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There’s just something about British cars. They’re not fad vehicles. They always have an enduring class and sophistication – in appearance and execution, if not technology – and they always make you feel like royalty. That’s never more true than when piloting a Range Rover. Maybe it’s the presidential length of the vehicle’s hood. Maybe it’s the adroit sides or the simple fact that if it were a person it would have a British accent.
If the Range Rover can be described as the plutocrat’s ride of choice, then the Range Rover Sport Supercharged (heretofore RRSC) is undeniably aristocratic. Smaller, less costly, better handling and quicker, the RRSC is more modern than the big Range Rover in every way.
There are three elements that make the RRSC stand out from the many luxury SUVs that clog our streets. Firstly, it’s a Range Rover. That means it has a provenance that few other SUVs can approach, most model lines being less than 10 years old. Secondly, following the first point, a Range Rover has the reputation and capability to take you so far off road it could be months before anyone finds you. Lastly, nobody does ride and handling like the Brits. I don’t know what it is, but British cars have a blend of ride comfort and handling alacrity that other automotive nationality can match. The fact that the RRSC is a three-ton, top-heavy SUV doesn’t seem to affect its handling one bit, and the ride has a creamy smoothness that no other SUV can match. In fact, if Rolls-Royce made an SUV (perish the thought) it would waft along with the grace and serenity of a RRSC.
Drop the hammer, however, and you’re treated to a rush similar to what you’d find in a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. The RRSC’s 4.2-litre Supercharged V8 turns fossil fuels into forward motion with incredible deliberateness. A heavy right foot means the 390-hp V8 will also happily chug go juice at a rate of 17.7L/100km city and 11.1L/100km highway according to Natural Resources Canada’s fuel economy guide. We averaged 23L/100km. Draw your own conclusions.
Brutal as that is there is the auditory treat of a big V8 engine and the soothing ease with which the RRSC accelerates and passes slower, lesser really, vehicles.
When you’re givin ‘er the spurs the chassis takes on a fluidic composure that other SUVs lack. Most of the RRSC’s peers ride stiffly and jitter over quick successions of bumps or road irregularities. Not the RRSC. Even the worse roads register but a distant bump and thump thanks to the adept damping and ample sound insulation. When the roads get really bad is an opportunity for the RRSC to shine even more brightly. Between the multiple Terrain Response settings (one knob that controls throttle actuation, stability control, slip regulation, the ABS, transmission and suspension height) the RRSC can be instantly tailored to everything from a racetrack to the Paris-Dakar rally.
