![]() ![]() So when Britain’s Land Rover decided to do a Range Rover Sport in 2006, aiming to take on the Porsche Cayenne and BMW X5, I was expecting something that would let the Queen carve up her kingdom’s motorways and dash around her fiefdoms with pace and grace. Its off-road capability is unsurpassed, and the 2013 Range Rover Sport is designed for those who need to go places other SUVs will need to turn back.Smaller, with powerful engines and tighter responsiveness, a sports car can make driving more fun. It will cost more than the competition, but will reward with its extra off-road ability and performance. The Range Rover Sport is a vehicle that is designed for the discriminating buyer looking for that extra luxury and prestige. All the driver has to do is look out the windshield and select for the correct terrain, and the Range Rover Sport will drive accordingly, including setting the suspension height. The Terrain Response system has five settings: Highway, Grass/Gravel/Snow, Mud/Ruts, Sand, and Rock Crawl. We took the Sport up a steep mountain trail, and it handled anything we could throw at it. And the Range Rover Sport will go anywhere its owner wants to take it. 19-inch wheels are available with all-season tires for more off-road use. The 20-inch low-profile Michelin tires on this Sport tester undoubtedly helped and are made for performance driving. It handled like a much smaller vehicle with very little body roll in tight corners at high speeds in the mountains west of Denver. The Range Rover Sport handles superbly in the corners due to its air suspension. The ZF six-speed automatic transmission shifts quickly and smoothly, up or down, with Normal, Sport and Manual modes. And it features strong performance on the highway for everyday driving, passing and pulling steep hills in the mountains. It will hurl the luxury four-door Sport from 0-60 mph in only 7.2 seconds. You won’t find a more responsive SUV with the Sport’s 375-hp 5.0-liter V8 engine and six-speed automatic transmission. The interior is made for comfort and includes pus-button start, a power tilt/telescoping steering wheel, satellite navigation with voice recognition and full power everything. The seats sit high and give a commanding view through the windshield and side windows. The interior is beautifully finished and the quality is what you would expect from a luxury vehicle in this price range. Step inside the cabin and it feels like a British stateroom. It also comes with plus premium leather including a leather-wrapped steering wheel adjustable side bolsters for the driver’s seat a climate-controlled storage console 20-inch alloy wheels and 480 watts worth of harman/kardon sound with a changer for six physically present CDs. The Luxury Package ($4,700) added heated front and rear seats, windshield, washer jets and steering wheel. This Sport tester came with the optional audio upgrade to an 825-watt harman/kardon system with 17 speakers plus satellite and HD digital radio ($1,650). Loaded with luxury featuresīut the Range Rover Sport is in a class of its own and comes loaded with standard luxury features like leather upholstery dual-zone automatic climate control with pollen filter GPS navigation system with touch screen, 380-watt 14-speaker harman/kardon AM/FM/ audio system with virtual CD/MP3 player, iPod and USB rain-sensing wipers front and rear Park Distance Control power mirrors, seats power sunroof HomeLink garage door opener footwell lights and puddle lights Its starting price, however, is the highest of this group, and arguably only the Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Porsche, and VW are priced comparably. The Sport competes in the crowded luxury SUV segment with the Lexus RX, Mercedes-Benz M-Class, Audi Q7, BMW X5, Volvo XC90, Infiniti FX, Porsche Cayenne, and Jeep Grand Cherokee. Add in the Premium LOGIC7 audio package, the Luxury package and destination, and the price is up near $70,000. We also took it off-road for some fun in the mountains west of town.īut the Range Rover Sport doesn’t come cheap with a sticker price of $60,045 for the HSE. This week we did both as we pulled up to The Capital Grille in downtown Denver and had a valet park the upscale SUV. It’s just as much at home going to the theatre as it is on a backcountry trail at 13,000 ft elevation. The Range Rover Sport is designed to go anywhere its owner wants to take it. It shares platforms, drive systems, suspension, and powertrain with the Land Rover LR4 but it comes with more standard features and upscale styling. The Range Rover Sport seats five and fits between the larger flagship Range Rover and the smaller Range Rover Evoque crossover.
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