ROCKS STAR

2nd June 2023

The latest to join Land Rover’s forecourt redux, the all-new Range Rover Sport is equal-parts speed and sophistication, reckons Chris Chilton.

Land Rover’s new-model blitz means the inside of a dealer showroom in 2022 is a very different place to what it was even three years ago. After replacing the iconic but agricultural Defender with a modern off-roader of the same name, the British marque updated its Range Rover flagship last year, and now it’s the smaller Range Rover Sport’s turn to regenerate, Doctor Who-style.

The careful styling evolution doesn’t initially offer much clue to the presence of a brand new electric-ready platform hiding underneath, but a closer look reveals countless elegant detail improvements like the flush door handles, slimmer grille, horizontal rear light clusters and a stunning new interior that together make this third-generation Sport the most glamorous car in the class.

Other Land Rover products, however, are more spacious; the new Sport doesn’t offer a third row of seats like most of its siblings do. But as the name suggests, the full-size Range Rover’s more dynamic Sport brother is less worried about practicality and traditional mud-plugging, and more focused on matching the Porsche Cayenne’s blend of on-road speed and luxury.

The Sport can still cut it in the rough, of course, thanks to its sophisticated terrain response driving modes and ability wade through almost three feet of standing water. But the new two-chamber air sprung suspension promises to improve those normally competing masters, ride and handling, and a rear-wheel steering option claims to improve agility in the urban environments where these cars spend so much time.

A plug-in hybrid model with up to 48 miles of electric range is bound to be popular for the same reason, though mild-hybrid petrol and diesel, and muscular twin-turbo V8 variants delivering 523 hp are also on a menu whose prices start at £79,125, and will include an all-electric Range Rover Sport come 2024.

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