The highly anticipated third-generation Range Rover Sport has been revealed overnight and promises to move the game forward both on- and off-road.
Scheduled to arrive in Australia between October and December this year, the all-new Range Rover Sport introduces a fresh line-up of powertrains combined with an enhanced level of luxury thanks to a comprehensive suite of technology and design choices.
Intended to combine go-anyway performance with everyday comfort, the Range Rover Sport will square off against rivals such as the BMW X5, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes-AMG GLE and Audi Q7, as well as its own stablemate, the Jaguar F-Pace.
Prices kick off at $139,160 before on-road costs and we’ve written a separate article providing a breakdown of the variants, features and pricing of the Australian line-up.
Evolving the design
Land Rover has continued its long history of massaging the core Range Rover styling into a sleeker and more aggressive shape, with a thinner headlight and grille design, and split lower intake complete with gaping side pods that feed air to the engine.
Buyers have the option of selecting digital LED headlights that are capable of projecting light 500m ahead while working with the navigation system to project the light around corners and other areas it’s needed most.
The new Sport’s cutting-edge design flows onto the tapered rear roofline which is bolstered by widened wheelarches and a striking wrap-around single-piece tail-light design.
Key details such as the dual-shark fin antenna and a split dual exhaust system separate top-spec Range Rover Sport variants (including the plug-in hybrid and high-power petrols) from lesser variants while dialling up the visual aggression. But from launch in late ’22, only diesels and the plug-in hybrid will go on sale in Australia – petrol versions will arrive in 2023
Tech-laden design
The interior of the new Range Rover Sport is expectedly plush, featuring 22-way electrically adjustable heated and ventilated front seats with massage function, while in the rear seat the new platform has opened up 31mm of additional legroom for passengers.
Sitting in the centre of the dash is a 13.1-inch curved touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto built in, along with Amazon’s Alexa personal assistant to help people navigate their lives on the fly.
The central hub works in conjunction with a 13.7-inch digital driver’s display to feature more information, while a powerful 15-watt wireless phone charger should help the battery keep up with the increased demand.
Music and other audio is played through a 1430-watt Meridian Signature Sound System that includes a total of 29 speakers in the cabin, including four in the headrests.
The headrest speakers are also capable of dialling out road noise on long road trips by playing white noise to counteract intrusive sounds, much like the set-up in high-grade ‘Big Daddy’ Range Rovers.
Land Rover has also continued its focus on air purification that filters out carbon-dioxide, odours and even Covid-19 to keep occupants safe and happy.
More performance, more refinement
Riding on the same platform as the core Range Rover model that was unveiled in October 2021, the Range Rover Sport boasts a 35 percent increase in rigidity over the outgoing version.
The third-generation Range Rover Sport introduces a new twin-chamber adaptive air suspension system that can adjust itself on the fly to provide greater comfort during normal driving and better body control when pushing the SUV to its limits.
Engineers have also implemented active anti-roll bars, an electronic rear differential and torque vectoring by braking that work in unison to provide greater agility in the bends.
From launch, all-wheel steering will only be fitted to the plug-in hybrid Range Rover Sport in Australia – allowing for a supermarket friendly turning circle of just 10.95m – though expect it to appear on high-power petrol and diesel models later.
If the driver does decide to take the latest Range Rover Sport off the blacktop, Land Rover promises its new-generation SUV will be equally as capable with six dedicated off-road driving models to make best use of the all-wheel-drive system.
The maximum wading deputy is rated at an impressive 900mm and the air suspension can be raised by up to 135mm to offer more ground clearance – though a true test of its abilities will have to wait for a full review.
Petrol, diesel and PHEV powertrains
The engine line-up largely mirrors that of the regular Range Rover, with the bulk of the range offering a variety of 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six petrol and diesel engines working in conjunction with a 48-volt mild hybrid system.
The entry-level Range Rover Sport D250 produces 183kW of power and 600Nm of torque, but the proceeding D300 and D350 offer outputs of 221kW/650Nm and 258kW/700Nm respectively.
Petrol-powered sixes begin with the P360 (265kW/500Nm) and swell in capability for the P400 (294kW/550Nm) and the P510e plug-in hybrid which makes 375kW/700Nm.
On top of providing a fairly rapid 0-100km/h sprint time of 4.5 seconds thanks to the instant torque of the 105kW electric motor, Land Rover says the P510e can provide up to 80km of electric-only range.
Once flat, drivers can recharge the 31.8kWh usable capacity of the battery from 0-80 percent in less than an hour using a 50kW DC fast charger, or top it up at home using a 7.2kW AC charger in less than five hours.
However, the flagship engine remains a V8, this time sourced from BMW, with the 4.4-litre twin-turbo petrol (also found in the M5 sports sedan) developing 390kW/750Nm – enough to slingshot the large SUV from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds.
All current powertrains are mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission and a permanent all-wheel-drive system.
Land Rover will release a fully-electric Range Rover Sport in 2024 alongside an electrified version of the core Range Rover as part of its mission to offer an electric version of every model in its line-up by 2030.
Meanwhile, all Range Rover Sport petrol models won’t arrive in Australia until 2023.
More details on the exact specification for the Australian market will be made available closer to its release in the fourth quarter of this year.
Range Rover Sport 2022: prices in Australia
All prices listed are before on-road costs.
- D250 SE: $139,160
- D300 Dynamic SE: $151,030
- D350 Dynamic HSE: $168,640
- D350 Autobiography: $191,140
- D350 First Edition: $196,360
- P360: TBC
- P400 Dynamic SE: TBC
- P400 Dynamic HSE: TBC
- P530 Dynamic HSE: TBC
- P530 Autobiography: TBC
- P540 First Edition: TBC
- PHEV 510: $198,100
