By thatcar.co.za
So, when you think of a Range Rover Sport, what comes to mind?
Don’t be daft. Range Rovers are reliable. Yes, you heard me — Range Rovers are reliable.
I hear you saying, “But Toyota…”
Stop right there, you — yes, you reading this article. You’re a handsome guy, aren’t you? So, in your own right, you’re handsome. But how would you feel every time one woman said, “You’re handsome,” and her friend replied, “But Brad Pitt…”?
It wouldn’t be fair, right?
I digress.
The Range Rover Sport. What comes to mind?
I’ll tell you: beautiful, sporty, comfortable, capable of going into water — and heavy on fuel, right?
Well, what if I told you this one uses no fuel?
And it’s coming to South Africa.
Let me give you the 411. Yes…
Range Rover.
Listen carefully, as one of our previous presidents once said, the Range Rover Sport Electric is available to order in South Africa, with prices starting at R3,291,100 for the AWD EV550 Dynamic SE.
Okay, have you stopped choking on your beer?
Let me tell you more.
THE ELECTRIC SPORT
The Range Rover Sport Electric comes with two 260kW electric motors, producing up to 404kW and 850Nm of torque — the most torque ever offered in a Range Rover Sport.
It can accelerate from 0–100km/h in as little as 4.3 seconds using Dynamic Launch Mode.
And because this is still a Range Rover Sport, it hasn’t forgotten how to go around corners.
The EV comes equipped with Adaptive Dynamics, Twin Valve Dampers, Electronic Active Roll Control and All-Wheel Steering, all designed to give the Sport the agility and composure you expect from a performance SUV.
And then there’s the range: up to 609km.
THE BATTERY
The Range Rover Sport Electric gets a 118.5kWh lithium-ion battery and an 800-volt electrical architecture.
Thanks to its split-charging technology, it can add up to 220km of range in as little as 10 minutes under the right charging conditions.
The new EV joins the Range Rover Sport family alongside plug-in hybrid, petrol and diesel models.
So, depending on what you want, you still have options.
THEY’VE BEEN CLIMBING THINGS AGAIN
By the way, the Range Rover Sport is celebrating 20 years.
Did you know that?
To celebrate, Land Rover is once again doing what Land Rover does — taking the Sport somewhere that most sensible people would look at and say, “You’re not driving a car up there, are you?”
The company is demonstrating the vehicle’s enhanced dynamic abilities in the 914-metre-high Carrara marble quarries in Italy, continuing the Range Rover Sport tradition of tackling performance challenges in spectacular locations.
The Range Rover Sport has previously tackled the 4.3km Pikes Peak Hill Climb in record time, climbed the 999 steps to Heaven’s Gate in China, and even scaled an Icelandic spillway.
Basically, they keep taking these things places where cars probably shouldn’t be going.
OK, LET’S GET TECHNICAL
The Range Rover Sport Electric features uniquely tuned Intelligent Traction Management, virtual all-wheel drive, Dynamic Air Suspension and Electronic Active Roll Control (eARC).
The eARC system can apply up to 1,400Nm of force across each axle, helping keep the vehicle composed.
Then you have Twin Valve Dampers and Adaptive Dynamics, which monitor 100 parameters up to 500 times per second to help control body roll and pitch during cornering and braking.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: What does all that actually mean?
Well, basically, it means the engineers have done a lot of complicated stuff to make a very heavy electric SUV handle properly.
And, because it’s an English car, apparently we needed several complicated names to explain it.
YOUR RANGE ROVER KNOWS ITSELF
Each Range Rover Sport Electric comes with a Battery Digital Twin, allowing Range Rover to proactively monitor and maintain the vehicle through JLR’s software-over-the-air technology.
The battery is covered by an eight-year or 160,000km warranty.
VERDICT
The looks?
Brad Pitt looks.
You can’t argue with that.
It’s comfortable — we can’t argue with that either.
And Range Rovers have one of the best driving positions in the business.
Argue amongst yourselves.
It’s a Range Rover, and we love Range Rovers.
And if they’re no longer drinking fuel like it’s a Friday night at the pub?
We love them even more.
So, yes — if you have the budget, go get it.
