Range Rover Sport SDV6 2013 Review - International
The Range Rover for the upwardly mobile is almost as much at home on a race track as it is in the bushWhat we liked:
?>> High-speed cornering ability
?>> Diesel V6 is still a stunner
?>> Strong, handsome looks
Not so much:?
>> Rear-seat legroom could be better still?
>> And seating positions are tight with the centre armrest folded down?
>> Nothing much else springs to mind?
OVERVIEW
?>> Range Rover for the family is affordable, accommodating?
If the Range Rover is the wagon for those who have made it in life, the Range Rover Sport is the SUV for those who are on the way – and are still raising a family. While the flagship Range Rover is for retired merchant bankers, the Range Rover Sport is more for the up-and-coming hedge fund manager with wife, three kids and a dog.
The latest Range Rover Sport -- which is aimed point-blank at BMW's X5, the Porsche Cayenne and the Mercedes-Benz M-Class -- follows hot on the heels of the L405 Range Rover released last year.
Like its more expensive stablemate, the new L494 Sport features aluminium monocoque construction and is built in the same factory at Solihull, in Warwickshire, England. Sharing the frontal crash structure with the L405 Rangie, the Sport, in its latest incarnation, offers more interior space, much lower kerb mass and substantially better dynamics.
In fact, Nick Rogers, Land Rover's Vehicle Line Director for the Range Rover Sport, claims it's "the fastest, most agile, most responsive Land Rover ever." Having driven it in pre-production form on Land Rover's test track we're prepared to say that's not just PR hype.
PRICE AND EQUIPMENT?
>> Full complement for Aussie market
?Land Rover Australia will be, "taking everything" when the Range Rover Sport launches here in November (2013). In other words, all the variants and all the optional equipment (with perhaps some items even fitted as standard) will be offered in the new model range.
The importer will announce pricing from next month, but there's no telling whether it will move up, down or sideways.
For the past three years the starting price for the current (L320) Sport has remained stable – if anything dropping slightly from $100,900 back in 2011 to the present point of $100,400. With considerably more kit and more advanced engineering to amortise, the new vehicle should rightly come up in price, but the strength of the Aussie dollar may lend Land Rover Australia the breathing space it needs to present a much improved vehicle for perhaps not much more than the superseded model.
The entry-level price of the Range Rover Sport in Britain is £51,550 – about £20,000 less than the cheapest Range Rover, if that's any guide as to how the new model will be positioned in Australia.
In its home market the new model range comprises four distinct variants at launch: TDV6 with a 190kW 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6; the SDV6 with the same engine tuned to 215kW; a 3.0-litre supercharged petrol V6 and the 5.0-litre supercharged petrol V8.
A 4.4-litre diesel V8 variant is to follow later.
It's unlikely that Australian specifications will precisely match those of UK cars, but much of the equipment list in Britain will carry over for the local market.
According to British specs, all Sport variants come as standard with climate control, electric mirrors/windows, cruise control, rear-parking sensors, leather trim and MP3-compatible CD audio system with Bluetooth connectivity. The basic climate control system is a dual-zone set-up, but three zones and four zones are optionally available. Our guess is that Land Rover Australia will specify the third-row seating as standard for all Range Rover Sports sold in Australia, despite consumers in Britain paying extra for the seven-seat capacity, as an option.
Features available in Britain include: 14-way power-adjustable front seats, rear-seat recline with the choice of an asymmetric (60/40) or triple-split (40/20/40) fold, eight-inch Dual View touchscreen, digital TV with DVD player, Rear Seat Entertainment system (two 10.2-inch video screens with remote control and infrared headphones), configurable mood lighting, powered tailgate, keyless entry/start, soft door close, centre console cooler compartment and heated seats/wheel.
Many of these items are likely to end up on the standard equipment list for Australia.
As is normally the case with any vehicle bearing the Range Rover badge, the Sport is pleasantly styled inside and out. In keeping with other products from the house of Land Rover, the car retains signature styling flourishes and a corporate 'look', but the Sport takes the whole package one step beyond the more conservative styling of the Range Rover -- without being quite as avant-garde as the Evoque.
According to Land Rover's chief engineer for the Range Rover Sport program, the new model shares the frontal crash safety structure with the L405 Range Rover, but the rest of the platform – everything behind the A pillars basically – is unique to the Sport.
The cabin ambience is rather intimate and carries over the traditional Land Rover/Range Rover look, but updated for the new model.
Controls and instruments were typically well located, and easy to use or read. The driving position was comfortable and functional, with a two-stage/lane-change indicator stalk on the left side of the steering column.
Unlike the L405 Range Rover, the Sport has stayed with a conventional shift lever – rather than the rotary dial inherited from Jaguar for the flagship. It's claimed the lever projects a sportier feel. For sequential shifting the driver could use paddles either side of the column, or the lever, which was pulled back for upshifts or tipped forward for downshifts.
Seats were certainly supportive and comfortable, but there was no opportunity to assess them for long-distance touring.
Legroom in the rear was better than the previous model's, due to the 178mm wheelbase stretch, but really highlighted how squeezy the previous model was for its footprint.
The new Sport still feels a little more 'intimate' than the Discovery 4. And with the rear centre armrest folded down, the width of the seat bases either side was compromised for adults. Headroom was plentiful in the front and rear, but we didn't get a chance to cast an eye over the vehicle's luggage space or third-row seat accommodation.
Land Rover does admit that the third-row seating is "purposely" aimed at kids rather than adults.
MECHANICAL?
All the engines for the Range Rover Sport (including a future four-cylinder powerplant) rely on forced induction for power and efficiency and are Euro 5-compliant.
