2006 Range Rover Sport: My Take
One of the nice things about having more than one automotive writer on staff is the ability to get a number of opinions on the cars we test. We don’t always see a vehicle go through multiple hands, but often a different trim level or engine choice will become available and we have some room to compare notes.
Mike Hanley’s review of the Range Rover Sport was just posted on the Expert Reviews page today, but a month or so back I got a week in the Supercharged version of this luxury SUV. The bigger engine adds 90 horses, to 390-hp total, and about $12,000 to the sticker, up to just under $70,000. But boy is it a blast to drive. The handling revealed none of the “tippiness” SUVs often exhibit, and the more powerful engine kicked in with a nice grunt. I even took it on a round trip from Chicago to Detroit and it cruised splendidly.
As for looks, you can’t beat the British-made Range Rover for a bit of a superiority complex. I was picking up a propane refill at a home improvement store and another customer pulled up in his Lexus SUV to get his own BBQ fuel. As we sat there waiting, open tailgate to open tailgate, he couldn’t help but ask how the new Range Rover fared. My answer? “If you can afford one, you should buy one.”
But there’s the rub: It’s not for every budget. But if you are going to spend this kind of coin on an SUV, you really can’t go wrong with the Range Rover Sport.
