![]() ![]() Designed by Richard Woolley, the marque's first complete concept car sported split-folding gullwing doors, one-piece skeletal seats, a "clamshell" bonnet, 22 inch alloys, a 289 km/h (180 mph) top speed, 4WD and a 2,500 kg (5,512 lb) weight. This was a low-slung, short wheelbase 3-door coupé that was unusually "sporty" in the context of Land Rover's history. The Range Rover Sport was prefigured by the Range Stormer concept car, introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show. ![]() Range Stormer concept Range Stormer concept displayed in the BMM, Gaydon Rear Interior The first generation (codename: 元20) started production in 2005, and was replaced by the second generation Sport (codename: L494) in 2013, replaced by the third generation Sport (codename: L461) in 2022. The Land Rover Range Rover Sport, generally known simply as the Range Rover Sport, is a mid-size luxury SUV produced under their Land Rover marque, from the British manufacturer Land Rover, and later Jaguar Land Rover. Mid-size luxury crossover 4x4 (2013–present).On and on it plodded relentlessly with a bit of expert guidance – for me, not the car. I am talking genuinely, bottom-clenching descents over loose ground things that had even the Sport's wheel articulation at full stretch and beyond and the car rocking with two wheels in the air. It all means it’ll do things off-road that seemed inconceivable prior to tackling them. All of those numbers take a small tumble if you opt for a Dynamic model (with sportier bumpers) or a PHEV (with more vulnerable batteries). And the other crucial stats are a maximum ground clearance of 281mm, a maximum articulation of 546mm, an approach angle of 33 degrees, a breakover angle of 26.9 degrees and a departure angle of 30 degrees. The Sport now comes with Terrain Response 2 that has Adaptive Off-Road Cruise Control (an evolution of All Terrain Progress Control), offering pre-set speeds to allow the driver to focus on steering, as well as Configurable Terrain Response and even a Wade Mode for the perfect bow wave to keep you going through water up to 900mm deep – the doors are sealed against water ingress and the engine breathes around the top of the bonnet. So yes, it’s beaten on-road by a Cayenne, or an X5 for that matter, but off-road – well, there’s simply no contest. On the way there it’ll chalk up 62mph in 5.4 seconds, so it’s rapid as well. It has all the low-end flexibility you need but also builds in intensity all the way to the limiter. There’s the same delectable six-cylinder tone as the P400 when the petrol engine is running, only here the power delivery is more engaging. Charging from 0 to 80 per cent with 50kW DC charger takes under an hour, or around five hours if you're using a three-pin plug. And it’s wonderfully quiet while driving on the electric motor, which it’ll do for 70 miles on the WLTP cycle (around 50 miles in reality). There's a slight step if you floor it in EV mode when the engine comes in at maximum attack, but that's forgivable. Not perfect – I noticed some driveline shunt on and off throttle – but otherwise the engine and eight-speed transmission work seamlessly together 99 per cent of the time. Having tried the most powerful P510e, it’s an excellent alternative to DERV to be fair. ![]() If you want to have the cheapest company car tax then this is the only way until the BEV arrives. That is a shame but it’s the way it is, which brings us to the plug-ins. Well, perhaps simply that it’s a diesel, I suppose. They'd make him travel sick, which apparently is quite common. Happily, it’s not something he suffers from, though. On the subject of simulators, he also mentioned that Cross used to come out "as white as a sheet" after using them. Now he's at JLR he has access to two: one that's 15-years old and another that's just been finished and is state-of-the-art. He told me he thought simulators "were a load of b*ll*cks" until he started using them for development work at Aston, and found them "extremely helpful". He's good for a few juicy quotes, too, because he's a straight talker and good-humoured type. ![]() At JLR it’s currently knocking on the door of 10,000. Becker told me that at its height, the engineering team at Aston numbered around 700. Becker was on hand to talk us through the new Sport and some of the challenges of working for a much larger operation like JLR. The ex-Lotus and Aston dynamic’s guru is a fitting replacement for Mike Cross, who retired from JLR last year. Another thing that’s new for this generation of Sport is Matt Becker. ![]()
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