The third-generation Range Rover Sport offers a host of powertrains including a V8, promises low-speed agility and high-speed poise from a new four-wheel steering system, and features an overhauled interior with Jaguar Land Rover’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment.
Making its first public appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next week, the latest Range Rover Sport was developed alongside the fifth-generation Range Rover, revealed last year, to ensure consistency within the Range Rover family but also, crucially, enough distinction between the two models.
JLR design chief Gerry McGovern said the latest model “redefines sporting luxury” and described it as “modern, relevant and progressive”.
Reflecting on the model’s impact, McGovern called the Range Rover Sport “the first of its breed in 2005, heralding a new vehicle with Range Rover luxury and sporting character”. He added: “It created a new vehicle segment and was the first model in an extended Range Rover family which paved the way for Evoque and Velar.”
Performance
The range-topping model – for now – is the twin-turbocharged 525bhp 4.4-litre BMW-derived petrol V8, which can accelerate from 0-62mph in 4.5sec. It will be a popular model, predicts Nick Collins, JLR’s executive director of vehicle programmes. “V8 demand is very strong at the moment,” he said. “There seems to be a split between big petrol engines and EVs.”
The new plug-in hybrid is expected to be a strong seller, too. In its most powerful form, it uses a 3.0-litre six-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine with a 141bhp electric motor, powered by a 38.2kWh battery, for a total output of 503bhp. It completes the 0-62mph sprint in 5.4sec and delivers 70 miles of EV range and CO2 emissions of 18g/km. Combining its petrol and electric reserves, it offers 460 miles of range.