The 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 is available in two states of tune: a 195kW TDV6 and a 215kW SDV6 – both developing 600Nm. According to European NEDC figures for the two V6 diesels, CO2 emissions are rated at 194 (TDV6) and 199g/km (SDV6).
Converted fuel consumption figures extrapolated from these numbers would be 7.3L/100km (TDV6) and 7.5L/100km (SDV6).
As noted above, the 4.4-litre turbo-diesel V8 will be added to the Sport range in Europe in time to arrive Down under at launch. It is rated at 250kW and 700Nm.
The 3.0-litre supercharged petrol V6 produces 250kW and 450Nm for a CO2 emissions figure of 249g/km, which converts to around 10.7L/100km. At 375kW and 625Nm, the 5.0-litre supercharged petrol V8 emits 298g/km of CO2, for a calculated fuel consumption figure of around 12.8L/100km.
All four engines drive through the ZF 8HP70 eight-speed automatic transmission to a permanent four-wheel drive system featuring an auto-locking centre differential and Land Rover's Terrain Response 2 system with an optional locking rear differential that employs a multi-plate clutch pack. At 180 millseconds, the response time for the Dynamic Active Locking Differential, as it is known, is 30 per cent faster than the unit in the previous model.
Land Rover has adopted a Torsen (torque-sensing) centre differential as standard for the Range Rover Sport, but there is an optional dual-range system also available. Able to shift on the fly from low to high at speeds up to 60km/h, the dual range system is fully synchro-meshed and the low-range ratio is 2.93:1.
Front suspension features an SLA double-wishbone-type arrangement with air springs, while the rear suspension is also independent, by means of multiple links and air springs. Steering is an electrically-assisted rack-and-pinion system boasting a 12.6m turning circle.
Brakes are ventilated discs for all four wheels, ranging in size of rotor diameter from 350mm (front and rear of TDV6 and 3.0-litre petrol models) to 380mm (front) and 365mm (rear) for SDV6, 4.4-litre diesel and 5.0-litre petrol variants. Wheels range in size from 20 to 22-inch. The option of 19-inch wheels is available for buyers serious about heading off the road.
Dimensions for the Range Rover Sport measure 4850mm (length), 1983mm (width) and 1780mm (height). At 178mm longer than the previous L320 model, the new model's wheelbase is 2923mm. Kerb mass varies from 2115kg (diesel V6) to 2398kg (diesel V8), with petrol models weighing 2144kg (V6) and 2310kg (V8).
Off the road the Sport's approach, departure and breakover angles are 33, 31 and 27 degrees, respectively, based on the maximum ride height for the suspension – up to 185mm adjustment in total. According to Land Rover the new Sport musters up to 600 of suspension travel and can wade through water up to 850mm deep.
SAFETY?
In addition, the new Range Rover Sport introduces a parcel of new features that are not necessarily safety aids per se, but include such useful items as Wade Sensing, which can alert the driver if the depth of a water crossing is beyond the Sport's capability.
The new Sport also comes with the usual raft of off-road safety aids, such as Hill Descent Control, Hill Start Assist. Other driving aids include Lane Departure Warning and Traffic Sign Recognition (which may not be available in Australia), Automatic High Beam Assist, Flank Guard (to alert the driver of proximity to other objects while parking), Adaptive Cruise Control with Queue Assist, Blind Spot Monitoring, Reverse Traffic Detection and Park Assist functions. The Park Assist feature can automatically steer the vehicle into a parallel parking spot, it can automatically steer the vehicle out of a tight parking spot and it can park the vehicle perpendicular to the kerb.
Although Euro NCAP is yet to test the Range Rover Sport for crash safety, it shares the same frontal crash structure as the L405 Range Rover, which has been rated five-star safe by the European crash safety body. Airbag protection comprises driver and passenger airbags, side curtain and thorax airbags (including an extended curtain airbag to cover passengers in the third row seats).
The V6 diesel in the Sport model driven by motoring.com.au sounded almost like a V8 when it was being given some stick. It had plenty of torque for a quick get-away, but on the Rover test track it felt 'slow'. The challenge set for us was to reach 130mph (about 210km/h) at the end of the first straight, before getting on the picks for the first corner – a wide-open left-hander that could be taken at around 140km/h.
If the Sport felt slow it was simply in the context of a smooth, four-lane track with few objects nearby to lend a sense of scale. Another reason the Sport felt leisurely was its very low levels of NVH. At 130MPH with the Sport still accelerating and right foot buried in the carpet, our guide in the left seat merely had to murmur 'brake now' to be heard.
On this part of the track the vehicle was running in Dynamic suspension mode and was also fitted with the dual-range transfer case that brought with it extra features, but added 18kg to the car's kerb mass. Admittedly, an 18kg penalty was hardly likely to influence the Sport's handling and performance – not when the vehicle weighs 2115kg, and that's a full 420kg less than the previous model.
On entry to the corner the Sport turned in very responsively and communicated well through the wheel. The new Sport lacks the previous model's same propensity to understeer; torque vectoring kept the new Range Rover Sport tracking consistently through the corner. Changes to attitude, even at relatively high speeds, were gentle and progressive.
Ride comfort – with Dynamic mode switched off – proved outstanding over the Belgian cobbletone and Russian slab section of road surface at the proving ground. Not only did the Sport take this sort of extreme surface in its stride, it was also very quiet over those sections.
The drive was done and dusted within 10 minutes, but left a highly favourable impression of the new Range Rover Sport nonetheless.
And here we were thinking the Range Rover was going to be a hard act to follow...
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site…
Tags
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
