► Month 13 with the Range Rover Sport
► High winds and torrential can’t stop it
► Over-engineering brings reassurance
Although we live in the deepest Sussex countryside, you can’t actually be all that remote in the south-east of England: if conditions get really tough, you’re seldom more than an hour’s walk from a cappuccino. Four-wheel drive and bit of extra ride height is useful down our way, but in truth we don’t need any more off-road ability than the oddball Renault Kangoo Trekka I once owned.
But this Christmas with its utterly foul weather drew my attention to one of the many reasons we continue to buy SUVs we don’t really need in such huge numbers. It isn’t just the image and the cabin space and the visibility: it’s also the security of driving a car that is completely over-engineered for almost any situation you’re likely to encounter.
Like most parts of the country, we had weirdly warm weather but Biblical rain and howling winds. Our little rural lane flooded: nothing by comparison with the devastation wrought elsewhere in the UK, but enough to stop a standard car. The Range Rover Sport just got a decent bow wave going, and got us through.
And in less obviously dramatic conditions it always feels solid and reassuring. Do I honestly think that the gales that cause our family estate car to twitch might actually blow it off the road? Of course not. But does a two-and-a-half tonne SUV feel a slightly better place to place your one- and two-year-olds? Despite everything I know about vehicle dynamics, yes.
Otherwise, the Sport spent its second Christmas with us doing what Range Rovers in particular do so well: doubling as a proper, desirable luxury vehicle and utilitarian transport. It collected relatives arriving from the US with two weeks of bags and gifts, hauled bikes out into the South Downs to burn off the Christmas calories and took all the cardboard to the recycling centre afterwards. Its time here is nearing an end: for Christmas, I’d really like to have been able to keep it.
From the driving seat
+ Rivals the BMW X5 for on-road performance, especially in Dynamic mode
+ 288bhp 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel has since been upgraded but more than adequate given ‘lightweight’ aluminium construction
Read the previous long-term update here
Logbook: Range Rover Sport 3.0 SDV6 HSE Dynamic
Engine: 2993cc 24v twin turbodiesel, 288bhp @ 4000rpm, 442lb ft @ 2000rpm
Gearbox: 8-speed auto, low range, all-wheel drive
Stats: 6.8sec 0-62mph, 138mph, 199g/km
Price: £66,250
As tested: £75,607
Miles this month: 634
Total: 15,334
Our mpg: 28.1
Official mpg: 37.7
Fuel this month: £107.55
Extra costs: None
Read more from the March 2016 issue of CAR magazine