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Product Review
Baby Rover dazzles, dismays
High-tech features boost allure; price, fuel economy are turnoffs
The 2006 Range Rover Sport has not skimped on comfort or amenities.
The cabin offers leather sport seats with dual-zone climate controls, Harman Kardon audio setup and DVD navigation system.
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The 2006 Range Rover Sport -- the so-called "baby Range Rover" -- has just landed in America with a huge splash and a major marketing push from Ford Motor Co.'s Premier Automotive Group.
We don't like this premium sport utility nearly as well as its namesake, the $75,000 flagship Range Rover, or its mechanical sibling, the $45,000 LR3. But the new Range Rover Sport, which starts at $56,750, including destination charges, will likely broaden the appeal of the Land Rover brand, especially to affluent young buyers.
After spending a week in the Sport, we aren't convinced that it heralds a new British invasion on the order of the Beatles or even Monty Python.
The baby Range Rover is bound to dazzle with its optional supercharged engine, sensational safety hardware and extra-cost, high-tech features such as $2,500 video screens built into the rear headrests. But we were turned off by its inflated price tag, atrocious fuel economy and so-so visibility. And we were positively dismayed when a huge plastic trim piece tore off the windshield pillar while we were on the freeway.
Land Rover is touting the vehicle's racier styling. We think the Range Rover Sport just looks a little weird. Beauty, of course, is in the beholder's eye. How else to explain the attraction of Camilla Parker-Bowles?
When Ford bought the assets of Land Rover from BMW in 2000, the renowned British off-road specialist was in the early throes of what its German parent had envisioned as a sweeping renewal program, intended to extend the brand's product portfolio and audience, increase global sales and restore profits.
In mid-2005, Land Rover by all accounts is still losing money. But the complexion of the brand has changed dramatically in the past five years, as Ford designers, planners and engineers have worked a remarkable transformation in the British Midlands.
Evidence of the sweeping changes taking place at Land Rover surfaced with last year's redesign of the aging Discovery, rechristened LR3 in North America.
When we tested the 2005 LR3 last December, we called it "the best Land Rover yet," marveling at the vehicle's winning combination of high style, lavish comfort and extreme capability.
The LR3 was significant in that it was Ford's first fully designed and engineered model after the acquisition. The Range Rover Sport is the second. And, in too many respects, it falls short of the lofty benchmarks established by the LR3 in terms of interior and exterior design, and just plain value in the premium SUV segment.
While relatively common under the skin, the exterior lines of the two vehicles couldn't be more different. Where the LR3 embraces a tasteful, minimalist theme, the Sport veers toward a more ornate, almost rococo design aesthetic that some will find jarring.
Yes, the classic boxy Range Rover shape is still recognizable, but there's a more aggressive face up front, and a tad too much exterior ornamentation for our comfort. Just to make our driving experience more unsettling, our test vehicle was painted in a garish shade called Vesuvius Orange.
For the money, we would also have preferred a warmer and more inviting cabin, along the lines of the senior Range Rover. What you get instead is a techy cockpit with lots of metal, plastic and leather. Having said that, we should mention that Land Rover has not scrimped on comfort or amenities.
The first thing you notice upon entering the vehicle is the cool perforated-leather sport seats with tiny silver inserts -- a very 21st century touch. Dual-zone automatic climate controls, a 550-watt Harman Kardon audio system and a DVD navigation system that's not terribly user-friendly are housed in the center stack.
Heated power seats can be adjusted eight ways on the driver's side (six on the passenger's), and the power sunroof and windows have one-touch up and down. A cooler box is housed in the center console. Rear occupants are pampered with heated seats, reading lamps, vents and, on our test vehicle, the video screens and DVD entertainment system. There is plenty of head and leg room, although when five of us drove to a business lunch, three smaller-than-average adults found the rear quarters a little too intimate for comfort.
The standard Range Rover Sport is fitted with a 300-horsepower adaptation of Jaguar's smooth, twin-cam 4.4-liter V-8, mated to a ZF six-speed automatic transmission with manual-shift capability. It's the same drivetrain that we liked so much in the LR3.
We drove the uplevel Range Rover Sport Supercharged, which gets a more potent 390-horsepower 4.2-liter V-8 along with the six-speed gearbox -- a delightful powertrain team that Jaguar previously has put to good use in such high-end products as the XJR and Super V8 sedans. The supercharged engine shaves a full second off the zero-to-60 time (from 8.2 to 7.2 seconds) and boosts top speed to 140 mph from 130.
The vehicle's quickness and responsiveness surprised us, especially in light of its rather hefty mass. The downside is abominable fuel economy; we managed to get only 13 miles per gallon, which could scare off some prospective buyers as gas climbs inexorably toward $3 a gallon.
You would think Land Rover's permanent four-wheel drive and the low-profile, 20-inch Continental SportContact tires might contribute to a rough ride. You would be wrong. The Range Rover Sport benefits mightily from a superb, multimode air suspension system that provides a firm, yet smooth ride that cushions occupants over even the most irregular pavement. You can dial in different settings, depending on road conditions and surfaces, and an automatic load-leveling feature helps keep the vehicle on an even keel.
Serious off-roaders will appreciate such now-standard Land Rover equipment as an electronic transfer case and electronic locking center differential (a rear diff lock adds $500 to the sticker). Additional features such as all-terrain dynamic stability control and four-wheel disc brakes with antilock further enhance security for those owners who will never take the Range Rover Sport off the tarmac and into the woods.
The brakes, incidentally, were some of the best we've ever tested in a big sport-ute, providing reassuring stopping power in remarkably short distances.
Safety is simply world-class. Occupants are protected by six air bags. Front and rear park distance control alert the driver to potential obstacles at both vehicle ends.
Adaptive bi-xenon headlamps that swivel with the front wheels help illuminate curves. For an additional $2,000, adaptive cruise control will help you automatically maintain a safe distance from other vehicles.
Finally, rain-sensing wipers automatically switch themselves on when the first telltale droplets hit the windshield.
The bottom line for us is mixed. At $56,750, the normally aspirated Range Rover Sport doesn't offer much more than the LR3 in terms of performance or amenities, but its exterior design is certainly more arresting, if not necessarily appealing to all palates.
With a sticker price of $75,150, the supercharged Range Rover Sport we tested cost nearly $20,000 more than the base model. And that's right where the "big" Range Rover starts. For our money, the Range Rover Sport is an impressive vehicle, but just not worth that much over the LR3.
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The Detroit News.
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