Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged (2009) CAR review

Does it handle?

Much better than any car this tall or heavy has a right to. Land Rover has been hard at work lowering the car’s roll centre and painstakingly tweaking springs, dampers, diffs, tyres and software settings. The adaptive damping is related to Jaguar’s but much modified to cope with the Sport’s ludicrously articulated wheel travel.

Blast down a twisting, undulating B-road and you’ll be astonished by how planted and secure the Sport feels. The steering is responsive once you’ve passed a little slack around TDC, and body control is excellent.

But it’s not just about grip and iron damping. There’s also poise, even grace through corners, and a satisfying balance as you feel weight and control transfer to the rear wheels as you punch out of a bend.

It even rides well, more firmly than the newly revised Discovery 4 it shares so much hardware with, but still with tautness, compliance and great comfort. Only low-speed lumps and occasional shudders over corrugated surfaces get anywhere close to disturbing otherwise serene stability.

Land Rover purists scoff at the Sport. Should they?

If you’re talking about the chaps who eschew overhead camshafts (never mind air-con and proper trim), leave them to their manual diff locks and freewheel hubs. The Sport is incredible off-road, even on 20-inch rims and low-profile tyres. We scaled grassy hills, forded a river (there was no actual ford) and clambered over rocks. Big ones. And not on some artificially engineered ten-minute assault course either, but across entire swathes of wildest (and wettest) Scotland. Yes, the Range Sport is the Landie for lubbers, but by god it’s a Landie through and through.

Sounds incredible. Any downsides?

The usual green guilt. This thing pumps out 348g/km of CO2, and our test car never got close to the promised 18.9mpg (14-15mpg, more like it). And it’s damn heavy without the excuse of being anything other than a five-seater. Think of it as a sort of sporty Discovery coupe, and ask yourself if the world needs such a device. Answer? No. Doesn’t stop you wanting one though.

Verdict

It doesn’t look much different but it drives even better. Land Rover’s engineers have been hard at work on the detail stuff, refining all the components you’d probably never see in a lifetime of ownership. Until they crack lightweight construction or manage such flabbergasting power from rubber bands or something, it’ll never be a car any right-thinking individual would feel comfortable owning. But it’s an absolute belter to drive – on road, up mountain, through river – all the same.

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