AT HOME ON THE RANGE - THIS ROVER’S A REAL SPORT
Road Test as published in the Sunraysia Daily Auto Guide
At first glance the Range Rover Sport looks like a...... well, a Range Rover.
What’s wrong with that, I hear you ask? Well you see, the purists take pains to explain it’s not really a Range Rover and that it’s actually based on the Land Rover Discovery, but we reckon the Sport’s got ‘Class’ – something the workmanlike Discovery has never been accused of.
Driving a Sport, one can hold one’s head high amongst the BMW X5’s and The Mercedes M’s when picking the kids up from school – the Sport sort of says ‘old money’ compared to those brash young Germans. There are effectively four Sport models defined by the four different engines available:
- 2.7L Turbodiesel V6 $88,990 RRP
- 3.6L Turbodiesel V8 $110,990 RRP
- 4.4L Petrol V8 $110,990 RRP
- 4.2L Supercharged Petrol V8 $139,990 RRP
Of course, two extra diesel cylinders don’t cost $22k and a supercharger doesn’t cost $29k. Moving up the engine choice scale also gets you a range of other goodies as standard which are only available as options on the lesser models.
Our test vehicle was a Midnight Blue TDV6 and we took it for a decent long drive from Melbourne to Mildura (a good six hours plus) and return. To make it interesting we went the long way, via Seymour and Heathcote. We also tested its four wheel drive capabilities in the Hattah Kulkyne National Park and discovered some fun gravel sections of the ‘Old Calder Highway’.
The Sport has 5 terrain settings to choose from in its ‘Terrain Response’ system:
- Tarmac
- Slippery (grass/gravel/snow)
- Mud/Ruts
- Sand
- Rock Crawl
Turn the dial and the Sport automatically configures the engine, gearbox, brake control systems, air suspension, traction control and electronic differential(s) to attack the selected terrain with so called ‘optimum driveability’.
Our trip gave us plenty of ‘Tarmac’ but also gave us the opportunity to test out ‘Slippery’ on lots of gravel. The first time onto the gravel in anger, we confess to having forgotten to use this system (we were recently spoilt with Audi’s Q7 where it actually makes this selection for you) and ploughed into an ever-sharpening corner just a tad too fast, with the dial still set to ‘Tarmac’ - a recipe for a lesson in severe understeer!
A quick mop of the brow, a click of the Terrain Response dial and the 3 tonnes of Sport was tamed for the next series of bends where it simply drove around them without fuss.
The Range Rover Sport has not been officially crash tested to our knowledge but is fairly bristling with primary and secondary safety systems. There’s more airbags than you can count, ABS and Dynamic Stability Control – not to mention ‘Active Roll Mitigation’!
The Sport is a supreme highway traveller and undoubtedly maintains the Land Rover off road reputation. It’s interior features are first class with great leather and premium sound - long highways are shortened dramatically.
The baby diesel performs it’s task with aplomb and only hesitates (not surprisingly perhaps) from a standing start - it simply takes a second or so to get going off the line. Over some 1,400kms of varied driving we were pleasantly surprised to average precisely 9.0litres/100kms. Land Rover quotes 13.1 (urban), 8.2 (extra urban) and 10.0 (combined). Our average speed for the 1,400kms was just under 70km/h so our experience was no doubt weighted to the ‘extra urban’ – still it’s a pretty good figure when you consider this diminutive diesel is pushing nearly 3 tonnes of Range Rover around.
Land Rover provides a 3 year/100,000km warranty plus 24/7 roadside assistance for the term of the warranty. This roadside assistance even includes being bogged or disabled on 4WD tracks. Range Rover has produced a thoroughbred town and country vehicle that is equally at home bush bashing on rough tracks as it is when all spruced up for a black tie reception in town.
Tested: June 2008
Vehicle provided by Land Rover Australia
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