2012 range rover sport7/28/2023 But I won’t, as the numbers-from performance to purchase price to fuel cost-speak for themselves. I could make a judgment here about the sanity and necessarily dubious rationalization most drivers would have to make to claim anyone actually needs such a vehicle. The Range Rover is the obvious opposite of a sports car, yet I climbed out of it feeling as though I had just had as much of a driving experience as I do in performance cars a third of its size. Loads of interior room and utility make it an unusually practical luxury overindulgence. Obviously, my experience at the pump proves it consumes fuel at about the same rate as a large boat, too, but damn, I could live in this rolling executive lounge: Welcome to Land Rover Air. (Thanks to relatively new yet now former parent company BMW for its influence there.) Add the large upright windshield and seating position, and you feel like the captain of your own personal asphalt-going yacht. As Bob notes, the chassis is exceptionally smooth and stable, bearing no resemblance to the paved-road behavior of Land Rovers from even just a few years back. Indeed, the engine is a flat-out ripper, and the Range Rover Supercharged blasts along at a grin-inducing pace, both off the line and throughout the mid-range while cruising. I kept running my hand over the dashboard’s various panels just to soak up the design talent and materials-sourcing that went into this. ![]() Beautiful styling and outstanding ergonomics, not to mention the high-quality materials installed at every touch point. The same applies to the interior, which is absolutely fantastic. It looks exceptionally purposeful yet modern, and the exterior styling certainly makes it clear that the Rover’s driver is not short on cash or credit. The Supercharged Range Rover will convert even the staunchest of anti-SUV moaners, assuming they have an ounce of human emotion pumping through them. SENIOR MOTORSPORTS EDITOR MAC MORRISON: I can picture Crocodile Dundee rolling up in the Outback next to some schmuck in a INSERT NAME OF COMPETITOR VEHICLE HERE and spouting, “That’s not a ride,” glancing at his own Range Rover Supercharged: “Now THAT’s a RIDE!” How many SUVs encourage that behavior? This one does. And unlike too many big powerful utes and pickups out there, the RR Supercharged brakes are up to the task of slowing this mighty machine quicker than you can say “whoa Nellie.” I particularly enjoyed slapping the auto trans into manual mode and cycling through the ratios, keeping the revs up and the powertrain taut in traffic. ![]() Once rolling, the Range Rover Supercharged is a sharp knife posing as a blunt instrument, carving up traffic with the kind of laser precision, stability and control that bears zero resemblance to its size and stature. Getting up to speed is a thrill ride, in a good way, as the Range Rover Supercharged whines up (yes, intentional) and launches with the kind of acceleration you just don’t expect-or see very often-in vehicles of this heft. Though you’re riding high, you’d swear there’s a sports car buried somewhere down in the chassis by the way this beast hunkers down and positively hammers. It’s a pricey piece at $102,000, but it’s a head-turner just sitting still-and even more stunning inside where everything is done up in leather and piping, chrome and wood trim.īut the best part comes when the super-refined engine fires up and you punch the right pedal for power. ![]() ![]() But that’s a fair descriptor for the 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Supercharged. EXECUTIVE EDITOR BOB GRITZINGER: It’s hard to get one’s head around the concept of “agility” in a nearly 3-ton, 6-foot, monster Earth-crushing SUV.
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