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HELLO RANGE ROVER SPORT, AUDI SQ8 E-TRON & MAZDA CX-60 MILD HYBRID + GOODBYE CUPRA LEON & ALFA ROMEO TONALE
Diesel Range Rover Sport eats long journeys with ease.
Range Rover Sport D300 SE
Month 1
The story so far
Sport offers luxe comfort with hints of handling ability
+ Ride comfort is simply superb
- Graunchy door-handle motors
Logbook
Price £83,620 (£90,845 as tested)
Performance 2997cc turbodiesel six-cylinder, 296bhp, 6.6sec 0-62mph, 135mph
Efficiency 36.9mpg (official), 30.1mpg (tested), 200g/km CO2
Energy cost 23.1p per mile
Miles this month 1892
Total miles 15,302
Despite all the talk of improved batteries and various manufacturers, including Mercedes and Nio, topping 1000km, or 620 miles, on a charge, there is still only one fuel for mega miles currently – diesel. When this Range Rover Sport D300 turned up, the tank’s range was showing as 604 miles and it’s subsequently been a consistently weird feeling within our EV-dominated world knowing that no matter what the journey, this retro-fuelled car is simply going to monster it. Minimal planning, jump in, go.
Don’t get me wrong – my previous long-term test car, the Porsche Taycan GTS, never gave me any bother with range or charging anxiety, but it’s still quite something to know that you’ve got the Rangie’s effortless endurance potential nestled under your right foot. You knew the Porsche could do it but it required a little bit of faith, a niggle of thought process before any long journey. In the Rangie, distances literally never cross your mind.
There’s also another bonus of plumping for a Range Rover Sport filled from the black pump: the waiting times are much, much shorter. And I mean by a margin of years, not weeks or months. A plug-in Sport might take a couple of years to come through (at the outer limit) but a diesel can be with you in three to six months. I know the chips crisis is easing, but it’s still not a universal truth that all cars are easy to come by all the time.
So we find ourselves with the prospect of an effortless six months ahead. To me, the Sport is the forgotten Land Rover (along with the Velar), when all the talk is of the posh full-fat Rangie or the phoenix-like Defender. Even the perennially awkward Disco 5 gets plenty of airtime, albeit not always the most flattering. It’ll be interesting to find out if there’s still a space for our car within the line-up – can it marry the Range Rover’s luxe with a bit more everyday usability and less ostentatious associations of Mayfair and richer-than-yow vibes?
If subtlety is what you’re aiming for, I’d suggest you swerve the Firenze Red paint (£895), contrast roof (£950), white leather int
