New luxury SUV has the longest range of any plug-in hybrid, but loses its seven-seat option On sale Autumn Price from £79,125
Darren Moss Darren.Moss@haymarket.com
FIRST LOOK
SOMETIMES SPORTINESS AND luxury can go hand in hand. Men’s fashion site Mr Porter, for example, lists 78 different watches under its ‘sports watch’ section, yet with prices reaching £250,000, many of them could also be described as luxurious. The new Range Rover Sport blends those two attributes, too, promising all the comfort and refinement of its full-fat sibling, but with a meaner look and a more agile drive. And if you’re the kind of person who wears a six-figure sports watch, the chances are it’ll be on your car shortlist.
Just like the best watches, the new Range Rover Sport is bristling with the latest technology. Mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions are available from the outset, and a fully electric version – expected to have a range of more than 250 miles – is due in 2024.
Crowning the engine line-up at launch is a 523bhp twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 (named the P530), which can cover the 0-62mph sprint in just 4.5sec. It’s touted as the most exhilarating Range Rover Sport yet, and will be the most powerful version until an all-new Range Rover Sport SVR joins the line-up later on. The mighty SVR is expected to match the 616bhp offered by the rival BMW X6 M Competition.
We suspect most buyers will be more tempted by one of the two PHEV options, though. The most powerful of these, the P510e, combines a 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor for a total output of 503bhp. According to official figures, it can hit 62mph in 5.4sec and travel up to 70 miles on electric power alone. That gives it a longer electric-only range than any PHEV currently available, resulting in a very low benefit-in-kind tax band of 5% and making it an attractive option for company car drivers. For context, the rival BMW X5 can officially cover up to 54 miles between charges in xDrive45e form, placing it in the 8% tax bracket.
The second PHEV option is the P440e. With 434bhp, it has less power than the P510e but matches its range and official CO2 emissions of 18g/km. Both plug-in hybrids can be charged to 80% of capacity in less than an hour using a 50kW public charging point, while a full charge using a typical 7.5kW wallbox will take around five hours.
If you don’t want a PHEV, there are petrol and diesel options with the aforementioned mild hybrid electrical assistance to ease the load on the engine and increase efficiency, but they can’t run on battery power alone.
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