Range Rover Sport Review

Range Rover Sport

Introduced in May 2005, the Range Rover Sport is the fifth model in the Land Rover line up. We first saw the precursor of the Range Rover Sport in 2004 in the shape of the Range Stormer, at the Detroit Car Show.

Built on the chassis and modified underpinnings of the Discovery 3, but unlike the Discovery the Range Rover Sport has only five seats which means those clever engineers can shorten the chassis to give the Sport the dynamics to bill it as a Sports Tourer to take on the likes of the BMW X5.

Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) such as the Range Rover Sport have recently been given bad press, so we are pleased to see that all Land Rover vehicles now include their own C02 offset package, which is independently administrated by Climate Care, which ensures that the average amount of C02 produced by the Range Rover Sport for its first 45,000 miles are offset by investments in a mixed portfolio of projects, including renewable energy.

We tested the Range Rover Sport HSE fitted with the TDV8 engine on a family holiday from Devon to Northumbria to see if it lives up to its formidable reputation.

How It Drove - Performance

The Range Rover Sport is available with three engine choices, there are two diesel options -  a 2.7 litre 190hp TDV6 and a 3.6 litre 271hp TDV8 plus there is a supercharged petrol 4.2 litre 396hp V8. All engines are mated to a 6-speed automatic gearbox.

We had affection for the 2.7 litre 190hp TDV6 unit fitted to the Land Rover Discovery 3 when we tested it back in 2005, which is available on the Range Rover Sport. So we were keen to test the New Twin Turbo Diesel TDV8 engine which was introduced to the Range Rover range in 2007.