YOUR AD HERE »

Mountain Wheels: Supercharged Range Rover Sport gets scary, fast

2014 Range Rover Sport V8 Supercharged

MSRP: $79,100; as tested, $85,490

Powertrain: 510-HP 5.0-liter supercharged V8 engine, eight-speed automatic transmission

EPA figures: 16 mpg combined: 14 city, 19 highway

The awkwardly awesome sensation of getting the not-insignificantly sized Range Rover Sport into a full oversteer skid on the dry pavement of an on-ramp — a pants-wetting moment, perhaps — does indeed expose some of the mad, juxtaposed qualities of this pedigreed British beast.

Handsome, imposing, brutally fast and considerably expensive, the newest-generation European on-and-off-road-ready rollerball does combine some unlikely attributes. Especially when equipped with the line-topping supercharged V-8, providing 510 horsepower to a still very upright, nearly 5,100-pound SUV.

More twisted than Two-Face? You betcha. As you really can do all that Land Rover-styled stuff in the Sport, even with all that hellfire under the hood: It has more clearance and can wade through deeper snow and water than a Jeep Wrangler, it can tackle unbelievably steep slopes and it can be set up to battle terrain from mud to sand with a twist of the elegant knob on the center console.



And I can tell you, beyond the pushed-to-the-limit screeching of tires, that the Range Rover Sport is also a surprisingly versatile on-road machine, with handling that’s far more precise than one might expect from a luxurious galoot of this class. There’s just that matter of physics and the oh-so-sad real limitations of the 20-inch tires, darn it.

RRS does a pretty good job of letting you forget what it shouldn’t be able to do, wrapped as you are in one very large and deep cabin, resplendent in high-quality leather and a ridiculously wide range of choices in accent materials. (I got the micromesh aluminum variation, like some sort of 25th-century chain mail, draped through the cockpit.)



I had just plain old forgotten how big the Sport still is, and feels, especially when you plunk yourself down in the luxuriously sporty seats and it seems like a 12-foot reach to the top of the dash, or across the cabin to pull the passenger door closed.

If you value super-super-humungo, you’re going to have to go for a domestic SUV; Sport did its best to play along when three passengers and I needed to haul a bicycle across town inside the cabin with us — but cramming two folks into the 60 part of the 60/40 rear seat and cramming the bike into the 27.7-cubic feet space (though it’s a full 62 cubic feet, if you don’t bring any passengers along) was not all that fun. I have not yet actually seen the tiny plus-two seats available as a far, third-row option, but Land Rover claims they’re a real option.

And do you really need 510 horsepower? That’s a judgment call, I know, but … would you bring a knife to a gunfight? Of course, you need 510 horsepower. Sure, you could make do with the 340-horsepower supercharged V6, an engine choice (with a 30 percent fuel efficiency increase over the older V-6) that enables you to technically purchase a new Sport for as little as $63,495, but … again, what’s the fun in that?

The improved Terrain Response System 2 — now a recessible knob — also includes a new dynamic mode that automatically dials in all the hill-descent, gradient release and throttle responses you need for crazy off-road work. Or, it turns the instruments blood red and helps crank up your already overblown race-car aspirations, egged on by the fantastically vulgar crackle of exhaust.

And the Sport is stupid fast, scary fast. Floor it from a traveling pace and it offers instantaneous, nearly neck-snapping power, accompanied by a hellacious cacophony of muscle car-styled noise. Go a little deeper into the options with the Dynamic package and you can equip the Sport with Brembo brake calipers, 21- or 22-inch wheels and a deal with the devil that allows the vehicle to go up to 155 mph. For real.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.