile and pleasing to the touch, as are most of the opulent interior surfaces.
On the engine front there is no full electric yet, but a couple of plug-in hybrids, a full-fat BMW-developed 4.4 litre twin turbo with over 500 bhp and a couple of diesel choices as well. The tester was fitted with the turbocharged three-litre in-line straight six which is also equipped with a 31.8-kWh electric motor.
This is a gutsy engine with 440 bhp and a massive 640 Nm of torque, producing a top speed of 225 km/h, a 0-100 km/h time of 5.8 seconds. It is allied to an eight-speed auto ‘box and – natch – four-wheel-drive. The PHEV aspect of the car give you an all-electric range of 114 km – which is, as we’ve said so often here, is just on the handy side of useful.
As with all PHEVs, the claimed fuel consumption (0.9 l/100 km or 313.9 mpg) is wildly ludicrous, but you should be able to manage to string together regular runs that give you 5.3 l/100 km (nearly 53 mpg) if you’re not on the door handles all the time.
Aside from the stand-out performance, the manner which this thing carries itself on the road is its most impressive trait and it is nearly mind-boggling that a car this size handles and rides with the agility and ease of a ballet dancer.
I wasn’t mad about the oil tanker-like turning circle and the seeming reluctance of the steering wheel to return to straight-on in tight spaces, but these were very minor quibbles in the bigger picture of things. The fact the thing purrs along in near silence for those cossetted in the cabin more than made up for any small lapses.
Aside from the mind-boggling tech on offer here, the Range Rover Sport should fulfil the needs of any modern driver and/or rich landowner. This is a fantastic thing that will please enthusiastic drivers or families alike.Â
It will also please those who rent them for their holidays, looking so much more impressive as it does than their normal Nissan Qashqai.
It’s not cheap though and that’s possibly the only black mark here and the one thing which prevents one of our rare five-star ratings.
