Money can buy style but class is a little harder to come by. The new Range Rover Sport, however, seems to deliver both reckons Bunny Punia
Photography Sanjay Raikar
When the Sport version was added to the Range Rover stable a few years ago, not everyone appreciated the idea. This cut price sports tourer was seen unworthy of the brand but it soon created a niche for itself in the market. Plus the fact that Land Rover’s designation of this Range Rover as a Sport model suggested that it handled on-road duties better than its stable mates and hence would appeal to a diverse section of buyers. Abroad, when the likes of the BMW X5 and the Mercedes ML joined the high-class SUV fraternity, the Land Rover style became fashionable almost by accident. The company seemed to have been caught by surprise with the sudden competition but calmly responded with a new superb offering that cashed in on every bit of its off-road heritage and yet was made for the city. Before TATA bought over JLR, the latter had already seen two major parent companies, BMW and Ford, nurturing it and fine tuning its products. In fact, it seems that Ford did a favour to TATA by selling JLR at a time when its portfolio was beaming with classy and desirable products. It has been a luck by chance story for the Indian company and hoping to cash in on the opportunity to the max, TATA has rolled out some of the products in the Indian market as well.
The Range Rover Sports looks quintessential Land Rover. Yes, it does carry over the big, square and buffed design angles with flabby sides. But it also comes with an imposing feel that will have traffic getting out of its way and people stopping dead in their paths. In short, it looks very English! The SUV also gets neat touches that
take it beyond the simply squarish look. For instance, the three classy horizontal drilled grilles or the side vents and race derived Brembo brake callipers visible clearly behind those elegant 20-inch alloy wheels. The Sport tag distinguishes itself from the regular Range Rover model with the use of snazzier design elements. In fact, it is based on the Discover 3 platform with 14cm chopped off the wheelbase. It also sits lower and this adds a sporty touch giving it a dynamic appeal even at standstill.
The squarish lines are carried over to the interiors as well. Of course you immediately notice how tall you are perched inside and how cozy the interiors are thanks to the wide intruding transmission tunnel, but the cabin is classy with expensive materials used in abundance. The design lines, however, really don’t stand up to the price of the car. For instance, the Harman Kardon system that sounds good doesn’t really look very modern. Its little display unit is very ‘90s to be frank. The four air-con vents upfront look the same while the upper part of the fascia is too simple. The steering wheel is on the larger side with two slim vertical buttons for the horn. The power window switch is placed just too far off from the driver’s reach towards the extreme end of the door. There is a small chilled box beneath the driver’s armrest which is a good touch. The seats, a mix of leather and suede, are comfortable both at the front and the rear though the knee room at the rear could have been better. The Sport is a strict five-seater with no provision for two small seats at the rear, however, it means you get a huge boot to stack away anything including a couple of golf kits and big British Asprey suitcases for a trip to the airport.
Now let’s talk about what moves this 2675 kilogram beast. Under the hood are eight cylinders, each of which is fed by a variable geometry turbocharger, firing the 3.8-litre twin-turbo diesel engine that produces not only an impressive 275PS of power but also a tyre shredding torque of 640Nm! That’s double of what TATA’s own ‘sports’ utility vehicle, the Safari manages. Most importantly, it comes in at a low 2000rpm. The first thing that you notice is how quiet and refined the motor really is. It’s hard to tell there is big lump of an oil burner sitting between the front wheels even when you are going pedal to metal. And when doing so, the porky Brit manages a naught to hundred time of just over nine seconds, that too with the slightly slow responding six-speed auto ‘box. However, there is a remedy for this – flick the gear lever to the left into sport mode and it tightens up the shift action, reducing the time lag before gear changes. But that’s not what the Sport is all about. It is the way this vehicle manages to surprise you with its abilities to not only laze around on the highway doing 150 odd kilometers per hour but also its brilliant performance in traffic. The throttle response is terrific and the throaty roar from the twin exhausts is a good way to cheese off some of its German rivals.
With its tall and heavy look, you wouldn’t really expect a vehicle of this mass to handle like a lightweight SUV. But surprisingly, it does. Well almost. The long list of electronic stability controls, traction and suspension gadgetry work in tandem to make it feel much like a large sized sports vehicle. Of course you are always well aware of its hefty mass and can’t throw it around corners with reckless abandon, but even if you do, the active anti-roll bars with hydraulic motors stiffen them up depending on the cornering load. The feedback from the steering isn’t anything to rave about especially at high speeds. Though the Sport cannot match the dynamics of its German rivals, it makes up by providing a very balanced and comfortable ride as speeds build up.
The Sport performs well on the road, looks too good to be a real off-roader and has interiors to match its colossal pricing. So does that mean its off-roading abilities take a back seat? Not really. You get permanent four-wheel drive and ofcourse Land Rover’s famed all terrain response system. The small silver knob behind the gear lever is the terrain response knob. Pop it out and you can choose between five different modes (which are displayed in the large screen upfront). Then you also get to play with the transfer case as well as raise the ride height to negotiate really bad roads plus a hill descent control –features we doubt most owners will ever exploit to the max though.
The Range Rover Sport comes across as a welcome entrant in a segment that is dominated by the German trio. That said, it has enough going in its favour to lure buyers – the styling is very posh, modern and sharp. The high end (though slightly cramped) and cozy interiors plus a great driving experience try hard to tempt a prospective buyer. The Sport has almost everything going in its favour including great off-roading credentials as well. But wait a minute. Do you really think a person spending close to a crore (on the road) would really go mud splashing on weekends with his pals? The only real chink in the armor I believe is its pricing. At Rs 77.25 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai), it is hard for me to justify those extra 15-20 lakh rupees that a prospective owner would be spending over the other offerings in the Indian market.
