What is it?
2010 Land Rover Range Rover Sport
What's special about it?
Land Rover's pavement-loving Range Rover Sport gets a hi-po makeover for 2010, featuring a wealth of performance upgrades designed to add serious on-road mojo. These include new 5.0-liter V8 engines, an adaptive damping system and brakes that are up to the task of spirited driving. When the pavement begins, Porsche's Cayenne might finally have some company.
Subtle exterior styling changes to this most urban of Range Rovers focus on the face, and the sculpting gives the Sport a lower and more hunkered-down appearance. Complementing the tasteful skin job is an all-new interior loaded with the latest technology.
Under the hood, versions of Jaguar's new direct-injection 5.0-liter V8 handle motivational duties. In the Range Rover Sport, this new mill will be available in both normally aspirated (375 horsepower; 375 pound-feet of torque) and supercharged (510 hp; 461 lb-ft of torque) versions, each paired to a revised six-speed ZF automatic. These are legitimate high-tech mills with variable valve timing and lift, and the Roots-type supercharger is the latest Eaton twin-vortex blower.
Channeling the added thrust is an all-wheel-drive chassis conspicuously tuned for greater on-road ability, including an all-new adaptive suspension system. The new Bilstein dampers feature continuously variable valving, optimized in real-time by predictive, computer-modeled electronics. To take advantage of the setup's talent for tarmac, the Range Rover Sport's Terrain Response selector has gained a Dynamic Program setting specifically for enthusiastic on-road endeavors. And for soft-roaders, a new Sand Launch program has been added.
With more gusto under the hood and improved handling to match, the Sport's brakes received a commensurate update that delivers not only shorter stopping distances but also improved pedal feel. When equipped with the normally aspirated V8, the Range Rover Sport gets the brake setup of the outgoing supercharged model, with twin-piston front brake calipers and 14.2-inch front rotors. The supercharged 2010 Range Rover Sport SC clenches 15-inch front rotors with six-piston, aluminum monoblock calipers. Just for reference, the 2010 Land Rover Range Rover Sport will pull off the 0-100-0-mph stunt in less time than it takes the 2009 model to reach 100 mph.
Though it looks familiar, the 2010 Land Rover Range Rover Sport features more than 3,000 new parts, many of them in the reworked interior. Described as cosseting in Brit-speak, the new cabin reflects a useful program of button reduction, and provides de rigueur full iPod control along with a revised navigation setup now based on a hard drive. A striking TFT (thin-film transistor) instrument display is in place, and the steering wheel of the SC model features shift paddles.
Inside Line says: Now far more of an alternative to the Porsche Cayenne, the Range Rover Sport's stouter mills, on-road advances and sumptuous interior should have more appeal to the affluent urban-SUV set. — Paul Seredynski, Executive Editor, Edmunds.com
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