#range-rover

Among the weirdest questions I have ever answered about my life is whether I love my wife…I took offence the first time I was asked that. However the second time I was asked the same question I began seeing a pattern. It was a genuine question. Quite frankly I would rather a female friend asked me if I was gay, preferably right before she invited me to go help her with swimwear shopping. My wife…

Range Rover Evoque Cabriolet 2.0 TD4 HSE Dynamic

Car for Sale land rover range rover sport 2019

What is it: 2016 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR, five-seat supercharged sports SUV.

Price Range:  $110,475, for starters.

Competitors: Porsche Cayenne, BMW X5M/X6M, Mercedes-AMG G-Wagen, Bentley Bentayga (eventually)

Alternatives: Range Rover Sport, Mercedes-Benz GLE, Infiniti QX70, Audi SQ5, Cadillac Escalade

Pros: It can be driven off-road in the mud and on the track with nothing but a rinse of the undercarriage. Seriously. We did it.

Cons: Wind noise and a weird, buzzy noise cancellation system.

Would I Buy it with My Own Money: Dear Lord, yes. No questions asked—because it’s a race-track hustler and off-roader in one machine, and who doesn’t want that?

Want to tackle the Nürburgring? Perhaps traverse the Sahara? Compete in Pikes Peak? Ford a river? Oh, and you want to do that all on the way to drop the kids at school?  There’s only one vehicle on the market that can probably handle all of that and not end up in a heap and it’s the new 2015 Range Rover Sport SVR .

The Range Rover Sport SVR gets 550 horsepower and 502 ft lb out of its supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 engine, and its mated to the same eight-speed transmission used in the standard Range Rover Sport. Before you even ask—it really did do a lap of the famous Green Hell in 8 minutes and 14 seconds. It also does 0-60 in 4.5 seconds and has a top speed of 162 mph—and it still handles off-road work like a boss.

We did something no one who buys this car will ever do at the track at Monticello in New York: We took it through a muddy, rocky, slippery off road trail, hosed off its underbelly, and then took it on the track ten minutes later. 

While you are busy picking your jaw up off the floor, let’s start with the basics. The Range Rover Sport is a mid-sized SUV that Land Rover launched back in 2013. This is the second iteration of the five-seater that debuted in 2014.  The base Sport starts out at around $63,000. In typical Range Rover fashion, the baseline sport is monstrously capable off-road with a ground clearance of 9.3 inches and 33.5 inches of wading capacity. It can still rock crawl with the best of them and has individual Terrain Response settings that include grass/gravel/snow, mud/ruts, and sand.

The Range Rover Sport SVR gets all of the off-road gadgets and more. You still get the true four-wheel drive with the two-speed transfer case and the 50/50 torque split between front and rear. The suspension is fully independent and double-isolated, complete with air-suspension that helps raise and lower the car based on the drive mode selected. The Range Rover Sport SVR has adaptive dampers which work in conjunction with the Adaptive Dynamics system to monitor the surface ahead 500 times per second.

Then there’s Dynamic mode. In Dynamic mode the SVR hunkers down and gets rowdy. The already raucous exhaust burbles a bit louder, and when you decide it’s time to hit the track, the SVR responds with surprising acceleration. This is fun dipped in a good-looking Range Rover candy shell.

Hauling just over 5,000 lbs of vehicle around a track at 60 to 100 mph is no easy feat, but the SVR doesn’t seem to mind. While still a bit wallowy in corners (as expected—it is a tall SUV after all), it feels planted and secure, particularly because of an updated cornering system that helps keep the SUV flatter in turns.  The Active-Roll Control or ARC system uses two actuators controlled by hydraulic pumps to keep the body roll down, allowing the driver to take track turns at much higher than expected speeds. The ARC system is also used in the standard Range Rover Sport and in off-road situations, but tuned more aggressively for the SVR version.

Paired with ARC is a sophisticated torque vectoring system that helps push the five-passenger vehicle around tight corners. On the track you feel the system working through the turn, though if you lift off the gas, the system switches off. The eight-speed ZF transmission is tuned slightly more aggressively than it is in the standard Range Rover Sport as well, though shifts both up and down are smooth and almost undetectable except for that boisterous exhaust note and the blip on downshift. Stomp on the gas to accelerate and you are going to hear it in the next county.

Despite being a hardy off-road vehicle and a capable track beast, the SVR’s ride is surprisingly comfortable, even sedate. The interior is customized with carbon fiber, but otherwise you don’t know you are riding in anything other than a Range Rover.

One niggling thing that we came across (outside of the slow and cumbersome infotainment system) while cruising at highway speeds was the noise cancellation system. Pushing a big boxy vehicle through the air at high speeds is noisy, so to reduce cabin noise Range Rover has used a high-frequency cancellation tone that fluctuates with speed. In our test SUV it was audible at higher speeds and just annoying enough to send us searching through menus to find how to turn it off. Side note—you can’t.

