But if you are an enthusiastic driver like me, you can always turn the gorgeous rotary gear selector to Sport and use the flappy paddles on the steering wheel to take charge. This way the engine does respond a bit faster as it holds the revs higher than in the normal D mode, thus allowing you to decided which cog you want the tranny to be in. Nevertheless, linearity can be observed throughout the tiny rev range. In the manual mode the Sport does portray a strong bottom-end allowing you to cruise at low speeds selecting a higher gear. You can also notice this in the D mode where the gearbox does the thinking for you, letting you concentrate on the road cent per cent. But if you are a thrill-seeker and want to exploit those 150 PS and 400 Nm, then the Sport might be a little disappointing.
Noticing good bottom-end power I felt that it would make LR proud by being quite strong in our roll-on test. And it was, from 40-80 km/h, which it covered in just 6.2 seconds. After that, however, the Sport took almost 11 seconds to go from 80 km/h to 120 km/h. These figures are a bit disappointing considering that this is, after all, an expensive piece of kit and people expect more from it. Anyway, further attesting that when it comes to performance, the Sport is not really sporty is the 0–100 km/h sprint which it did in 12.4 seconds. The only thing it was able to do as claimed was run up to a top whack of 177.53 km/h, just 2.47 km/h short of the claimed top speed. It would have covered up that as well but I had to slow down for the obvious reasons.
The true test of this Land Rover lies in its handling and ride quality. Now the suspension is set up on the firmer side to make it handle better in corners which it does. But it is this very setup that robs the Sport of its ride quality, which, honestly, is a bit sad. It goes over bumps and undulations easily but it also transfers the shocks to the cabin, irritating the occupants. I wish it had better ride quality which would have been a perfect match for its image. Nevertheless, there are certain advantages to this setup as well. It handles quite well and never feels like a boat. The chassis is also taut and can handle quick direction changes with grace. In the city I was able to cut through traffic as I would do in a good sedan. I was surprised to notice that it did not feel anything like a butch SUV as it exhibited excellent agility. Body-roll was present, but the stiff suspension did not allow it to be bothersome. I was attacking some of the corners with speeds close to triple digits and it held its line perfectly despite being a tall and heavy SUV. The steering feel was nice, although I would have loved some more feedback from it.
