Day two of the Land Rover launch, these guys and gals have got a lot of news of late! In the past 90 days they’ve updated three of their model lines, apparently the first time in the company’s 60-plus years that model updates have happened so swiftly!

This new Rangie Sport is, if anything, an even more important model than the Disco 4 in SA. After all, it seems that it’s only the people who buy these vehicles, ie government officials and their bully-boy cronies, who still have this kind of money to splash about on four self-indulgent wheels.

It is, however, a lovely thing if you do have almost R1-million to sink. Once again, for the most part they’ve left the styling alone, although seemingly tiny touches really stand out. The Land Rover badge on the new 2-bar “family” grille for instance, is now black and silver to distinguish Range Rovers from Land Rovers (still the traditional green and gold), and it’s really very cool.

The new interior is nice as well, very similar to the Disco but even more upmarket overall. But naturally, this is a Sport after all, and billed as a sportscar with space for 5 hefty politicians errrr customers to be blasted illegally errr importantly at ridiculously high speeds to their next round of corruption planning errr important Indaba. So, fittingly, the dynamics have been further improved in an effort to keep the unlicensed berks from wasting more taxpayers money by crashing every time they come across a slight bend.

All right, the vehicle itself. It naturally still has the adaptive air suspension, to which has now been added adaptive damping as well for even finer control of that weighty body through the twisties. Click the Terrain Response selector over to Dynamic and you can feel the firmer edge, but of course it’s still not exactly a crashy, uncomfortable ride, and you’ll still easily bounce through all but the worst potholes without ripping out your front suspension.

It does feel nice and sharp, responsive to your steering inputs. We’ll elaborate more on these traits in the full report in the magazine.

The TDV8 version is a bit odd. Diesel-powered sportscars still don’t and I suspect never really will catch on. Yes, the engine is certainly strong, even manages to make a fairly decent growly V8 noise, and is definitely world’s apart in terms of consumption even in heavily-blown form like this, but it just doesn’t have any top-end fire, all the meat is there in the mid-range. So beyond 160km/h it feels as though you’re asking too much of the engine to continue to accelerate.

The new 5.0-litre supercharged petrol V8 is an absolute gem though, and totally dominates the Sport experience, which is how a sportscar should be. Yes, on light throttle openings and at low revs it’s suitably muted and refined, but go past 3000rpm with a big throttle opening and tricks valves do their stuff and a meaty, potent roar spreads through the cabin. Your face will crack into a smile every time you tap into this zone.

And of course, the thrust just gets more and more eager as this rich orchestra develops. There’s 375 kW on tap here, and a ludicrous 625 Nm of torque (Less than the TDV8 produces), enough to propel this 2800kg leviathan with the aerodynamic properties of a personal computer case to and beyond 200km/h with ease. The sprint to 100km/h from standstill is dispatched in 5.2 seconds. Not strictly sportscar quick, but damn close considering the bulk and versatility of the rest of the package, which even manages to continue to be great when you turn off the tarmac!

And it sure is eye-catching, clearly delivering the “I’m better off than you” message from every angle, which of course is precisely why customers buy them, more than the impressive dynamics, monumental thrust or glorious engines.

More detailed information, artfully arranged with a wider selection of gorgeous photos from the SA launch, will be in the next issue of Drive Magazine, only available right here.

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