The Range Rover Sport SVR isn’t your suburban mommy’s vehicle. In fact, we imagine that the exhaust note (even in normal mode) would probably piss off every neighbor within five blocks every time you start it up for your morning commute—something we imagine the typical buyer would be absolutely giddy about. The engine is essentially the same as the engine in the Jaguar F-Type R, and the Range Rover Sport SVR gets the same exhaust, so you can imagine the looks you get as you toodle off to your PTA meeting to 95 decibels of pop-pop-pop. With all this capability you wouldn’t expect the Range Rover Sport SVR to be terribly fuel-efficient; the EPA estimates it at 14 mpg city, 19 mpg highway, and 16 mpg combined. 

This is Jaguar-Land Rover’s first Special Vehicle Operations Unit project that will be available to the “general public.” We put quotes around “general” because we are talking about a five-passenger SUV that starts at a base price of $111,400. The Range Rover Sport SVR is the first Land Rover to get the SVR badge—hinting that there may be others in the Land Rover line who will do the same.

What Is It? 2016 Range Rover TD6, a full-size luxury SUV

Price range: $87,445 to $94,445 (base price)

Competitors: Cadillac Escalade, Infiniti QX80, Lexus LX570, Mercedes-Benz GL Class, Mercedes-Benz G-Class

Alternatives: Toyota Land Cruiser, Porsche Cayenne

Pros: Proven off-road prowess combined with resplendent luxury; great fuel economy for its size

Cons: Uncertainty with long-term reliability

Would I Buy It With My Own Money? Sure, at least if I only planned on owning one while there’s a warranty.

When thinking of Range Rovers, the word “sensible” seldom comes to mind–even more so when you’re taking a $100,000 SUV and having it gyrate, and cajole itself through perilous mountain passages in Spain. But practicality is what the new TD6 trim brings to the 2016 Range Rover, in the form of a direct-injected diesel V-6.

Its $1,500 premium over the standard supercharged V-6 may seem strange, considering the latter makes 86 more horsepower than the diesel’s 254 hp. That’s offset by a substantial improvement in fuel economy—22 city and 28 highway mpg versus the standard model’s 17 city/23 highway. Would the affluent Range Rover customer appreciate those savings, especially with declining prices at the gas pump?

Maybe not, but it gives the 2.5-ton SUV an impressive 650-mile range, and 440 lb.-ft. of torque at 1,750 rpm. There’s more usable, low-end grunt on the street compared to the standard V-6, which makes 375 lb.-ft. of torque, and there’s power on tap all the way to its 4,800-rpm redline. While its 7.4 second 0-60 mph time won’t impress the G-Class AMG gawkers of the world, what’s remarkable is what you don’t notice; at idle the engine emits but a faint rumble, and at full tilt it sounds like a sedate gasoline V-6. No cacophonous clattering typical for a diesel, thanks to increased sound deadening in the firewall and acoustic laminated glass for the windshield.

Engine aside, the experience is just as plush as you’d expect with the standard Range Rover. Even when crawling over jutting rocks or trundling through gravel, the queen’s SUV feels composed and serene, with not a hint of rattling or a twisting chassis. There’s an alphabet soup’s worth of technological acronyms that can make the Ranger Rover practically drive itself when off-roading. With All Terrain Progress Control (ATPC), you set the speed and let the vehicle do all the braking and gas while you steer. We put it to the test climbing a steep incline at Les Comes, where the computer automatically detected slipping and crawled up the hill, all without ever touching the pedals.

With its palatial appointments and unflappable capability off-road, the Range Rover seems perfect—except when factoring in long-term reliability. According to JD Power’s 2015 Vehicle Dependability Study, Land Rover came in second to last with 258 problems per 100 vehicles, surpassed only by Fiat. According to Land Rover, that was due to transmission issues in other models that have since been rectified, but will it fare significantly better next year? 

What is it?: 5 (+ optional 2) passenger, four-wheel-drive, luxury SUV

Price: $63,350 - $101,465+

Competitors: Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes GL, BMW X5

Alternatives: Cadillac Escalade, Jeep Cherokee

Pros: Elegant and classy, the benchmark off-road; surprisingly capable on

Cons: Doesn’t come cheap; thirsty; lousy infotainment system

Would I buy it?: If I had the cash and wanted an SUV, the Range Rover Sport would be my choice.

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The first time I drove the 2015 Range Rover Sport, I did so through the belly of a Boeing 747. It was quite entertaining, and a novel way to ensure we writers wouldn’t forget the experience. The fact is, though, this was the least memorable part of that first drive event. The part I recall most is how savage yet sophisticated that supercharged V-8 remains. And how well the damn thing handled.

