The Range Rover Sport clad in Santorini Black paintwork. Picture: Jaco van der Merwe
The Land Rover Range Rover Sport is, next to the Defender, the best-selling product in the local JRL stable, but sales numbers alone do not do its popularity enough justice.
Despite this luxury SUV‘s hefty starting price of R2.28 million, the Range Rover Sport outsells the Evoque (R1.25m), Discovery Sport (R1.3m), Range Rover Velar (R1.66m), Discovery (R1.77m) and Range Rover (R3.24m). It is rare for a more expensive product to outshine its cheaper siblings like that.
The Range Rover Sport still plays second fiddle to the impressive Defender, which starts at R1.51 million. But, the Range Rover Sport range does not offer the myriad of wheelbase and powertrain configurations available on the Defender.
The new Range Rover Sport arrived locally towards the end of last year on the back of the impressive new Range Rover.
As JLR opted against an official media launch, The Citizen Motoring bided its time, waiting for a test car to arrive. This finally happened last month when a stunning Santorini Black D350 Dynamic HSE arrived at our offices.
Riding on 23-inch gloss-black wheels and featuring a very dark tint of privacy glass windows, our test car was quite an attraction during its customary weeklong stay.
The wide admiration for this car was further enhanced by a decent soundtrack coming from its 3.0-litre straight-six turbodiesel mill.
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The Range Rover Sport is a looker. While the new version’s front design takes to the Range Rover, a striking thin lightbar at the rear does an excellent job of differentiating it from its bigger sibling.
Our test car was fitted with the optional Black Exterior Pack, which includes Narvik Black and Gloss Black touches. Optional red brake callipers were quite striking amid the blacked-out treatment. Similar to the Range Rover, it also has flush deployable door handles and soft-close doors.
The black theme continues on the inside, where the Range Rover Sport’s finishing is as top notch as its price tag would suggest.
The combination of Ebony perforated semi-aniline leather seats, suede cloth headlining and fine brushed aluminium finishers made for a classy cabin. The generous interior looks even bigger when lit through the standard sliding panoramic roof.
The driver has the benefit of a fully digital instrument cluster, head-up display and a convenient 13.1-inch Pivi Pro infotainment screen.
It’s hard to think a vehicle carrying a R2 413 600 sticker could possibly be in need of features in addition to its comprehensive specification list, but our Range Rover Sport was packed with extra goodies to the tune of R92 300.
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The bulk of that was for the R47 000 rear seat entertainment system, which consist of one 11.4-inch infotainment screen on each of the front seats’ backrests.
In case rear passengers weren’t comfortable enough, this system, along with manual side window blinds and four-zone climate control should keep back-seat passengers happy on long road trips.
While it’s easy to get lost in the Range Rover Sport’s good looks and creature comforts, it is in essence still a car. Which means the package can not be complete without the drive. And this is quite possibly the best part of it.
The diesel mill sends 258 kW of power and 700 Nm of torque to all four wheels via eight-speed automatic transmission. JLR claims it will sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds with a top whack of 234 km/h, and we have no reason to doubt them.
With a massive amount of torque on tap, the Range Rover Sport’s power delivery is exceptional, with the transmission matching it in the smoothness department.
While making no effort to drive it economically, we achieved fuel consumption of around 12 litres per 100km. It’s way off the claimed 7.4 L/100 km, but kind of what you’ll expect from a 2.5-ton monstrosity in city traffic.
Issued standard with dynamic air suspension and adaptive dynamics, handling and ride comfort is equally impressive.
Billed as the most capable Range Rover Sport yet, it features a host of clever tech like Terrain Response 2, adaptive off-road cruise control and low-traction launch. But we did not go close to a gravel road. We were not prepared to take the chance with the low-profile rubberware wrapped around its glossy wheels.
While the Land Rover Range Rover remains the ultimate buy in the JLR stable, it’s easy to see why the Sport is so popular. It’s got a sportier persona without sacrificing any of the class or comfort associated with its big brother.
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