Return For A Vengeance Pt. 1

The latest 2010 edition of the Range Rover Sport, with its significant improvements, aims to replicate the success of its predecessor, and not just within the ball-kicking  ranks of the English Premier League elite. Range Rover Sport, the fastest and in many ways the most fun car in the Land Rover line-up today. Vivid orange paintwork is no longer available, but the palette of 12 different colours, including regal Buckingham Blue,  ought to satisfy even the fussiest buyer. There is also more paint per se, with the side mirror housing now colour-coded.

The rest of the exterior, like that of the regular Range Rover and Discovery 4, has been given an upmarket update. The xenon headlamps, now with LED “high-lights”, and more attractive and also more effective than before. The “cheese grater” grille has been tastefully redesigned, along with the bumper (sleeker), air dam (larger) and fog lamps (better intergrated). Frontal aerodynamics must have had an influence on the revised aesthetics. On the flanks, the functional vents with their slightly tacky twin strakes have been refreshed, while the generous fenders arch over handsome alloy wheels available with a choice of designs; two 19-inch and five 20-inch options. At the back of the vehicle, you get more LED lighting, a rear bumper that mirrors the front bumper (but “upside down”), and a pair of exhaust pipes poking out purposely.

Those sizeable steel tubes are the “exit points” for powerhouse under the bonnet. And all-new unit, it’s a 5-litre direct injection petrol V8 in two states of tune; standard or supercharged. The headline figures make great reading for the petrolhead: 510bhp and 625Nm, respectively 30% and 13% stronger than the output from the old 4.2-litre powerplant.

But enthusiasts with a green conscience can find comfort in the new engine’s reductions in consumption and CO2 emissions – Land Rover claims that both have been cut by some 7%. Technical tricks helping to achieve this include a more thermodynamically efficient supercharger rotor, a 100rpm reduction in engine idling speed and a clever, economy-conscious alternator that tries to charge the battery when the car is coasting rather than accelerating.

Acceleration is an event in the Range Rover Sport. At almost 2.6 tonnes, the things weighs twice as much as a Golf GTI, yet its power to weight ratio is an unbelievable 25% better, thanks to 300 more horses at work. The extra horsepower alone is enough to drive a WRX STI. All that muscle translates into pick-up that is more hot hatch than huge SUV, albeit with a split-second’s hesitation before the monster starts to gobble up the road ahead. This slight lag could be due to the supercharger (spooling up takes a bit of time) or the sheer weight of the vehicle (plenty of inertia to overcome), but it doesn’t detract from the storming performance.

Tags: Land Rover Range Rover Sport SUV