The New Range Rover Sport

The Range Rover Sport, if my memory serves me correctly, the Range Rover Sport is a premiership footballer's favorite SUV but sadly, even though it's a Range Rover, it isn't a real Range Rover because in the past, what's underneath is just components from the Land Rover Discovery, so this is nothing more of a faux Range Rooney rather than a real one. Sadly though, it feels a bit more of a commoners' car rather than a rough-and-tumbling beast that loves to play with Mother Nature, before this one consign to the history books, good news! There's a new model coming up!

2014 Land Rover Range Rover Sport

This is the all new Range Rover Sport. It costs about over 20,000 less than the normal Range Rover, and on paper, the new model is now the most dynamic and the most sportiest in the Range Rover lineup. It maybe a new model but with it stay true to its promises by its name? Remember; RANGE ROVER SPORT. The words "RANGE ROVER" determines its true off-road potential while the "SPORT" determines its...well, sportiness. Does it stay true to its promises? Well, don't get to hasty because let's start with the basics.

Like its normal Range Rooney, the Range Rover Sport now sports an all-aluminum chassis, which benefitted 400kg of weight loss. That seems to be rather impressive, indeed, to have its 400kg weight lost but still, good job for those working behind the scenes. In terms of engine choices, you can have either a 3.0-litre LR-TDV6 diesel that accelerates from 0-60mph in 7.1 seconds, a 3.0-litre LR-SDV6 diesel engine that accelerates from 0 -60mph in 6.8 seconds, and for the more hardcore enthusiasts, a 5.0-litre LR-V8 supercharged petrol engine that accelerates from 0-60mph in 5.0 seconds. Well, that was unexpected, there were two diesel engines and one supercharged Jaguar engine available for the RR Sport but there's more to it than that because this car has been through a lot of challenges. In Pikes Peak, the Range Rover Sport set the record for the fastest ascent in a production SUV, which is good then but that's just the tip of an iceberg because the with the Range Rover Sport, it promises to conquer the deeper, higher, and colder challenges thanks to its cunning performance figures that really stand out against its rivals.

2014 Land Rover Range Rover Sport

Like the Range Rover, the new Sport comes with the new generation Terrain Response which adapts the vehicle’s settings to suit the terrain automatically. It's becoming one of the most intelligent offroaders ever made and it's pretty much the same as the normal Range Rover that our Springer Spaniel drove against a self-driving military truck and won against it. Ooh, yes. That new Terrain Response really is worth the smart and oh, there's even that part where it detects the water level as well, which is great if you're trying to monitor the RR Sport's progress in the water levels. For offroading, the new Sport really is worth bearing the Range Rover name.

So, what about the Sport name? Does the new model still bears the Sport in the Sport Utility Vehicle name? Well, you remember the part where The Stig drove this and see if its faster against the Mini JCW GP in a time attack. Even though it's just an SUV made for offroad purposes, the new Range Rover Sport can also be a perfect track-day car and judging from its dynamic performance, when you set this one on DYNAMIC MODE, it feels like it wants to give a Porsche Cayenne a run from its money. It feels like blowing a lovely bunch of watermelons with TNT or blowing up sacks of flour with naphthalene. Ding dong.

2014 Land Rover Range Rover Sport interior

2014 Land Rover Range Rover Sport interior

Like the Range Rover, the Sport still features tons of luxury equipment and for an added treat, there is now a third-row seating at the back, which means the new model became the first-ever Land Rover model to come with third-row seating which allows you to seat two kids at the back and yes...expect the whole "ARE WE THERE YET?" questionnaire which annoys most parents all the time. Good thing you can shut them up with a fair bit of entertainment but sadly, entertainment stuff goes to the 2nd row seating.

But still, no matter the outcome, the new Range Rover Sport is becoming a British equivalent of the uber-ugly Porsche Cayenne and even though it's becoming a performance-oriented super SUV, it still hangs on to the promises. It has the right to bear the name Range Rover Sport.

The SE model (available from January 2014) will costs about 51,550 GBP up to 74,995 GBP for the Autobiography Dynamic, with additional costs from options and accessories.

Available Colors: Fuji White, Indus Silver, Ipanema Sand, Scotia Grey, Nara Bronze, Corris Grey, Firenze Red, Aintree Green, Loire Blue, Santorini Black, Luxor, Causeway Grey, Chile, Mariana Black, Barossa, Havana, and Barolo Black.

Photo: Jaguar Land Rover