Currently reading: Big revisions for Range Rover Sport
Updates to over 3000 components for latest Range Rover Sport

The revised Range Rover Sport gets updates to over 3000 components, despite the fact that the model is only four years old.

The Range Rover Sport’s makeover is more extensive than the one given to the Range Rover. It gets a completely new nose design, a new interior and a heavily revised chassis, as well as the new electrical architecture and fresh generation of engines.

Changes to the Range Rover are outlined at Revised Range Rover revealed

To read about the new Land Rover Discovery, click Disco closes on Range Rover

Land Rover design boss Gerry McGovern says the new design “puts an emphasis on the front end, but in a more sophisticated way”. The exterior aims to be “lower, fitter and more agile”. The car gets a narrower two-bar grille, and new headlights and tail-lights.

The new interior retains the ‘dual-cockpit’ theme, which was said to be very popular with owners, but it moves closer in its design language to the Range Rover’s interior. McGovern says one of the aims was to “reduce the visual noise” by minimising the amount of switchgear.

The new supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine should take the Range Rover Sport from 0-60mph in just 5.9sec. Indeed, a Land Rover video comparing the straight-line 0-100mph-0 performance of the old and new supercharged Range Rover Sports demonstrates a sizeable advantage for the new car.

Land Rover has placed great emphasis on tuning the new Sport for real-world high-performance driving, while retaining comfort and refinement. The new car has been extensively tuned at the Nürburgring in Germany.

Like the Range Rover, the Sport gets a new continuously variable damping system, as well as Active Roll Control (which uses active anti-roll bars), Roll Stability Control and upgraded brakes.

Land Rover claims that in test track conditions, the new Sport can be 15mph faster than the old model through a typical corner, as well as generating 1.1g in peak lateral conditions. The Sport also gets a new Dynamic setting in its Terrain Response system, which sharpens up the throttle, gearshifts and steering response.

Land Rover says it has gone to great lengths to improve wind, road and mechanical noise refinement. As well as quieter engines, the car also gets improved engine bay isolation, greater road noise absorption, improved window sealing and sound-deadening glass.

The new V8 engine is said to be 3dB quieter than the outgoing engine, a reduction of around 50 per cent. The supercharged version is around 4dB quieter.

Hilton Holloway

New York motor show


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