A particularly creative marketing team must have been at work: the gray paintwork on the new Range Rover Sport is not simply called “Grey”, but “Eiger Grey”. Not only the Swiss think of the 3967 meter high rock in the Bernese Oberland. The striking north face, which has claimed many lives from daredevil climbers, is unfortunately also known as the “Murder Wall”. Less dramatic, but also derived from nature, is the term “fireplace” for the area under the apparently floating center console.
The dynamic Edelbrite should make fire from the end of summer, especially for the German competition. “We orientated ourselves on the BMW X5,” admits chief engineer Erol Mustafa and states with satisfaction: “The new Range Rover Sport is significantly more dynamic than the previous one.”
Nothing shakes
And it needs dynamism if it wants to keep up with Porsche and BMW in terms of agility. The new 4.94 meter long Range Rover Sport is based on the MLA Flex platform and has a body that is 35 percent more torsion-resistant than before. There is also an optional limited-slip differential on the rear axle, a newly tuned all-wheel drive, torque vectoring via brake intervention and active 48-volt roll stabilization – similar to the Bentley Bentayga. “Only that our electric motors have more torque,” Mustafa remarks with a smile. To be precise, it is 1400 Nm, which means that the electrically controlled anti-roll bars can act even faster.
Tests on the racetrack
When it comes to the chassis, the British rely on a two-chamber air suspension with adaptive Bilstein dampers. For comparison: Single-chamber air springs are installed in the luxury brother Range Rover. To ensure that these dynamic components actually bring about the desired effect, the engineers chased the 2.3-ton Range Rover Sport several laps around the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Rear-axle steering, in which the wheels turn by up to 7.3 degrees, helps when maneuvering, as does the 360-degree camera.
For all its sportiness, a Range is still a Rover. So it must also work off the beaten track. As the name suggests, the «Adaptive Off-Road-Cruise-Control» is an adaptive cruise control when driving over hill and dale. Depending on the terrain, there are four driving programs to choose from, the system takes care of the rest and the driver only has to steer.
Sustainably reduced
In the interior, the designers implemented reduction and sustainability. On request, the seats are made of recycled materials and there are fewer buttons in the cockpit than before. At the heart of the latest version of the infotainment system is the 13.1-inch touchscreen with controls that, like Audi, give haptic feedback when you touch them and initiate an action.
The speakers of the sound system are hidden behind a sound-permeable fabric cover and are therefore invisible. “The sound is not affected,” promises Siobhan Hughes, who was responsible for the choice of materials. The virtual instruments are displayed behind the steering wheel on a 13.7-inch monitor.
Massive prices
A range of powerful and efficient drives is available for the new Range Rover Sport. The four-cylinder units have disappeared from the range. You can choose between six-cylinder plug-in hybrids with 440 to 510 hp and an electric range of up to 113 kilometers, mild hybrid six-cylinder diesel with 249 to 350 hp and a six-cylinder petrol engine with 400 hp and a new 4.4-liter -V8 twin turbo with 530 hp.
From 2024 Land Rover will also offer a fully electric Range Rover Sport. The entry-level variant, the D250, starts at an impressive CHF 112,100. But there is a fireplace in the cockpit and, if desired, Eiger Gray paintwork.
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