Muscular mass ahoy! We find the best high-performance SUV from the current crop, as the latest Range Rover Sport P530 tackles the petrol Porsche Cayenne GTS Coupe and electric BMW iX M60 ⛽️⚡️
► Three of the sportiest SUVs on sale in 2023
The rain’s horizontal as I clamber into our Range Rover Sport and wake the BMW-derived 4.4-litre V8. There are one or two design chiefs integral to their brand but few for whom you can make the argument their work has been transformative. In sophisticated Giola Green with Light Cloud and Ebony leather, the new Sport is the embodiment of Gerry McGovern’s luxurification of Land Rover.
The Range Rover’s steering set-up is unremarkably competent; light, accurate and in tune with the car’s character. The Sport’s more of the same, though with an aggressive self-centring that jars a little on first acquaintance. Neither as rapid as the iX’s rack nor as tactile as the Cayenne’s, there is at least a good deal of accuracy and sensitivity to it, and that – conjuring a semblance of a connection between you and the front axle of a 2.5-tonne SUV – is no mean feat.
Get through the fuzziness and the Sport clings on well, with strong body control, adept torque vectoring and an all-wheel-drive system so nicely tuned it’s happy to get on and ladle tonnes of torque into the mix just as soon as you’re sure you’re pointed in the right direction. A more pronounced rear bias would be nice, though, to up the Sport’s sportiness and distance it from the Range Rover.
A lifetime of BMW ownership is no preparation, either for the iX’s philosophy and feel or for the way it drives.
As James points out, the driving experience isn’t rewarding in the same way as the Cayenne’s, feeling an order of magnitude or two more less intimate. But there’s no denying the BMW’s ability, nor its awesome cruising refinement when you find yourself on longer, more mundane journeys. Again, the difference in rubber surely tells here, in conditions that are wet but not cold. On its Pirellis the Porsche monsters the Land Rover as a driving tool. There’s so much more grip, such clean and flat cornering and no lost body movement, no waiting for anything to recover or catch up.
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