Land Rover Range Rover Sport engines & performance

Just like the bigger Range Rover, the ‘L461’ Sport has outstanding mechanical isolation and noise suppression. The luxury car aura it conjures at low speeds is second to none in the class. Combustion noise is a muted hum even at middling crank speeds and there is no detectable vibration at all.

In the UK, among the Sport models we have tried, we have fully road tested a D300 diesel. Its measured performance against our road test timing gear, in terms of both acceleration and braking, was softened somewhat by several factors. Because of its genuine dual-purpose 4x4 remit, it's a particularly heavy car among its peers; it runs on Pirelli all-season M+S tyres instead of the dedicated on-road rubber that key rivals use; and it is shorter-geared than some in order to provide the off-road capability that a Range Rover needs (without a low-range transfer ’box as standard, remember).

There’s no handbrake switch here: the electronic handbrake actuates automatically when you put the gearbox into park. Which, for those who like to leave their cars in ‘D’ and engage the handbrake at traffic lights, may seem a strange choice.

Matt Saunders

Road test editor

Step-off is handled in a Range Rover-typical gathering wave of momentum, which makes the car easy to drive slowly and to manage when you’re on and off the throttle off road, if a little hesitant when you want the fastest getaway. Gearchanges are timed intuitively and delivered smoothly, and the engine has laudable low-end response and decent high-end flexibility and refinement by diesel standards.