I came away in love (after all, the 510 horsepower, 5.0-liter V-8 hit 60 mph in just 4.7 seconds and boasts an optional active-roll system and electronic differential): In a previous life, I toyed with the idea of buying an ’09 Sport with the V-8, but instead settled for a Cayenne GTS — despite my wife’s yearning for the Range. Why? I wanted something sportier, something that reminded me that having kids and needing space didn’t mean I couldn’t drive something fun. At that point, back in 2009, the Range Rover was Sport by name but not in reality.

The new, aluminum, unibodied Sport does, however, do real justice to its name. It’s not as precise as the Cayenne, but it’s brute strength and muscle stands out as being characterful — a little like SRT’s take on the Jeep Cherokee. And yet the Range can manage off-road duty like nothing else in the segment.

It is expensive, though — not unlike the Porsche or its competition. I had a new 340 horsepower V-6 Range Rover Sport press car on my driveway the other week, and with options, it fetched $82,000. 82k is extortionate for a non-V8-engined Sport, especially when a V-8 starts at $80,000. Add a few options to that model, however, and the price can soon rocket north of $100,000.

And if you don’t option the V-8, you’re sure to miss it. The supercharged six is, though, mighty smooth, plenty fast and more fuel-efficient (albeit still thirsty). With a starting price of $63,350, in theory, you can get one for closer to what you may deem acceptable for a luxury SUV.

Behind the wheel, the driving position is very high, like you’re perched on top of the world. It feels as if small children could walk unassisted under the SUV and you’d never even notice, or that you could tangle with a Hummer and have a 50/50 chance of coming out on top.

You wouldn’t, of course.

While the interior is fresh and free from clutter — a Mercedes level of luxury — the infotainment system is shocking. It’s not that it’s lacking in features it just doesn’t do anything with ease, or indeed well. The navigation, too, will get you more lost than James May; it really is the car’s Achilles heel.

But it does drive so damn well that you don’t especially care. The rear legroom is improved and with the optional panoramic roof; the additional light delivers an airy feel. The SUV seats five comfortably, but there is an option for an “emergency” third row for folks with no legs.

As for reliability, a key topic when consumers debate Jaguar Land Rover products, the most recent study by J.D. Power suggests Land Rover is still lagging towards the bottom of the pile, while — oddly — its sister company Jaguar lands towards the head of the list for initial quality. While reliability is a tough question to answer in a review of a new car, one thing’s for sure, the woes you heard from the late ‘80s early ‘90s are surely not so much of an issue today with regards to Land Rover products; it wouldn’t put me off owning one, anyway.

But, at the end of the day, is this car truly worth $63,000 and up? The truth of the matter is, with either V-6 or V-8, it probably isn’t — but then is any car that costs this much worth it? Maybe it’s because I’m now older than I was back in 2009 — or maybe it’s because I’m poorer — but as love this car, it’s difficult to comprehend why you wouldn’t just buy, say, the cheaper upcoming Land Rover Discovery Sport or a basic Jeep Cherokee.

But then we never think logically about things we love, do we? And while I may now be more pragmatic in age, after a week pretending to own the new Range Rover Sport, my wife still yearns deeply for one.

SUV-based pickups have never proven popular, but that didn't stop German tuner Brabus from this wild experiment in body building. The Startech Range Rover pickup required some 100 new aluminum, steel or carbon-fiber body parts to create a bed behind the back seats while preserving the Range Rover interior, including its panoramic roof. Power stands at 526 hp, good for 62 mph in 5.3 seconds. Among the suggested pickup cargo for Startech's target audience? Falcons — which its well-to-do Arabic clientele use for hunting.

Brabus Startech Range Rover pickup

Source: Yahoo Autos

Source: Yahoo Autos

Source: Yahoo Autos

Source: Yahoo Autos

Source: Yahoo Autos

Source: Yahoo Autos

Source: Yahoo Autos

New Convertible Range Rover Built Just For Queen Elizabeth II

It’s a wonder that heads of state still trundle around in stretched sedans when the rest of the world has so throughly embraced the SUV. One exception has been Queen Elizabeth II, who has a fleet of eight “state cars” including three Range Rovers and a couple of stretched Bentleys. 

Today, the royals revealed a brand new Range Rover that had been turned into a convertible expressly for Her Majesty – along with a few other tricks.

Built by Jaguar-Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations shop, the topless Rover has a chrome handle running around the outside, no rear window and a fold-down bench seat for when the monarch needs a rest. Land Rover said the Range Rover was also given a diesel hybrid engine unit — the first in any Range Rover — that allows it to creep along at parade speeds in electric-only mode.