Brand new third generation Range Rover Sport emerged with the Mercedes-Benz GLE, Audi Q7 and BMW X5 overtaking the sales race.
The second-generation Range Rover Sport debuted in 2013 and, despite its age, continues to be Jaguar Land Rover’s second best-selling model in Australia after the Defender.
In keeping with JLR’s mission to streamline its fleet into two platforms with hybrid and battery-powered vehicles adopting the EMA architecture, the Range Rover Sport shares the MLA Flex base with the Range Rover The fifth generation has just been released.
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There is familiarity between the two as they were designed simultaneously to simplify production of both with similar dimensions and style markings, and most notably, the wrapped look.
The new modular architecture is 35% stiffer even though the Sport is 20mm longer, 20mm wider and almost 20mm taller than its predecessor. However, the car boasts a cheat performance of 0.29 that seems believable when you look at its smooth nose.
The new headlights claim to project up to 500 meters of light using new digital LEDs and 1.3 million micro-mirrors inside each lens. The lights work in sync with the car’s navigation system and its speed to predict bends ahead and upcoming turns.
Want to know all the Australian specifications and details? Read our separate section titled: 2023 Range Rover Sport, everything you need to know
Talking to CarExpert As he took me for a walk around one of only two Range Rover Sports cars in existence at the time of writing, Robert Battams, Land Rover’s director of exterior design said:
“The grille and headlights are extended over the nose to give it a luxurious look, with the parking sensors, cameras and other classic equipment all hidden and out of sight.
“The space on the clamshell bonnet is only half the size of the previous model but it is that void that determines the way down to the rest of the car, so it has to be absolutely perfect.
“The high window lines and side lines give it a tight look with the same stretch panels as the new Range Rover and there’s barely enough room for your nails between the glass and the door. Just 6mm gave it the look that really fits,” he said.
The traditional floating roof continues with the black pillars supporting the body-colored top, which now extend beyond the rear window, giving the look more like an arrow than before. The black, high-gloss D-pillars blend into the glass to eliminate virtually any sign of window tops and give it a smart, inviting look.
The biggest visual difference between the Sport and the Range Rover is in the rear end with horizontal LEDs of near-OLED definition, enhancing the color of the light and extending the entire width.
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Range Rover Sport -
Range Rover
Coupled with a bumper-mounted license plate that might make some familiar to purists, it defines the Sport from the Range Rover’s signature black vertical stripe.
The other big difference between the two models is the one-piece tailgate on the Sport instead of the Range Rover’s two-piece design, which provides a visual distance from its big brother.
Wheel options include a choice of 20, 21, 22 or 23-inch rims to fill the guards, and Battams notes that even with the 23-inch rims, there’s still half a meter of wheel articulation and room for size as well. Full size spare wheel with inflated tyre, jack and tools under the trunk floor and accessible from the inside.
The combination of electrified six-cylinder petrol, diesel and venerable V8s available under the hood with the all-electric Range Rover Sport leading Land Rover into electrification by 2024 , which is the first of six EV models to launch in 2026.
The MLA Flex platform has been built to house a battery-filled stage, so the hard work of configuring it for EV use to run BMW-supplied electric motors has been done.
For now, there’s the familiar 3.0-litre I6 ingenium inline-six petrol engine alongside the P400 including a 48-volt, 294kW mild-hybrid unit; and P510e 375kW and 700Nm plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powered by a 38kWh battery.
WLTP figures confirm the range of this PHEV is 740 km, which is much higher than the 125 km average which can only run on electricity and has to be quickly charged to 80% DC in 60 minutes.
Purists and SVR hopefuls can rejoice as I6 diesel engines including the D250, D300 and D350 operate as well as a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, sourced from BMW, produces 390kW, reaching 100km/h in 4.5 seconds on the P530.
Available in SE, HSE and Autobiography trim specifications, the Range Rover Sport will also include a First Edition for the first 12 months of sales based on the Autobiography D350 with bronze highlights in lieu of alloy exterior, while the Dynamic package will offer the same gloss black along with the front splitter, black roof and side sills.
A limited edition P530 V8 Autobiography will also be available but only through an exclusive online event later this year.
A new Stormer package also debuts on the Sport that includes all-wheel steering that helps reduce its revs to less than 11 meters as well as rear electronic adjusters and anti-roll dampers that help reduce altitude, by Dial torque up to 1400Nm. , where 900Nm can be deployed in 200 milliseconds.
Like the Range Rover and Defender, the Sport has ditched the all-touchscreen interior, replacing it with a trusty combination of rotary knobs and hard-touch switches beneath the curved 13.1-inch touchscreen. for the Pivi Pro infotainment system neatly, the interior is neat and minimalist.
The rotary selector from the first 2007 Jaguar XF has also given way to a more traditional gearshift lever parked between a pair of heated and cooled, 22-way ventilated front seats, upholstered in leather or wrapped in vegan Kvadrat leather. blends a wool-suede blend made from 53 recycled plastic bottles.
Over-the-air updates and voice control are also part of the Alexa package, allowing you to turn on your lights, heating or air conditioning remotely. A 1430W loud sound system with 29 speakers, including two in each headrest, is available as an option.
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