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Range Rover Sport V8
Shooting brake for the modern gent
Back in the day, english chaps drove to off-the-pavement adventures in estate cars. Botchi Santos reprises the part with a better ride
Photography by Lucky Besa
First, a bit of explanation. A shooting brake is the English Lord's automobile of choice should he opt for some outdoor activities that will take him away from the manor, a load-carrying derivative of a high-performance coupé. Hunting comes to mind, as the long rear has space for various tools and equipment, not to mention space for the hounds to go after fallen prey. Think SUV-cum-station wagon, the forebear of the modern high-performance crossover.
Today, inside the new Range Rover Sport, all we're hunting down are BMW X5s and Porsche Cayennes. All three offer the highest levels of on-road SUV performance. Yet only the Porsche and Rangie have serious off-road credibility—the German by way of sheer obsessive-compulsive engineering to be the very best, the Brit by way of history, building some of the ‘best 4 by 4 by far', as its marketing slogan has led many to believe. The Porsche, however, feels cumbersome on-road at times, all 2.2 tons unable to be masked by the sheer V8, flat-six-sounding nuclear powerplant.
It's here that the X5, arguably the standard by which on-road SUV performance is judged, has a stranglehold on driver's appeal, though it has less power than the Zuffenhaussen specialty.
But what of the Rangie? Twenty-inch sub-bling wheels aside, there's no doubting it can hack it on and off-road. It gets both of the very best from the two opposing Teutons and covers it up in a very elegant body. What is born is blessed with tradition and heritage rich in off-roading. Heritage that would have been left to rot were it not for some American blue oval influence-peddling.
It feels like a proper English country manor on wheels—with an imposing and menacing presence on the road. There's a big, bad and beautiful faux-titanium grille with the headlight cluster surrounding it, like weapons of mass destruction ready to unleash hell.
Inside, soft, black perforated leather, probably the very best English le rosbif hide, the result of this upholstery. It's spacious yet cozy at the same time, with real-looking wood and matte steel finish covering the rest of the interior. Sadly, the feel of some of the materials does not befit a car worth P8.5M a pop. Nitpicking for some, but a cause for concern for the most discerning of lords.
There are other techie toys for the modern gentleman, such as three monitors for the CD/TV/DVD and SAT-NAV system. The sound-system was designed by Harman Kardon, so the Pinoy Big Brother theme plays clear and true on your car, drowning out other cars on the road. Not that you'd hear them—it's silent like an English moor inside. It's got adaptive cruise control, allowing a safe distance up front, should the master doze off temporarily and crash his manor-on-wheels onto an unsuspecting automotive equivalent of a shed on the road. Power-everything is also standard.
On the road, the 4.2-liter V8, supercharged for your added pleasure, growls when you give it some stick, the road devoured at an alarming rate with a car barely 130 kilometers old. The chassis feels stiff, super-stiff, nothing like any previous Rangie one has ever tried.
This vehicle feels lithe for its size at speed, masking its two-plus-ton weight, though it is significantly smaller and lighter than its big brother Range Rover even if the similarity is too much. But never have brothers been so different in intent, feel and appeal.
Cynics will warn prospective Rangie buyers to think twice, and then think again about buying a Rover. Its infamous OE Lucas Electronics of yore—resolutely British as the Rover itself—was infamously called the ‘Prince of Darkness', the electrical system shorting out at the most inopportune of times—such as a cold stormy night in the middle of nowhere with no one for company except some wild animals and some bandits on the prowl, and with signal No. 3 pouring down God's fury on earth.
There are no such fears in the Sport. It exudes confidence, class and that boyish charm from a middle-aged gentleman trying his luck with the debutantes.
After adjusting the excellent four-spoke steering wheel for the proper reach and rake, setting the seat as low as possible for that head-down feel and fusing the loud pedal with the carpet, the Sport emits a cultured yet alarming growl, and forward thrust increases exponentially.
The ride is sportingly firm yet dismisses all the bumps and ruts like serfs and waifs. Arrogance is its greatest feature. You feel like you own everything you touch.
On poorly surfaced roads, the constant thud of the huge wheels remind you of the heft, and the controls at times can feel a bit cumbersome. But it's all part of the appeal of greenlaning down your favorite backroad, like an unstoppable freight train, the might of the English armada—though the wheels definitely take a beating as the tires are still primarily for on-road use.
| Range Rover Sport V8 |
| We say: Cool, suave, sophisticated and distinctly full of character |
Price: P8.5M
Engine: 4.2L V8
Power: 390hp
Torque: 427Nm
Transmission: 6-speed AT
Layout/Seating: AWD/5
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In the end, there are a lot of shared parts from other Ford-owned marques: the engine and drive train from Jag, the underpinnings are supposedly common with the next-generation Ford Explorer and the majority of the electronics are from Ford as well. But the real bits that count, the bits that you can actually feel and touch, the ones that your senses interact with, are resolutely British—bespoke English.
That's what counts. And that's why this Range Rover will become a successful model. Because for the new generation of buyers the Sport is aiming at, it's got what it needs to win upmarket SUV drivers over: understated class, German-like quality, go-anywhere ability and that cool Brittania feel.
Now that's quite a combination.
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Top Gear Philippines - July 2006
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