Range Rover Sport Supercharged Autobiography

Well, it was truly refreshing to not only get my Range Rover Sport test car onto the Boeing 747 at Kemble Airfield, but take it all the way to the Business Class section without having to remove my belt and shoes for a metal detector or jockey for position with pushy pensioners in the queue at the departure gate.

Thanks to double-glazed glass that equips the Range Rover with the best interior refinement scores in its class, I was unlikely to be disturbed by the drunken hen party or screaming baby on the flight either.

Reclining leather armchairs that can massage your back, room for upto seven people and an in-flight movie make the new Sport as comfortable as a Learjet.

Sadly, I’m not on a flight to an exotic location, just a flight of fancy...Land Rover style.

I have seen some mad stunts designed to attract attention to new vehicles but Land Rover’s drive through a Boeing 747 in the Range Rover Sport took the complimentary in-flight biscuit.

It came just an hour after I had slithered down a near-vertical slope in a Gloucestershire forest and moments before a roaring 0-100mph-0 speed run dispatched in just 16.8 seconds and a blast to 151mph down Kemble’s 2,009m long runway.

Land Rover were keen to pull out all the stops for the luxury car that can seemingly do anything and the trip to Kemble did just that.

In the range-topping Autobiography five-litre V8 supercharged form I drove the new Sport costs £81,550, will accelerate to 60mph in five seconds and hit an electronically-limited 155mph.

The same car is also capable of wading through 850mm deep water and automatically adapting to all-manner of off-road terrain thanks to Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 system.  

After registering 415,000 world-wide sales with the first generation Sport, a car based on the Land Rover Discovery, Land Rover has upped the stakes to ensure similar success this time around.

Based on the all-new Range Rover, this version sheds 420kg — the equivalent of five full-grown adults — thanks to aluminium construction and gains a whole host of new technology.

“More Range Rover, more Sport,” is the engineers’ claim.

Outside the car is a blend of Range Rover and Evoque and the familiarity continues in the cabin.

Double-glazed glass, wall-to-wall leather, a powered boot mechanism and an eight-inch on-board TV screen hooked up to a 1,700 watt stereo system feature in an interior which immediately reveals itself to be more spacious than that of its predecessor.

Adaptive cruise control, a blind spot alert system and 360 degree exterior cameras are among the driving aids.

At almost five metres long the new Range Rover Sport is a big car and feels it.

From the off things feel cosseting, comfortable and refined but the effortless muscularity of the supercharged engine is ever present and the exhausts roar with subtle intent each time the engine is started.

The big V8 has a fantastic, muscular soundtrack and accessing it for prolonged periods ensures big speeds.

The way the 510bhp blown V8 fires 2,310kg of 4x4 up the road is barely believable, but 460lb,.ft. of low-rev torque, an advanced four-wheel-drive system and a treacly eight-speed automatic gearbox all play their part.

Land Rover has worked hard to put the sport into the Sport and torque vectoring channels power to individual wheels through the twisty stuff to maximise traction and agility, while a new locking rear differential sharpens up the responses in Dynamic mode.

Selected via the centre console’s touchscreen, Dynamic mode illuminates the instruments in a soft red light and tightens the response of the throttle, steering and suspension.

Huge grip and massive acceleration is a given. While feeling busier than the Range Rover’s, the suspension Hoovers up imperfections in a fashion that makes a Porsche Cayenne feel crude, and though it feels a little less communicative than its German rival, its performance and composure is no less impressive.

A short drive in the three-litre Range Rover Sport SDV6 diesel — 292bhp and 442lb.ft of torque — is similarly impressive.

In Autobiography specification it’s around £6,500 cheaper than the big V8 petrol, still reaches 60mph in 6.7 seconds, but returns 37.7mpg and 199g/km CO2 emissions, compared to a much-improved but still alarming 22.1mpg and 298g/km.

The Range Rover Sport is a staggering piece of engineering. Serving up performance, comfort and refinement to rival the best sports saloons while maintaining the ability to tackle wild off-road routes. Few will, but the aim to have the ultimate all-terrain vehicle is a lure all of its own.

Land Rover better hope the well-heeled, go-anywhere motoring public still feel the same way...or they may struggle to sell the similarly skilled but more expensive Range Rover, launched last year, altogether.

Range Rover Sport Supercharged Autobiography

Engine: 4,999cc supercharged, V8 petrol

Power: 510bhp and 460lb.ft. of torque

Performance: 0-60mph in 5 seconds and 155 mph

Economy: 22.1mpg (combined)

CO2 emissions: 298g/km

Price: £81,550