Range Rover Sport Supercharged Revisited

It’s quite remarkable how many Range Rover Sports we supply. There aren’t many weeks that go by without the phone going asking us to supply one. As often as not it’s the Supercharged model, but the oil burners seem to be a big favourite as well. So I thought it was about time to re-aquaint myself with the car. It’s been a while.

The Range Rover Sport, and in particular the supercharged model, is Land Rover’s answer to the Porsche Cayennne and BMW X5. The Cayenne stole the on-road thunder from both the BMW and Range Rover when it came along, so Land Rover needed to do something to fill the gap. And so the Range Rover Sport was born.

Based on the underpinnings of the Discovery 3, but with a Range-Rover look body, the Sport is a handsome-looking car. Much prettier than the Cayenne and the X5. But that’s no surprise. The Range Rover started it all (the luxury SUV market that is), and I think all our brains are programmed to see it as the benchmark in this sector. But the looks are a tad misleading. There just happened to be a standard Range Rover in the car park when I went out in the Sport, and side by side you do wonder why they did it. The Sport just looks like a dinky version. A mini-me. A baby brother. It’s disappointing. I’m not sure I’d want to spend the thick end of £60k to feel inferior every time I pulled up next to a real Range Rover in the car park. Hmmm.

But out on the road you soon realise exactly why they did it. You still sit up high. You do feel ‘above’ the rest. The cabin’s not as nice a place to be as the Range Rover, and there’s less room. But my oh my, it’s a much better drive. Gone is the feeling you’re driving a beautifully appointed ocean-going cruiser. Instead, you get handling and poise like you do in a Cayenne. But it’s not the same. In the Cayenne you feel like you’re in a 911 on stilts. You know it’s history is on the road. But the Sport feels like what it is. A very, very well-sorted drivers version of a Range Rover. And I have to say it does work very well. I’d forgotten how nice these are to drive. They turn in well, they grip very well and, even though you know you’re dragging around a huge lump, they do perform extraordinarily well. Not as well as the Cayenne or X5 (and definitely not as well as the Cayenne Turbo), but in the real world, and on real roads, you’d be hard pushed to put a fag paper between them.

So it comes down to what image you want. The X5 can seem a bit ‘bling’. The Cayenne is not exactly the prettiest of the bunch. But the Range Rover Sport does seem to be the best compromise. It looks good; it goes well and it’s very sure-footed. And off-road it has the edge over the other two (by a long way over the X5, but it’s a closer run thing with the Cayenne).

So now I understand. The Range Rover Sport does make sense. It’s a more sensible size on the road than its big brother; It has as much room as a mid-sized saloon; It handles like a well-sorted sports saloon (think Audi S6 or a sporty 5 series or E class); it looks good and it’s fun to drive.

The re-visit was worth it. I’d have one.