Instrumented Test
From the April 2014 Issue of Car and Driver
The late Charles Spencer “Spen” King loathed what became of his work. The father of the Range Rover resented that his creation evolved into a totem of wealth for city streets and suburban parking lots. “The 4x4 was never intended as a status symbol, but later incarnations of my design seem to be intended for that purpose,” he said in a 2004 interview.
King was no stranger to living well, and his 1970 Range Rover reflected that. Swathed in leather, with a V-8 engine and a novel coil-spring suspension, the original Range Rover was meant to tend the farm, blast to the country manor, and join in the ensuing pheasant hunt. The only flaw in King’s plan was a misunderstanding of the market: Few people could afford such a lifestyle, but more than a few city folk could afford the car.
The new Sport boasts amazing bandwidth: It's commanding on-road and indomitable off pavement. Yeah, like you'll ever use it there.
The 2006 creation of the Range Rover Sport was the epitome of what King protested, placing as it did as much emphasis on style as substance. This new model would give him another round of fits. And yet, even as the Range Rover marque cements its place in Malibu driveways, this Sport is more capable than its designer ever could have imagined. Air springs, adaptive dampers, and variable anti-roll bars have only improved on the duality that makes a Range Rover singular.
Based on last year’s new Range Rover, the Sport has an aluminum unibody, a technological pole vault over the outgoing model’s steel body and frame. Land Rover claims 800 pounds in weight savings, just as it did when it introduced the new full-size Range Rover last year. And just as in our August 2013 road test of the Range Rover Supercharged, we measured an actual weight savings of less than 400 pounds versus the old Range Rover Sport. Despite its nonferrous bones, the 5464-pound Range Rover Sport is still the heaviest vehicle in a segment that includes the BMW X5 M, Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, and Porsche Cayenne Turbo.
The wheelbase has been taffy-stretched by 7 inches while overall length is up just 2.5 inches. Gerry McGovern’s design team used the short overhangs and just-right proportions to great effect, making the one-year-old Range Rover now look as chic as a covered wagon. Sharp styling cues from the Evoque underline a classic Range Rover greenhouse with black pillars and deeply tinted glass that’s as tall and upright as the body sides. All the better to see and be seen.
