We’ve got used to the fact SUVs no longer need confine themselves to the school run or even, God forbid, actual off-roading. And that 500hp-plus a fast vehicle makes, even if it weighs over two tonnes and has the apparent aero properties of a house brick.
But, by heck, in supercharged V8 form the new Range Rover Sport is a brutally rapid device. How do we know this? Because we’ve driven it, staring disbelievingly at the rate with which 110, 120, 130 and 140 appear and then dissolve away on the neat TFT speedo, supercharged V8 hammering away with no sign of any let-up and still with two gears to go. The old one wasn’t slow of course, but that headline 420kg weight saving counts for a lot, and if you’re ever fortunate enough to get a V8 Sport on a stretch of derestricted road there’s not much going to trouble you. Or likely to dither about getting out of the way, once they see that aggressive visage in their mirrors. The Germans call it uberholprestige – we might tactfully refer to it as ‘presence’ in the way bigger-boned folk are sometimes described as ‘larger than life’.
What a way to get that 'behind the wheel' fix
One lap of Gaydon’s high-speed test track and another of a tight little suspension torture testing loop do not equate to a full test of the new Sport of course. But it’s better than
sitting in the passenger seat
and we were willing to sit through the tech seminar we saw at the
New York unveiling
for a second time to do it. The things we do for you…
So it’s fast and the V8 makes a good noise. You probably didn’t need us to go to Gaydon to tell you that. But those impressive on-paper stats are only half the story and the sheer gusto with which the V8 Sport gathers pace might just be enough to distract you from the realities of fuelling it here in the UK. For a few minutes.
Of as much interest is how the various trick diffs and other gizmos make their presence felt in the corners. Even in bells-and-whistles spec the Sport has two basic on-road settings of Auto and Dynamic, the latter accessed by pressing the recessed mode dial that then pops up like the rotary gear selector in the Range Rover and various Jags. You’ll note that the Sport has a proper shifter, complete with back for up and forward for down sequential style shifts, the target audience obviously requiring the reassurance of grasping something … no, let’s not go there.
Even in the Auto mode the air-sprung chassis feels pretty firm, the lumps and bumps of the suspension test track thumping through the aluminium structure with unexpected ferocity without ever actually upsetting the car. If the springing is firm the damping is fast and precise but there’s no sense of the Range Rover’s isolating waft. Same goes for the (electric) steering, which is light, fast-geared and eager to respond off-centre. This is deliberate, say the engineers, while pointing out that suspension geometry and tyres also play a big part in this sense of immediacy.
Sport's diet has had a positive effect
On the long, tightening left-hander at the top of the Gaydon test track and in Auto mode the Sport’s default response to deliberately provocative lifts, swerves and throttle inputs provoke nibbles of stability control and a sense of roll and weight shift that you’d expect of an SUV, even a gym-fit aluminium one. One click left on the dial to wake up the diffs and torque vectoring and the same kind of behaviour reveals a noticeably different character. You can hold a line under power – even four-wheel drift, according to video of Mike Cross doing just that during the presentation – and in this mode the gizmos seem more attuned to helping you maintain or even build speed rather than try and hold you back. Which, if you’ve proactively chosen (via dial and/or
wallet
) Dynamic, is probably what you want. A satisfying waft of hot brakes and tyres as we return to base camp demonstrates that, although brief, the Sport has had a work out and impressed considerably.
What do we learn from this teasingly short drive? Well, first that we’d really suck as chauffeurs. And second that, having proved its worth in the sand in Dubai, the new car really does put the sport into the Sport. That may come from brute force and electronic cleverness rather than any true sense of the word. But it’s pretty damned impressive all the same.
RANGE ROVER SPORT 5.0 SUPERCHARGED
Engine: 4,999cc V8 supercharged
Transmission: 8-speed auto, four-wheel drive, low-range transfer case
Power (hp): 510@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 461@2,500rpm
0-62mph: 5.3sec
Top speed: 155mph (optional)
Weight: ‘from’ 2,310kg
MPG: 22.1mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 298g/km
Price: N/A