Land Rover has taken the covers off its latest “more muscular” Range Rover Sport to reveal a lighter, greener, connected 4×4.
Unveiled at an event in New York on 26 March, the 2013 Range Rover Sport, driven in by Daniel Craig for a spot of Hollywood glamour, is the maker’s attempt at creating the premium SUV on the market.
As well as the now almost compulsory connected options that come with new car launches, the Sport allows owners to check the status of the vehicle via an app that incudes stolen vehicle tracking and emergency call options. Wi-Fi providing coverage for up to eight devices at a time and a colour laser Head-Up Display are some additional bells and whistles.
The Sport also features a new Wade Sensing technology that gives depth information when driving through water — a genuinely useful innovation. Sensors in the door mirrors detect the water height and compare with the wheel depth to provide the data (particularly beneficial when visibility is poor or at night). The system cannot tell you what watery dangers lurk ahead, but can at least let you know when you are getting into trouble. Should you wish to risk it; the car can brave depths of up to 850mm (an increase of 150mm) before alarms start to sound and the HUD flashes.
A new camera system also supports three driver-assistance features: Lane Departure Warning, Traffic Sign Recognition and Automatic High Beam Assist.
As for the car itself, apart from, looking at the new bodywork, going to the gym, the Range Rover has been on an extreme diet, exploiting Land Rover’s lightweight suspension design and dynamic chassis technologies with the Sport’s new all-aluminium body structure (39 per cent lighter than the old RR Sport) — which in short means a huge weight saving of up to 420kg.
This lightness should give better performance and a 15 per cent CO2 reduction, down to 194g/km. The Sport also is 62mm longer than its predecessor, but, at 4,850mm, is shorter than other 7-seater SUVs (there is a new “5+2” seating option for the model).
The other stats: 0-60mph from just under 5 seconds, 149mm shorter and 55mm lower than the new Range Rover, 24 per cent more fuel efficient, a choice of two 4WD systems and two engines (a supercharged 5-litre 510PS V8 petrol and a 3-litre 292PS SDV6 diesel (more options will be available next year, including a diesel hybrid). As much as 85 per cent of the car is recyclable.
This new Range Rover Sport is set to go on sale the third quarter of 2013.
Source: wired.co.uk- 10/04/2013
