Acceleration from stop is fierce, to the tune of 0-100 km/h in 4.5 seconds and on to a 250 km/h top speed. While those figures are rarely going to get put to the test by most owners, it’s nice to know that it’s capable of that, right?
Plus, you don’t have to be doing timed runs to feel the fury of this powertrain, and to hear the howl from those bloody great big quad exhaust outlets. If you only knew Range Rovers for how they amble over greasy British moors or glide smoothly along Rodeo Drive, then this would be a whole other experience to you.
Since it’s British, it’s also a little different in that it’s a little gruffer. Where a BMW X5 M50i is a little more growly, the report through the Sport’s exhaust is more bark, just a little more uncultured. I have no problem with that, especially considering that when I first heard about the redesigned Sport, I was sure there was no way a V8 would make the cut – not in this day in age of engine downsizing.
Indeed, with power like that, straight line speed is a given. In order to keep up, though, the Sport P530 has been given tools like adaptive dampers. Coupled with the already stiffer body all new Sport models get thanks to extensive use of materials like aluminum and boron, they help the Sport pull through the corners just as well as it can pull down a straight. Indeed, the Sport tugs gamely enough through tighter curves as the strong brakes help reign it in for the corner and the big power pulls you gamely out.
It’s on the longer sweepers where chinks in the armor begin to show, revolving not so much around the weight, but around the steering. Even in Sport mode, there’s too much of an off-centre dead zone meaning what feel like smaller corrections become larger ones once the front end begins to engage, and that means more corrections through these longer corners. It’s then that the weight becomes a bit of an issue because all those little corrections lead to body movements and as these get more repetitive, things get a little more unsettled.
The situation is aided, however, by the addition of rear-wheel steering, which turns the rear wheels in the same direction as the front wheels at speed to help stabilize the Sport through turns. At lower speeds, meanwhile, they can swivel up to 7.3 degrees in the opposite direction of the fronts to help shrink the turn radius.
While down on the straight-line fury of the P530, the P400 model with its lighter mild-hybrid turbocharged six still pulls mightily and the 100 kg saved over the V8 helps get the most out of the 395 hp and 409 lb-ft it makes. It also helps keep it more predictable through turns, more agile. While the facts and figures might tell you the P530 is the de facto performance model, the P400 produces the performance it does in a more well-rounded manner. It reminds me of the various GTS models Porsche produces; they don’t lead the power wars over at Porsche, but they do provide an awesome mix of power and performance for the price.
Plugging in
Of course, we’ve seen V8s and sixes from the Sport before. What we haven’t seen is a plug-in hybrid model. For 2023, Range Rover has obliged with the P440e model. It adds a 104-kw EV motor attached to the transmission and a 38.2-kWh battery, which combine to deliver 434 hp and 457 lb-ft. Range Rover claims it’s good for up to 50 miles (about 80 km) of EV driving in the right conditions. The highway driving we mostly did had us going from 100 percent charge to 17 percent over just under 150 km, and while that wasn’t in full EV mode the whole way though, it does bode well for the P440e’s performance in slower traffic, where EV powertrains excel.
Speaking of EV driving: drivers do have the ability to select an EV mode, and it will stay there even if you select the Sport drive mode. Even dumping full throttle didn’t cancel it out, and it stayed in that mode until we selected “S” on the transmission, at which point it did revert to Hybrid mode. There’s also a Save mode that helps you maintain a charge until you most need it, say when trudging through rush hour traffic.
Note also that you can plug the 440e into a DC fast charger; that’s not a given with your typical plug-in hybrid vehicle, which usually come equipped with level II 240V chargeability.
Also good is that the EV motor can send power to all four wheels, meaning it can be a big help in off-road situations. We were able to take the P440e’s slightly more powerful - and not-for-Canada - P510e variant off-road, where we got to test the 274 mm of ride height the Sport gets in its highest setting, the hill-descent system and off-road drive modes.
The hill descent control is automatically activated when you select low-range mode via a button press, and you can easily select the speed at which you want to travel by toggling the cruise control speed. So you can take feet off pedals and focus on steering, while cameras looking forward and over each front wheel help you place the Sport within inches of the various obstacles an off-road trail will fling at you. I guess it would be nice if the cameras would automatically activate when you select one of the off-road drive modes – we spent most of our time in Grass/Gravel/Snow – as you’d find in, say, a Ford Bronco, but the high-def display is well worth the extra button press.
We covered it all - steep descents, tight hairpin turns (thank you, rear-wheel steering), climbs and even mogul-style “elephant track” bumps. The only thing we weren’t able to put to the test was the 960 mm wade height, but after the way it handled itself on all the other obstacles, you know the Sport would be good for it when it comes time to ford a river, too.
Specifications sheet of 2023 Range Rover Sport Dynamic S
Specifications sheet of 2023 Range Rover Sport Dynamic SE
Specifications sheet of 2023 Range Rover Sport First Edition
Specifications sheet of 2023 Range Rover Sport Dynamic HSE
The last word
All that said, it’s the P400 for me – but I’m a fan of performance SUVs. Don’t think that leaves the P530 Edition One in the cold, though. Land Rover is already seeing the order books for the one-year-only Edition One fill up and when it inevitably gets replaced by the SVR model a year later, it will sell as well. I just enjoyed how the P400 felt lighter and more at-ease when pushing.
The P440e PHEV is probably the one that’s going to appeal to the greatest buyer group – with EV range like that and the ability to be fast-charged are an additional two arrows in what is already a formidable quiver.
We like
Powertrain variety
PHEV EV range, charging
High-class interior
We like less
Pricey
Heavy
No more third-row option
The competition
Audi Q7
BMW X5
Cadillac Escalade
Lexus LX600
Lincoln Navigator
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class
Porsche Cayenne
