Here’s the new Range Rover Sport for the 2010 model year. Due to be unveiled at today’s 2009 New York auto show, the new Range Rover Sport aims to put a bit more space between it and its big daddy namesake, the range-topping Range Rover.
As part of a gentle repositioning, the Range Sport aims for an even more dynamic positioning. That’s why the Jaguar XFR’s ballistic supercharged 5.0-litre V8 will be available for speed freaks to burn fuel in – with a heady 503bhp, it’ll lap the Nurburgring in a faintly ridiculous 8min 49sec, says Land Rover.
Strewth! Sounds like totally inappropriate track tuning for an SUV!
Yes, yes. That’s why the vast bulk of sales are likely to be the two diesels. Land Rover will offer the Range Rover Sport with the new 3.0-litre TDV6 (also seen in the new Jag XF 3.0 Diesel S and new Land Rover Discovery 4) and the existing 3.6 TDV8.
So while the emphasis is firmly on Sport in the supercharged range-topper (0-60mph in 5.9sec!), the new 3.0 diesel mixes 242bhp/443lb ft with a nifty 30.7mpg and 243g/km – both down by around 8% on the outgoing derv Range Rover Sport.
Range Rover Sport: the new two-fingered salute
The new 2010 model year Range Rovers usher in a new styling theme designed to demark the range ladder more effectively. Peer into the new, bejewelled headlamps and you’ll spot a ‘two-finger’ detail on the front indicators. It’s a motif repeated on the side gills and all the way round to the rear lights. Even the grille incorporates two horizontal beams, picked out in the technical hexagonal mesh.
The new Range Rover gets three fingers, leading us to predict that the new baby Rangey – the LRX confirmed last month – will sport a single finger motif. Insiders talk about a military hierarchy, akin to the stripes for lance-corporal, corporal and sergeant. Yes sir!
Those lights are new, too; each of the new 2010 model year Land Rovers gains a more technical light pack front and rear, complete with LED coronas to create a distinctive signature.
What else is new on the 2010 Range Rover Sport?
Rather a lot. These mid-life facelifts are designed to keep the full-sized Land Rovers in business for quite a while yet, so there’s a suite of engineering changes to the chassis. Active damping is introduced to justify the Sport’s bend-bashing pretensions while the Terrain Response system is tweaked should you head off road, though few RRS owners actually do.