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Ultimate SUV: 2009 Range Rover Sport |
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Written by Jeff Zurschmeide
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Monday, 02 March 2009 |
Range Rovers are the gold standard for luxury SUVs. They invented the segment and the name carries all kinds of great brand cachet. The folks at Land Rover may have left the Ford corporate umbrella when the company (along with Jaguar) was sold to Tata in India, but they still know what their customers want, and they deliver it well.
One thing to like about Land Rover is that they’ve stayed largely immune from the disease that causes automakers to radically redesign their cars every year or two. The press packet that came with this week’s 2009 Range Rover Sport was written in 2004 for the 2005 auto show season, and it’s still applicable to the 2009 Range Rover. When you’ve got the car the way your customers want it, there’s no need to change things for the sake of change.
So, what is this SUV, and what do you get for your money? The Range Rover Sport is a V8-powered AWD luxury SUV. It’s got 4 doors and a hatch in the back. It’s a medium-sized SUV – somewhat smaller than a Ford Expedition – with almost everything you could want.
The base price for the 2009 version of the Sport edition is $58,375. That’s not bad for this class of SUV. Compare it with any other luxury brand and the price point is about the same. Our test vehicle was tarted up with a $3,000 Luxury Interior package, including leather, heated seats, adaptive headlights, wood trim, a cooler box, and satellite radio. Bottom line out-the-door price was $62,725.
What comes tock on the Range Rover is a long list of good stuff. It starts with a 4.4-liter 300 horsepower V8 engine with 315 pound-feet of torque. That engine drives a 6-speed all wheel drive automatic gearbox with a variety of settings for all kinds of road surfaces. The Range Rover comes with Hill Descent Control that works – at a recent journalist’s retreat to test-drive SUVs in the rough, the Land Rover people helped us drive this same Range Rover down some hillsides that no one in their right mind would attempt on their own.
Range Rovers really are some of the most capable off-road SUVs ever built, and it doesn’t detract one bit from the luxury experience. The suspension also raises and lowers itself at the push of a button to suit the conditions you’re facing.
This SUV also includes GPS Navigation, Bluetooth hands-free telephoning, voice controls for navigation and audio and every other modern luxury convenience you can name – except a backup camera. I missed that. The one annoying thing that the Rover did was every time I put the car into reverse, it would automatically dip the side view mirrors to show me a great view of the pavement just in front of the rear wheels. I don’t know what the reasoning is for that behavior.
The driving experience in the Range Rover Sport is generally good for an SUV. This rig is both powerful and fast. The handling is good for what it is – this is no Miata, so the suspension is softer than I’d like, but designed for comfortable highway cruising and effectively handling any rocky road to your favorite campsite.
So, what’s the bottom line on the Range Rover Sport? Simple - this is still the ultimate luxury SUV that is also a real capable off-road vehicle. There’s a reason why people choose these rigs when they’re driving across Mongolia or into the African savannah. Land Rover is quite simply the best at what they do.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 11 March 2009 )
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