Range Rover Sport – Vivek Venugopal

Powering this one is a 3.0 litre TDV6 with 258bhp and 600Nm. It feels responsive and refined within the city, but when you floor it, it takes off with a strong punch. Land Rover says it will do 0-100 in 7.7 seconds. The 8 speed ZF gearbox is very smooth and shifts seamlessly. What’s nice is that this V6 also sounds good when you accelerate. If you want more sound and speed, the Range Rover Sport also comes with a 4.4 litre V8 diesel and two patrols –a 3.0 litre V6 and 5.0 litre V8– both supercharged of course.

The Range Rover Sport gets its name from a time when it was the sportier and slightly smaller offering to the big luxurious off-roader that is the Range Rover. You have to respect the size and weight this thing has before hurling it around, although Range Rover had tried to give it a dynamic edge. It is not a Porsche Cayenne or an SVR but it well still do respectable speeds without making you feel uncomfortable. The air suspension has been set up to give it more handling prowess than a pampering ride.

At Rs.1.23 Corer, this updated Range Rover Sport sits in a crowd of very capable SUVs from the Land Rover brand -all in the same price range. For the style conscious people, there is the Velar, which is more road-based and sportier, and, then, there is the larger more versatile and rugged Discovery for the outdoorsy ones. The Sport gives the best of both worlds, by being good on and off the road. And, with the update, it is better than ever.

 Vivek Venugopal