CLASS LEADING PERFORMANCE ON AND OFF-ROAD
Range Rover Sport delivers transformational on-road dynamics, twinned with Land Rover's all-terrain performance.
CLASS-LEADING CAPABILITY
Range Rover Sport builds on Land Rover's unrivalled breadth of capability. It is equally at home in the city or the back of beyond.
ALL-TERRAIN EXPERTISE
The latest Terrain Response 2 technology helps Range Rover Sport optimise settings for the current conditions to deliver unrivalled performance on- and off-road.
TESTED TO EXTREMES
Extreme testing in the most inhospitable terrains and temperatures has helped create a vehicle that is designed to deliver in even the most challenging conditions.
CONFIDENT AND COMPOSED
Range Rover Sport's signature full time intelligent Four Wheel Drive system, with selectable high/low range, offers optimum performance both on- and off-road.
It’s as luxurious as you’d expect a big car wearing the Range Rover badge to be. The commanding interior is beautifully finished and a lovely place to spend time, with abundant space for five and a handy seven-seat option should you need it.
Land Rover has also worked hard on a traditional Achilles’ heel, reliability: Driver Power results suggest the latest Sport is much more dependable than earlier models, with improved economy and emissions making running costs a little less extreme as well.
The Range Rover Sport is not cheap to buy, but it’s such an accomplished and impressive machine, it still earns a full five-star rating. There’s little to fault and a lot to like: with owners telling us they’re equally delighted, we’re happy to recommend it.
All Range Rover Sports are fitted with Land Rover Adaptive Dynamics. This adapts the air suspension and electronic controls to road conditions, and it includes a Dynamic mode that impressively minimises body roll and maximises grip. Sure, the ride is knobblier here, but it’s beautifully accomplished in regular mode, with peerless body control, ample absorbency and terrific stability. Dynamically, the Range Rover Sport is little short of superb.
Owners back this up – they’re delighted with the Range Rover Sport’s handling, but even more impressed with its ride quality, where it scores a top-5 position in Driver Power. Just be aware there’s the merest trace of extra knobbliness with the 21-inch wheels of Dynamic and Autobiography versions.
Off-road abilities outclass all rivals. Terrain Response optimises things for mud, travel, snow, rocks and sand, juggling suspension height, gearchange settings, throttle response and traction control profiles: take your pick, because it’s absolutely outstanding across all of them. Even driving across rivers should hold no nasty surprises, thanks to a frankly ridiculous 850mm wading depth (and there’s even a gadget that shows you how deep the water that you’re driving through is…).
Dynamic-spec models come with an enhanced Terrain Response 2 system – this includes automatic terrain sensing, that auto-engages the correct mode when it senses a change in surface below: ingenious stuff. Also new for Dynamic models is the JLR All-Terrain Response Control. Introduced with the late 2015 upgrade this is a sort of ‘off-road cruise control’, letting the driver select a desired speed and leaving the car to do all the hard work – it can even set the vehicle moving from rest, which is idea when grip is low or terrains are rough or steep.
Interior, design and technology
A wonderful interior, more than worthy of the Range Rover badge, that's packed with technology - although it's not quite latest-generation stuff
The Range Rover Sport’s interior leaves you in no doubt it’s a genuine luxury vehicle. Even in standard HSE guise, there are swathes of posh Oxford leather, jewel-like switchgear and a central widescreen monitor.
It’s a more sporting layout than the formal and upright Range Rover – and, for this version, bespoke to the Sport (the previous model had an interior shared with the Land Rover Discovery). It’s like a posher, more grown up Range Rover Evoque, and feels great to sit within. Even the steering wheel is a treat to hold and look at.
Our one grip is that, for all its luxury, the technology isn’t as up to date as it could be. The minor switchgear will be very familiar to other Land Rover drivers and even the column stalks are from the JLR parts bin.
But lavish design makes up for it. You can fully customise the premium Range Rover Sport too, with even plusher leather options and a plentiful array of trim strip decors. Newly available for 2015 is a £1,000 full-colour head-up display that displays info such as speed, gear position, cruise control information, traffic sign recognition and sat nav directions.
The regular HSE probably contains all you’ll ever need as standard: sat nav, xenon headlights, Oxford leather, heated front seats, front and rear parking sensors, electric tailgate and Adaptive Dynamics suspension. 20-inch alloys are standard too.
Our choice is the HSE Dynamic though. This adds 21-inch alloys and the gloss black exterior pack for an even more sporting and distinctive look (we also like the twin exhausts), while Terrain Response 2 and All-Terrain Progress Control are also standard.
The most indulgent model is the Autobiography, which has a panoramic glass roof, 20-inch Brembo-branded brakes, Oxford perforated leather, 825W Meridian stereo, climate front seats, heated rear seats, ‘smart’ adaptive cruise control and Land Rover InControl Apps and Wi-Fi tech. The SVR, meanwhile, lives up to its range-topping branding with a whole host of technology, luxury and performance upgrades.
