We review the Range Rover Sport (2013) from price to economy and all its features
JAMES BOND, aka Daniel Craig, launched the Range Rover Sport by speeding through the streets of New York two months ago in a blaze of flashlights and
publicity.
However, the brand new Sport has now truly shaken and stirred us after our first drive this week.
The movie glitz of Manhattan has been replaced by a Midlands mud bath.
This is the desirability of the Range Rover Sport in a nutshell. It’s pure Tinseltown that can also be Tonka Toy.
While my colleague Ken was testing the Sport for Aussie grit Down Under, we got a first drive on home turf.
The Sport is built in Solihull so we put it through its paces exactly where the car is tested to the extreme. This place was named from its original
moniker ‘Soily Hill’ — that was pretty apt this week.
The site was originally two farms bought by the Government in 1936 to build a shadow factory in preparation for war with Nazi Germany.
It built engines for planes and tanks then after the war was taken over by Rover and became the birthplace for Land Rover.
There have been 1,800 extra jobs created here by Land Rover over the past two years — 800 were announced in January. That means 7,200 are now employed on this site.
The success of Range Rover is fuelling this incredible turnaround since Tata took over Jaguar Land Rover in 2009.
And now the Range Rover Sport is another big hit on the way for the firm.
The first Range Sport was a huge success, selling 400,000 in six years despite not doing what it said on the tin.
It wasn’t actually all that sporty. So if it can sell that many as a bit of a fake, then it now has all the credentials to be a worldwide smash hit.
This new Sport is simply out of this world. It’s an SUV Jack of all trades. It does all the off-road stuff, combined with the ability to produce race car performance on tracks — yet also still be the coolest car on the school run.
Not only that but it has a new design to die for, a luxurious interior right up there with Rolls-Royce and Bentley and can now cater for seven occupants.
Add in the fact that its £51,000 entry price is almost £20,000 cheaper than its big brother Range Rover and you start to wonder why bother with anything else.
Off-road, it’s still not a match for the Range Rover, but it has 51mm more ground clearance than its predecessor, a new automatic mode for the Terrain response system and suspension that can be raised or lowered by 185mm.
We drove through swamp-like conditions, passing old buildings where tanks were assembled. And the Sport performed just like a tank, ploughing through the deep water without breaking sweat.
I love the new Wade Aid feature which shows on screen how deep you’ve gone.
This Sport might have all the cool and kudos for WAGs, but it’s just as happy when you need wellies.
After we’d finished, it was hardly recognisable covered in mud. But design boss Gerry McGovern and his team have added more athleticism to the standard Range Rover.
It looks like an Evoque has been left in the greenhouse and grown up. In some ways that adds to the perception of it being smaller and more agile.
It also has the substance to go with style. The starting point for this new Sport was losing weight.
The first Sport was based on the heavy steel chassis in the Land Rover Discovery — but at over 2.5 tonnes it was too cumbersome on corners and
pricey at the pumps. Based on a modified version of the Range Rover’s all-aluminium platform, it weighs 420kg less now — equivalent to the British
and Irish Lions’ front row, plus 100kg of luggage.
The result is the 288bhp SDV6 diesel model we drove, in Autobiography Dynamic trim, being far more nimble and hitting 62mph in 6.8 seconds — an incredible two seconds quicker than the old SDV6 — and a top speed of 138mph.
Yet it still delivers around 37mpg and 199g/km of CO2 — that’s a 15 per cent improvement.
It’s bigger than the old car, too, at 62mm longer, 55mm wider with a 178mm longer wheelbase.
That creates another of the big plus points with the new Sport — two extra seats and the versatility that goes with it.
Getting inside the new Sport is like walking into Land of Leather. Every surface has either stitched leather, smooth shiny metal or soft-touch
rubber.
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It gets a smaller steering wheel that feels and looks more comfortable and a sporty gear lever to replace the dial — while the visibility from the
elevated driving position is excellent.
The rear seats are snug for such a large car, while an optional third row of seats rises electronically from the boot floor and is only really suitable for kids — but will still provide crucial flexibility for parents.
On the road the Sport feels very big and secure. Yet it somehow combines that with a nimble quality that means you never feel overawed by its size.
This combination of refinement and cushioned ride from the all-aluminium air suspension protects you so well the outside world just becomes a silent
blur.
And the seamlessly smooth eight-speed ZF gearbox means the Sport wafts along effortlessly with very little demand on the driver. But hit the motorway and the Sport can seriously stretch its legs. Switch the Terrain Response system to Dynamic mode and the dials glow red, while the throttle response and gear changes sharpen up significantly.
In reality this 3litre V6 diesel delivers all the performance you need, but if you really must have the stonking 503bhp supercharged 5litre V8, it will hit 62mph in five seconds but with a terrifying fuel economy likely to be under 20mpg.
Even when throwing it around corners at speed, the Sport is precise. Underneath the body there’s technology that only Steven Hawking would
understand.
There’s very little to criticise with the new Sport. This car doesn’t need a James Bond to sell it.
It already has the look of money spinner, rather than Moneypenny.