2022 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Review
We test the all-new Range Rover Sport.
The new Range Rover Sport rushes in with a frugal new long-range plug-in hybrid option.
Review
Pros: styling, performance, electric range
Cons: still big and expensive, firm ride, no seven-seater
It might not look like it, but this is the all-new Range Rover Sport. Once again sharing its structure and engines with the bigger, posher Range Rover, this new one offers pretty much what the old one did — Range Rover luxury and comfort, but with an added sporting edge that makes it more fun to drive. Crucially, it now comes with a long-range plug-in hybrid version that offers more than 100km of electric range.
Range Rover Sport Design
It is hardly going to be a surprise that the new Range Rover Sport looks a lot like the old one. When a car has been as big a success as the previous model was, you can understand any reluctance to mess with a winning formula. What Land Rover’s designers have done is to clean up the styling, with slimmer headlights, a neater grille and new horizontal brake lights. The overall shape is the same, but the details are smarter and sharper. We do prefer the way the bigger Range Rover looks though, especially at the rear.
Range Rover Sport Interior
The Sport’s interior is, essentially, exactly the same as that of the larger Range Rover, featuring the same big 13-inch digital screens, the same incredibly soft and comfortable seats and the same overall design. Although the Sport is shorter overall on the outside than the bigger Range Rover, the two cars have the same wheelbase, so interior space is pretty much the same, too. The Sport’s roof — which is 50mm lower — makes a significant difference, but even so, space in the back is ample. The dashboard is gorgeously minimalist and the big touchscreen is pretty easy to find your way around. There are copious storage areas, including a two-level glovebox and a storage space under the armrest that can optionally be fitted with a fridge.
At 835 litres the boot is massive, but just remember that Land Rover measures its boots stacked to the roof, while most rivals measure up to the luggage cover. Quality, aside from one or two bits of cheap plastic, is excellent and if you have the budget you can go to town on leather colours and optional wood trim. It’s also incredibly refined — at 120km/h all you can hear is the wind gently whooshing around the door mirrors, while the front seats have noise-cancelling speakers built into the headrests for the ultimate in on-road quietness. It is less practical than before, though, as Land Rover will no longer offer a seven-seat option.
Range Rover Sport Performance & Drive
The previous Range Rover Sport could be had with plug-in hybrid power, but it had quite a short electric-only range. This time around, both the entry-level P440e and the more powerful P510e model we’re testing (the names refer to the maximum power outputs) get turbocharged 3.0-litre petrol straight-six engines paired with a 105kW electric motor and a massive 38kWh battery pack.
Charge that battery up (it takes five hours from a home charger, or less than an hour for an 80 per cent charge from a public 50kW charger) and Land Rover reckons that you can go for 113km before the petrol engine needs to kick in. That’s remarkable range, and even the more realistic estimate of around 90km is impressive. It means that most owners will be able to cover most of their mileage on electric power alone, as long as they’re at least reasonably diligent about plugging in. The system is clever enough that if you enter a city-centre destination on the navigation, it will save enough battery charge so that you can drive around town on electric power at the end of your journey.
It’s also fast. With 510hp and 700Nm of torque it was never going to be slow, and it will accelerate from 0-100km/h in just 5.4 seconds. More impressive is the long-range fuel economy. Starting a mixed 140km journey with a fully-charged battery, and driving in hybrid mode, we saw an average of 5.6 litres per 100km — remarkable for one so large.
Thankfully, Land Rover hasn’t forgotten to make it fun to drive. Stiffer twin-chamber air springs than the big Range Rover’s single-chamber units help, as does sharper steering and a hydraulic anti-roll system that keeps the Sport flat through corners. It all adds up to a car that’s so much more nimble than you think it’s going to be. It’s really good fun to drive.
Good fun to take off-road too. Even in electric mode, the Range Rover Sport retains full-time four-wheel drive and there’s a huge number of electronic aids — from cameras to an off-road cruise control function — that can help you get to your destination even when that means crossing a mountain or two. It’s wildly impressive, even if few owners will ever make full use of those abilities.
Just avoid the larger alloy wheel options. The 23-inch rims fitted to our test car made the ride quality too unsettled, especially around town and on country roads. It may be a Sport, but surely a Range Rover should be about comfort and refinement first?
Range Rover Sport Pricing
Prices for the new Range Rover Sport start at €114,150, which gets you the less-powerful P440e plug-in hybrid in Dynamic SE trim. Standard equipment includes 21-inch alloy wheels, the 13.1-inch touchscreen, leather trim, wireless phone charging, 3D surround camera and keyless entry. If you want the P510e hybrid, in Autobiography trim as driven here, that’ll cost you €142,151.
Carzone Verdict: 4/5
The long-range hybrid powertrain has opened up a whole new life for the Range Rover Sport, allowing it to potentially operate as an electric car for most of the time. Thankfully, it remains gorgeous to look at, fun to drive, practical and amazing off-road.