Range Rover Supercharged Sport: Skin Deep

Range Rover Supercharged Sport: Skin Deep
Price as tested: $75,250

Here in the northeast, it’s hard to think of SUVs as “summer” vehicles. But as we shift our concerns from plowing the driveway to opening the summer house, the Range Rover Supercharged Sport stands ready as the antidote to cabin fever. Or does it?

You should know that the Range Rover Sport platform falls between the marque’s entry-level LR3 ($39,000) and flagship Range Rover ($75,750 and up) product lines. The “Sport” models share mechanical underpinnings with the less expensive LR3 line, and check in at $57,250 for the base “HSE” model, and $70,250 for the “Supercharged” model I tested. One presumes that manufacturer Land Rover’s play is to offer an “LR3” that looks like a full-blown Range Rover. The question for buyers is whether the “Sport” makeover is worth the $18,000 to $31,000 up charge, depending on the engine selected.

For the record, the entry-level Land Rover LR3 – on which the Range Rover Sport models are based – is one serious beast. I drove one through a winter week of snow and sleet, and had a blast. The LR3 is unexpectedly quick and nimble for an SUV, and will have you grinning as much as an Infiniti FX or non-turbo Porsche Cayenne. Gas mileage is ridiculously poor, but that’s not news. So why not buy the LR3 and be done with it?

Well, if you’ve always wanted a flagship Range Rover but couldn’t cough up the 75 grand (which is still a lot of money, last time I checked), the up-market styling of the LR3-based $57,250 Range Rover Sport HSE might be a nice compromise. But to get the Range Rover Sport Supercharged – with the 390 horsepower, 4.2 liter V8 that it shares with the superb Jaguar XJR sedan – requires you to pull within $5,000 of the big boy. Hmmm.

The Range Rover Sport Supercharged is certainly fast, and its all-weather handling credentials are beyond reproach. But for $70,000 plus you get the same, Spartan black plastic interior treatment as the $39,000 LR3. Much of the pleasure of driving a flagship Range Rover is the Jaguar-like luxury of a vehicle with expedition chops, and the Supercharged Sport just doesn’t have that finesse. You should either push to get the Range Rover flagship, stick with the LR3, or check out the Infiniti FX35/45 and Porsche Cayenne/S.