Land Rover has built a 510hp plug-in hybrid to topple the petrol-electric Porsche Cayenne - does it?
, but retains most of the facets which has made the firm’s SUV a bestseller. The eight-speed is dutiful and slick, the damping expert, the steering perfectly weighted and the whole car still seemingly designed around its driver. Just as we like it. The Cayenne is a 2.3-tonne 4x4, yes, but it’s still just about a 2.3-tonne Porsche as well.
On road, what separates the two initially is that gulf in EV performance. A fully charged Cayenne will show something like 18 miles, with the occasional switch to battery on zero miles if you’re lucky; the Sport arrived on the shoot - having been rapid charged at 50kW, which the Porsche can’t accept - with 42 miles from just over 70 per cent of a battery. Clearly, that’s a big difference, especially given how much sprightlier the Range feels as an EV as well.
It does rather play to the Range Rover’s strengths, too; the hybrid aspect of the Porsche feels like a nice novelty to have for the occasional run to the shop, whereas in the Sport it feels like a genuine preview of an electric Range, quiet and cossetting and unbelievably relaxing for sustained periods. There still seems more wind noise than would be hoped for, though that might just be the hush of everything else drawing your attention to it.
That doesn’t mean it’s the richest or most rewarding Range Rover Sport driving experience there’s ever been, mind - particularly with an engine that sounds like a high-revving diesel. There’s no denying its overall ability or all-round persuasiveness, it’s just a shame that it isn’t more, y’know, Sporty. The latest generation leans more toward the Range Rover than ever; hardly a bad thing, because that car’s superb, and this is a slightly more affordable way into one.
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