Yahoo Autos 2023 Land Rover Range Rover Sport revealed with PHEV, V8 versions
Following up on the flagship Land Rover Range Rover is its little sibling with a longer name, the 2023 Land Rover Range Rover Sport. Just like the big model, the Sport is fully redesigned from the ground up, and it features versions of the same powertrains.
Design-wise, the Sport follows the path of the full-size Range Rover while maintaining some unique cues. The whole body is smoothed out with minimalist lines and curves. Great effort was taken to keep body panels, windows, trim and door handles as flush as possible to fit the clean design and for improved aerodynamics. The Range Rover Sport actually has a drag coefficient of 0.29. Among some of the unique design features of the Sport are the extra slim grille and headlights, the latter of which are the most slender lights Land Rover has ever produced. The taillights remain horizontally oriented, unlike the vertical pieces on the big Range Rover. They blend into a trim panel that bears the model's name. There's a Dynamic trim for the Range Rover Sport that also gets unique bumpers and copper accents around the body.
The Range Rover Sport's interior is also similar, but different, to the larger model. It features a 13.7-inch instrument screen and a curved 13.1-inch infotainment touchscreen. The touchscreen floats above the dash and the lower climate controls, which are angled more toward the ceiling than in the flagship Range Rover. There's a storage pass-through underneath the climate controls, a unique feature to the Range Rover Sport. The dash itself is simple and spare, and air vents are hidden in an alcove that spans the dashboard.
Digging deeper, and the Range Rover Sport features a variety of engines. The two base engines are turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six units with mild-hybrid assist. The standard one makes 355 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, and the higher-output version makes 395 horsepower and 406 pound-feet. Above that is a plug-in hybrid version. It makes 434 horsepower and 619 pound-feet of torque thanks to the addition of a 105-kW electric motor. With its 31.8-kWh battery, Land Rover estimates the plug-in Sport will be able to go 48 miles on electricity only. Or if you want to go fast, it will get the Sport to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds. Topping the range is one with a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 from BMW, which makes 523 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque. It will take the sport to 60 in 4.3 seconds. All Range Rover Sports get an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. There's also a full-electric model coming in 2024, just like the big Range Rover, though Land Rover is staying quiet on the EV details.
Chassis-wise, the Range Rover Sport is built on the MLA-Flex platform, which Land Rover says gives the Sport 35% more torsional rigidity than the previous generation. All Sport variants come standard with adaptive air suspension. That can be augmented by rear-wheel steering, brake-based torque vectoring and an “electronic active differential." A Stormer Handling Package can be added on the V8-powered First Edition (only available for the first year) which includes all those features, plus the First Edition-exclusive Dynamic Response Pro. That system will actively reduce body roll.
Naturally, all kinds of luxury features are available on the Range Rover Sport, either as standard or as options. Standard features include the aforementioned giant screens, plus built-in Amazon Alexa support and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Others are the automatic emergency braking, parking sensors, lane-keep assist, traffic-sign recognition, surround-view and ground-view cameras, and water wading depth sensors. A new feature for the Range Rover Sport is an off-road cruise control, which allows the driver to set a speed and comfort setting, and simply steer the SUV where they want to go. The SUV sorts out everything else it needs to do to get over obstacles. Among some of the special available options are 22-way adjustable, massaging and climate controlled front seats, 29-speaker and 1,430-watt sound system and a cabin filtration system capable of removing bacteria and viruses from the air.
The Range Rover Sport is available for order now. Pricing starts at $84,350 including destination charge. Base pricing for each engine model is listed below.
P360 SE: $84,350
P400 SE Dynamic: $91,350
P440e Autobiography: $105,550
P530 First Edition: $122,850
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