With the original 2005 model year Range Rover Sport, Land Rover effectively acknowledged two underlying truths about the luxury car market. The first was that the emerging demand for high-riding, high-end 4x4s among urban customers would not disappear as quickly as it had arrived, following the popularity of cars like the BMW X5 and the Porsche Cayenne.
The second acknowledgement concerned the Range Rover nameplate, which after 35 years had developed into a brand in its own right, and a byword for luxury and desirability. Introducing a second, slightly more affordable model was a no-brainer, and a decision that later heralded the Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Velar, too.
How successful has the Range Rover Sport been for Land Rover? In its first 15 years on sale, more than 940,000 have been sold worldwide – each one with a juicy profit margin.
Generations: 3
- Land Rover Range Rover Sport mk3 L461 (2022-present)
- Land Rover Range Rover Sport mk2 L494 (2014-2022)
- Land Rover Range Rover Sport mk1 L320 (2005-2013)
Land Rover Range Rover Sport mk3 L461 (2022-present)
Bodystyles:
- Five-door SUV
Notable features and facelifts of the Land Rover Range Rover Sport L461:
- If you want an indication of how well equipped the Range Rover Sport is, even the basic models feature 20-way electric driver seat adjustment
- The top-spec petrol V8 is no longer a Jaguar Land Rover unit, but a twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 bought in from BMW.
- A 38.2kWh battery in the PHEV version (bigger than the battery capacity of some pure EVs) promises up to 70 miles of all-electric running
- Seven-seat option dropped for third-generation car: you'll now need a full-fat Range Rover, a Discovery or a Defender if you want seven seats
With the second-generation car having to last eight years on sale, an all-new platform was develeoped for the third-generation Range Rover Sport using the same MLA-Flex platform architecture that underpins the latest Range Rover.
Notable differences between the second-generation car and the mk3 model are a chassis that's 35 per cent stiffer than before, which helps to deliver more agile 'sporty' handling, and a driving position that's 20mm lower.
Six powertrains are available, including two mild-hybrid diesels, a mild-hybrid petrol, a pair of PHEV models and a range-topping 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol. An all-electric model joins the range in 2024.
The new cabin is dripping with high-tech luxuries, and the overall effectiveness of the latest Pivi Pro infotainment system is beyond doubt.
The only question mark that remains with this Range Rover – as with so many JLR products – is whether it can finally banish the reputation for poor reliability that has so blighted all its predecesoors.
Range Rover Sport mk3 Review
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Land Rover Range Rover Sport mk2 L494 (2014-)
Bodystyles:
- Five-door SUV
Notable features and facelifts of the Land Rover Range Rover Sport L494:
- Overhauled underpinnings meant much improved dynamic capability
- Second-generation model was more than 200kg lighter than its predecessor
- Option of a third row of seats, making it the first seven-seat Range Rover
- A facelift in 2017 added new powertrain options and tweaked looks
- New touchscreen infotainment tech introduced in 2018, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
The original Range Rover Sport was not without its merits, but the two-and-a-half tonne kerb weight meant it was no match for an X5 or Cayenne on the road. The utilitarian Discovery underpinnings prevented it from being as luxurious as the full-size Range Rover. For the second-generation model, however, Land Rover really went to town.
Instead of the heavy and complicated Integrated Body Frame that formed the backbone of the original version, the later L494 Range Rover Sport switched to a lighter and simpler aluminium monocoque body, just like the L405 Range Rover that arrived two years before it. For the first time, the Sport was a Range Rover in more than name alone.
Lighter than the previous model by more than 200kg, the second-generation Range Rover Sport was more convincing in every respect. As well as being a more handsome luxury SUV, it had a far more attractive and higher-quality cabin, while also feeling sporty at the steering wheel and just as luxurious as the Range Rover.
Reviewers were unanimously impressed by how broadly capable the Range Rover Sport was. The pick of the powertrain range at the time was the V8 diesel engine, which actually sounded pretty good and returned much the same effortless performance as the petrol V8, but without the catastrophic fuel bills.
Nonetheless, for those who really weren’t at all concerned about such matters, Land Rover introduced the Range Rover Sport SVR version only a few months after the L494’s debut. The supercharged V8 was rated at 542bhp, enough to shove the SVR to 62mph in 4.5 seconds. For 2017, the Range Rover Sport received a mid-life facelift while the SVR got exactly what it didn’t need – an extra 25bhp.
As well as that petrol V8, the engine line-up now includes six- and eight-cylinder diesels, plus Ingenium-badged four- and six-cylinder petrols and two hybrids – one a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid model (PHEV), the other an inline-six mild hybrid (MHEV). The electrified options have the potential to make big MPG and emissions savings.
The Range Rover Sport is one of the best cars of its type on sale today, but ongoing reliability issues do blot its copybook; in 2019, consumer champion Which? labelled it Britain’s least reliable car.
Putting that right while retaining the current model’s broad spread of talents, as well as its attractive styling and sumptuous cabin, would be the first priority for the L494’s replacement.
Range Rover Sport mk2 Review
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Land Rover Range Rover Sport mk1 L320 (2005-2013)
Bodystyles:
- Five-door SUV
Notable features and facelifts of the Land Rover Range Rover Sport L494:
- The production Range Rover Sport of 2005 followed the unveil of the 2004 Range Stormer concept
- The Sport was sold as a more affordable alternative to the larger Range Rover
- A 2009 facelift saw tweaks to the exterior and interior, new engines and a new automatic gearbox
One of the more curious things about the original Range Rover Sport was that beneath the skin, it wasn’t really a Range Rover at all. Instead, it used an adapted version of the Land Rover Discovery platform. That meant it effectively had not one chassis, but two: the Integrated Body Frame structure, as Land Rover called it, combined a modern monocoque bodyshell with a tough and robust ladder-frame chassis. The trade-off, however, was weight: at more than 2,500kg, the Range Rover Sport was heavy, even for a large four-wheel-drive SUV.
The new car slotted in beneath the existing Range Rover, so as well as being cheaper to buy it was also physically smaller. Being 135mm shorter in the wheelbase than the full-size model and 162mm shorter from nose to tail, the Sport was more manoeuvrable in town while still having the sense of grandeur that buyers expected of anything badged Range Rover.
One or two of the Stormer concept's ostentatious styling elements made their way onto the production model, such as the air vents in the front wings, the shallow glasshouse and the more prominent wheel arches. While the Range Rover was and remains a very imposing car with an upright posture, the Sport was altogether more rakish. The theme continued in the cabin, which apart from being less opulently appointed was also more cockpit-like, with higher window lines and a more cocooning dashboard layout.
Height-adjustable air suspension and Land Rover’s Terrain Response system meant the Range Rover Sport had more in-built off-roading capability than rivals from BMW or Porsche. Many customers favoured enormous wheels wrapped in low-profile road-biased tyres, though. And why not? They were no more likely to go off-road in their Sports than they were to take them on trackdays.
In 2009, Land Rover updated the model with subtly tweaked exterior and interior styling, plus new engines and an eight-speed automatic gearbox to replace the dated six-speeder. Throughout its life the L320 Range Rover Sport was offered with engines ranging from a 2.7-litre diesel turbo that developed an asthmatic 187bhp to a monstrous 5.0-litre, supercharged petrol V8 that pushed out more than 500bhp.
Range Rover Sport mk1 Review
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