2014 Range Rover Sport TDV6 Review
The fastest, most agile and most responsive Land Rover ever. These are Land Rover’s marketing claims about the brand new Range Rover Sport. Range Rover gave us the opportunity to put their claims to the test so we drove it on every surface we could find!
The all-new 2014 Range Rover Sport made its debut at the New York Auto Show 2013. The Range Rover Sport completes the three-model Range Rover portfolio together with the Evoque and the Range Rover. Its all-terrain performance is very important for the company, something that was made clear after watching the videos Land Rover has released at the cars introduction. The most important statistic with the car is the significant weight saving of up to 420 kilograms. This improves the performance, fuel economy and agility. You could say these subjects were a problem with the previous Range Rover Sport.
The Engine & Chassis
The 2014 Range Rover Sport comes with five different engines. Four diesel engines; a 258 hp TDV6, a 292 hp TDV6, a 339 hp SDV8 and since this year, an SDV6 combined with a 35 kW electric engine producing 340 hp and 700 Nm. The only petrol engine Land Rover now offers is the Supercharged which has a 5.0 litre engine producing 510 hp.
Our review car was fitted with the entry level diesel engine, the TDV6. The TDV6 has a 3.0 litre V6 diesel engine producing 258 hp at 4,000 rpm and 600 Nm at 2,000 rpm. That is the same amount of torque as the SDV6 and just 25 Nm short of the V8 Supercharged petrol engine.
As previously mentioned, the new Range Rover Sport is 420 kgs lighter than the previous generation. That’s 39 percent lighter if you look at the vehicles platform in the round. How did they manage to shed off all that weight? Well, the new lightweight aluminium body structure employs a combination of pressed panels, plus cast, extruded and rolled aluminium alloy parts, so the strength is concentrated precisely where the loads are greatest. As for fuel consumption, Land Rover says that the new advanced intelligent Stop/Start system which is fitted on all 2014 models helps improve fuel consumption by up to 7 percent.
Fuel consumption is not the only thing that has been improved. The ability and driving dynamics are the biggest differences compared to the previous Sport. More about this in the ‘Driving Experience’ part.
Performance
The TDV6 diesel engine brings the 2,115 kg weight from 0-100 km/h in 7.6 seconds. The top speed is limited to 210 km/h. The fuel consumption is always a problem with these big and heavy cars but Land Rover claims a consumption of 8.3l/100 km in the city and 6.7/100 km on the highway, impressive figures indeed.
Gearbox & Drivetrain
All petrol and diesel engines fitted to the new Range Rover Sport are paired with the advanced electronically controlled ZF 8HP70 8-speed automatic gearbox. There are two different full-time 4 wheel drive options. The first includes a two-speed transfer case with low-range option where the road conditions are much tougher, a front-rear 50/50 percent default torque split and 100 percent locking capability. This full-time 4 wheel drive option is not available for the TDV6 but is available as an option for the SDV6. The SDV6 Hybrid, SDV8 and V8 Supercharged are fitted with this from the factory. Terrain Response 2 is also fitted in these cars as standard, it being the upgraded version of the Terrain Response.
The other option is reserved just for the TDV6 and SDV6 and features the original version of the Terrain Response system. This option, which is 18 kg lighter, has a single-speed transfer case with a Torsen differential which automatically distributes torque to the axle with most grip. The default front-rear torque split of 42/58 percent is designed to provide a rear-wheel drive bias for optimum driving dynamics.
The Torque Vectoring system is only possible for cars fitted with the two-speed transfer case. This system uses the brake system of the car to imitate a controlled torque distribution to the four wheels. This provides the Range Rover Sport with better grip, better steering and less understeer.
Suspension
The lightweight aluminium suspension is fully-independent, with wide-spaced double-wishbones at the front and an advanced multi-link layout at the rear. The maximum ground clearance is increased by 51 mm to 278 mm and the upgraded air suspension has three options. The next generation Terrain Response system automatically selects the most suitable terrain programme.
The air suspension provides up to 115 mm of regular movement. The lowest setting is ‘access height’ and the highest setting is off-road height. An automatic extension, triggered by sensors, and a manually-selected extension, both raise the Sport by 35 mm, giving a total movement range of 185 mm. The re-engineered air suspension system with its new +35 mm intermediate setting means that the off-road mode can remain available at much higher speeds (80 km/h up from 50 km/h) than was possible before, which is valuable in terrain with long, rutted dirt roads.
The electric power steering (EPAS) feels lighter and more direct. The Adaptive Dynamics analyses the movement of the car more than 500 times a second. It reacts on the road changes and the drivers reactions. This system recognizes off-road conditions by itself and subsequently changing the dampers. This results in better control and minimal sway. The system is only possible in combination with the two-speed transfer case.
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