CAR OF THE WEEK: Range Rover Sport raises rainforest memories

BY Brian Byrne

WHEN the first generation of the Range Rover Sport was launched in 2005, the press drive events were held in the Pyrenees. Along with the Irish, among the other nationalities on our rotation were journalists from a country who had a reputation for hammering cars along even in quite scary mountain places. So instead of only paying attention to where we were going, we also had to keep a close eye behind for guys who thought we were all competing on a mountain rally stage, but who didn’t have the skills of professional rally drivers.

During our two-day event, a pair of them managed to write off one of the cars, fortunately not while driving. One wanted a photo of the car against a mountain lake background and kept waving his colleague to back further towards the water. Not having realised how quickly the lake shelved, he backed too far and the car eventually had to be towed, fairly ruined, from the lake. Though it could wade well through reasonable pools and rivers, Land Rover had never claimed it was a fully amphibious vehicle. But it was actually a very competent car, as I was able to attest to the following year when I journeyed in it through a week of travel in the rugged rain forests of Laos.

These were thoughts coming back when I took delivery for review of the third generation Range Rover Sport. I already knew, from its launch last year, that the car is now a totally different beast. More refined, but still with the ability to handle anything that it might be thrown at, even many water hazards. 

The style has become less aggressive up front, though it’s a tall fascia when you stand beside it. Very slim lights and a smooth and deep top bumper treatment adds to a rather svelte effect. The clean finish extends fully around the car, with a high rear lights line linked across the tailgate by an integrated Range Rover name in light grey on black. A discreet ‘Sport’ badge and equivalent Land Rover oval on the other side are the only other visual disturbances to a very smooth back end.

That same minimalist ethos has been floated through the interior. It is good to see only one centre screen, of reasonable size, and a well-shaded-from-glare driver’s instruments panel. The shifter for the 8-speed autobox shares its space with commendably large rotary knobs for climate control, a smaller one for radio volume, and a rotary selector for drive modes.

This is an expensive brand and an expensive car, and the materials, fitting, and style of the interior fully reflect that. And while there is room for three in the rear, it’s clear that the ideal is two if adult. Though shorter and lower than the big brother RR, there’s adequate room for knees, elbows, and heads to travel in the comfort which has been paid for.

This latest version of the RR Sport shares its new platform with the full-size Range Rover, and it has been especially developed for electrification. So within a wide range of powertrains available, there’s the plug-in hybrid that powered my review car. Based on a 435hp 3.0 inline six turbo petrol with a 141hp electric motor, the 38kWh battery gives it a real EV range of around 85km, more if driven only in urban traffic. Whether on combustion or electric power, the going is smooth and silent and remarkably effortless — as it should be with all that oomph. Putting the unit into perspective, it generates similar power as did the 5.0 petrol V8 that was the top engine in the last RR Sport generation.

Not having a charger at home, and because the system is not designed for fast-charging CCS, I tend to use review PHEVs as straight hybrids once the initial charge has been depleted. As an experiment on a 120km trip on which I was returning the same way, I used the ‘Save’ function to charge up the battery while on the 84km motorway section, and on the way back I just left the whole thing in hybrid. The 8.5L/100km was the same each way. Which was respectable for the size and power of this car.

This is an option for those in the medium luxury SUV market, with the Merc GLE, BMW X5 and Volvo XC90 in the virtual competitors showroom. What the RR Sport has for me over the others is the memories of adventure driving the nameplate represents. Makes it special.