Road Test
Land Rover Range Rover Sport (05-) 4.2 V8 Superch
Test date 21 June 2005
Price as tested £58,045
For Character, handling, majestic performance, engine, driving position
AgainstEconomy, weight, some dubious trim materials
Even if you don’t have a brother or sister, you will know about second-child syndrome. First borns are the upstanding ones - good, reliable sorts that play it by the book. By contrast, second children are mavericks who care not for convention and have one way of doing things - their way - and one speed at which to do them - flat out.
If you started reading this test simply to discover the essential difference between a Range Rover and the supercharged Sport, at a conceptual level you have it. The Sport is the younger brother: smaller, less practical but, through sheer force of charm, capable of grabbing almost all the attention.
Of course you don’t have to spend £57,495 on the range-topping supercharged model to drive home in a Range Rover Sport, and the bulk of sales will go to the £34,995 diesel. But it’s the full fat Sport that’s barged its way to the front for evaluation and it’s going to need to be good: a Porsche Cayenne S offers near identical performance, a more coveted badge and it costs £14,000 less.
The birth of the Range Rover Sport occurred at last year’s Detroit Motor Show, where the thunder of the big American brands was stolen by a new sort of Land Rover. Called the Range Stormer, it was intended as a taste of the car that would become the Sport. The scissor-doors and outlandish interior were red herrings, but it introduced the idea that a Land Rover could be sporty. One year later, the rather less dramatic finished product was revealed at the same show.
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