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The all-new Range Rover Sport has been revealed to the world today on the streets of New York. While we caught a sneak glimpse of the car last week we can now bring you further details of the third member of the Range Rover family including new engine, transmission and 'secret' seating arrangement.
Exterior
If the new Sport looks like a cross between the Range Rover and the Evoque, then it should be no surprise that's intentional. The Sport is the third member of the Range Rover family and a design lineage has been drawn between the three cars. At 4,850mm the new car is 62mm longer than its predecessor but 149mm shorter and 55mm lower than its big brother. This size reduction, along with a more steeply raked windscreen, rounded profile and sloping roofline give the Sport, well, a sportier look, which is much more butch than that of the Evoque.
While it was developed alongside the Range Rover and shares some commonality with that car, Land Rover claims that as much as 75 per cent of the parts are unique to the Sport to influence the way it looks and feels.
Interior
Land Rover is very proud of its 'Command Driving Position' even going so far as to give it its own acronym, and the Sport is no different from the rest of the range. While still providing a commanding view of the road ahead the seating position in the Sport is less upright than that of the Range Rover. This, combined with a redesigned cabin that cocoons the driver, go along with its 'sporty' character.
Despite only having gained 62mm in overall length the wheelbase of the new car is a whopping 178mm longer than before. This has obvious benefits for ride, handling and increased legroom for passengers, but has also had the knock on effect of allowing the Land Rover engineers to fit two additional seats, making the Sport a 5+2 seater - when the right options box is ticked.
Mechanicals
Unlike the first generation Sport, which was based on Discovery underpinnings, the new car borrows its aluminium architecture from the full fat Range Rover. This has led to a weight reduction of up to 500kg depending on model and drivetrain. The weight savings have more than just an effect on how the new car drives but also on it economy.
Four engines will be available at launch - two supercharged petrol engines (5.0-litre 510hp V8 and the new 3.0-litre 340hp V6) and two diesel engines (3.0-litre 258hp TDV6 and 292hp SDV6). These will be joined later in the year by a high performance 4.4-litre SDV8 offering 339hp. A diesel hybrid model will be available to order later this year for delivery in 2014.
Along with new engines a new transmission is also introduced in the Sport in the guise of the ZF 8HP70 eight-speed automatic. This, along with refinement to engines and the lower weight, leads to an average 24 per cent drop in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions that start as low as 194g/km.
Anything else?
Being a Range Rover the Sport will feature all the off-road accoutrements you would expect along with a second generation air suspension that now drops lower to allow for easier ingress. The Range Rover Sport will go on sale during the third quarter of 2013, with most of the 169 markets being offered four equipment levels (S, SE, HSE and Autobiography), plus new 'Dynamic' versions of the HSE and Autobiography.
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