Road Runner

Rolex is synonymous with luxury time pieces; Johnnie Walker with the finest blended whiskeys and Vertu with obscenely expensive cell phones. Similarly, Land Rover is known for its rugged-looking sports utility vehicles that are capable of crawling over the most difficult of terrains while cosseting its occupants in opulence. But, with the world moving towards more road-oriented and comfortable SUVs rather than luxury mountain goats, Land Rover too needed something to satisfy the rich but pretentious road user. So to diversify its current portfolio and address this growing section of audience, Land Rover built the Range Rover Sport; which apart from its adventurous instinct has elegant road etiquette. We drove the 2011 edition on sale in India.

Highlights:

- The Range Rover Sport comes with three engine options in India — a 3-litre diesel V6, a 5-litre petrol V8 and a 5-litre supercharged petrol, again in V8 configuration.

-The Dynamics Pack suspension system comes as standard on the 5-litre supercharged and as an option on the other engines. This system helps control body roll and improves on-road handling.

- There are a lot of customisation options on the Range Rover Sport with 14 different exterior colours to pick from.

Despite its name, the Range Rover Sport is built on a modified Discovery 3 platform. The Sport is 203mm shorter and about 63.5mm lower than the regular Range Rover. On the styling front, it carries the Range Rover design characteristics like the clamshell hood and the floating roof design. In addition, it gets side vents with metallic straps, tapering C- and D-pillars which give it a sporty aura, and a circular LED strip as part of the headlamp unit. The latter are essentially day-time running lamps and add a hint of contemporariness to the design.

Step inside the luxury SUV and its classy ambience is bound to take you by surprise. The build quality and the fit-and-finish is top notch. There’s loads of equipment too. The centre console consists of neatly placed buttons and knobs, and a touch screen for operating the multimedia interface that controls the audio, DVD, telephonic Bluetooth connectivity and the five cameras (two at the front, one below each side mirror and one for reversing). These large buttons can be easily operated even if one wears gloves (in cold regions). The Range Rover Sport gets a Harman Kardon audio system that plays music through its nine speakers and there’s chiller box in the armrest to be had as well.

The four-spoke steering wheel is well-proportioned to grip and gets a lot of buttons for the music system, answering calls and cruise control. And not to forget, it gets paddle shifts too. The twin chrome strips on the steering, meanwhile, work the horns just like any other Land Rover.

The seats of the Sport are wrapped in high quality leather and the front row seats are large and very comfortable, making it ideal for long journeys. However, the thick A-pillar reduces visibility. At the back, the Range Rover can seat three in comfort thanks to the vehicle’s width and the flattened central tunnel. The rear knee room could have been better though.

Under the bonnet of our test Range Rover Sport was a 3-litre diesel V6. It makes 245bhp of power and a whopping 600Nm of torque. The engine is fairly responsive and there is no initial lag as this oil burner has two uniquely-sized turbochargers that spool at different engine rpm.

We are now accustomed to this engine as we had also witnessed it in the Jaguar XF S —though the power on the XF S was 275bhp. The engine is highly refined with low NVH levels and the cabin insulation is first-rate too. Slot the gear into the drive mode, floor the throttle and you will get pushed back into your seat. 0-100kmph is dealt with in 9.1 seconds and this is mighty quick for a vehicle that weighs two and a half tons.

The Range Rover Sport gets a six-speed automatic transmission with CommandShift. The auto ‘box shifts smoothly but the shift speed are a tad lethargic. There is a certain amount of lag, even when you downshift manually using the paddle shifters. The transmission also somewhat blunts the performance of the engine.

Range Rovers always had soft suspension setups for good ride quality and this tradition has continued even on the latest Sport version. The ride is well sorted at low and high speeds, as the luxury SUV soaks up all the small road undulations and glides over bumps, isolating the occupants from the road shocks.

The Range Rover Sport is the first Land Rover built to have sporty road manners apart from the regular off-road capability that the Gaydon-based manufacturer is famous for. The Sport does have quite a bit of body-roll due to its height, nonetheless, but its overall ability to handle the road is good. The steering wheel is light, but to our dismay, it feels artificial and weighs up vaguely with increase in speed.

The Range Rover Sport gets the Land Rover’s patent Terrain Response system, where the suspension can be adjusted according to the different terrain conditions by just turning a knob on the front central tunnel. The Sport gets five suspension settings - Sand, Grass, Gravel & Snow, Mud & Ruts, Rock Crawl and Normal. For easier off-roading, the Sport also gets hill descent control and ride height adjustment, to alter the ground clearance. The Sport also gets hill-assist and hold-clutch features. Moreover, for better road holding at higher speeds, the suspension lowers itself when driven at a speed of 160kmph or above for over five seconds.

The Range Rover Sport 3.0TDV6 priced at Rs 91.76lakh (on-road price, Mumbai) isn’t an outrageously expensive buy, considering the off-road hard and software besides the other bells and whistles it comes loaded with. The Range Rover Sport has polished road manners too, and is more willing to dirty its boots when compared to its competition. Apart from the solid build quality, what you will own is the status of a legendary British marquee which is one of the most respected badges when it comes to off-road capabilities.