Dimensionally, Range Rover junior grows in length – in wheelbase and overall – and adds some power pop-up seats to the rear, giving the SUV a 5+2 seating configuration. Those rear seats are more meant for small children or Mini Me on short journeys, however, and not as loungers for long trips. Jumping in the around-town rock-crawler is easier, too; access height has been dropped 10 mm to 50 mm. That doesn’t mean the Sport loses out on its utility, as ground clearance is increased to 278 mm (up 51 mm) and front and rear overhangs decreased to provide an approach angle of 33 degrees and departure angle of 31 degrees.
    Preview: 2014 Land Rover Range Rover Sport. Click image to enlarge |
Once inside, you are treated with some of the best tech available. The previously mentioned Terrain Response 2 system has more off-road settings than you have fingers to count them. Also, using Land Rover’s new “connected car” philosophy, you can check up on your Sport via a smartphone app featuring Stolen Vehicle Tracking, Emergency Call, and Land Rover Assist Call. The car can even be turned into a mobile high-speed hotspot to keep the kiddies in the back busy with their connected gadgetry.
 Preview: 2014 Land Rover Range Rover Sport. Click image to enlarge |
Land Rover continues to put the focus on the driver with its latest iteration of the Sport, utilizing the Sports Command Driving Position from the Evoque for a sportier ergo’ along with a “supreme sense of confidence,” making you the supreme leader of your local thoroughfare. The driver is also presented with a smaller diameter, yet thicker-rimmed steering wheel and configurable mood lighting (I wonder if it has a setting for each member of the royal family? Composed Queen, perhaps? Or Pompous Prince? How about some Dirty Harry?).
Also up front is a new, optional colour head-up display that projects navigation information and other interesting tidbits onto the windshield. The projection is done with lasers… freakin’ lasers!
Canadian pricing hadn’t yet been released at press time, but if you want to get into the new Range Rover Sport it’s already been priced in the US, where the entry level SE V6 model starts at $63,495 in American greenbacks with the HSE setting you back an additional $5,000. The Supercharged model with V8 heart will cost you an Abe Lincoln short of eighty grand, with the top-of-the-line Autobiography trim going for $93,295.
Expect the Sport to start hitting grocery store parking lots and yoga studios sometime in the fall.
Competitors:
Audi Q7
BMW X5
Cadillac Escalade
Infiniti JX35
Lexus GX 570
Lincoln MKT
Porsche Cayenne
