SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


Mini test: 2011 Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged

Optimised for fast road use

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday October 26, 2011

The engine: Jaguar-Land Rover developed the 4999 cc, 32-valve with CVVT on all four camshafts, V8 in-house for use by both brands. Shared primary objectives included highest possible torque and fast response from low revs. Some changes were made for off-road applications though. First was a deeper sump to accommodate the extreme tilting angles that Range Rovers and Discoveries get up to, off the beaten track. Then they waterproofed the belt drives, alternator, air-conditioning compressor, power steering pump and starter motor.

The body: About 184 mm shorter and 84 mm lower than regular Range Rovers, the Sport is optimised for fast road use without sacrificing any off-road capability. Air suspension, electronic aids and all the cameras are still there, as are most of the toys. In fact I got quite cross-eyed trying to compare features and specifications. Let’s just say that if you can’t find what the bigger versions have in addition to what’s on the Sport, it might be pointless spending the extra money. All I noticed before developing a nasty headache was a heated front screen and a TV set. Think about it - in hottest Africa and in the boonies far from the nearest television relay tower?  Do you really need them?

The experience:  The boot is really big; expanding from 450 litres behind the second row and under the shelf, to 2013 litres with the seatbacks tumbled and folded flat. Tall passengers rate knee- and foot room at ‘10’ with headspace getting ‘9’. The reduced overall height compared with the full sized Rangie probably accounts for that.  Air conditioning vent repeaters, DVD screens, AV controls on the door pulls and a battery of RCA plugs greet visitors – you can hardly call such elite personages ‘passengers,’ can you? Storage consists of a pair of seatback pouches and narrow door bins.

Those in front are better cared for with a chilled central box-cum armrest with a tray for an iPod and phone on top. A dedicated iPod plug and a USB slot built in to the tray, look after portable music. Two cubbies, cup holders and door bins provide more storage. Seats are electrically adjustable, with three memories for the driver’s chair. Apart from a few cosmetic changes, secondary controls are as for last year’s version with the rotary selector for Rock, Sand, Mud and Ruts, Grass and Gravel, Off and Dynamic, on the central stack. Computer, phone and music controls are repeated on the steering wheel.

While its off-road credentials are taken as read, Range Rover Sport is undeniably the road burner of choice within the company lineup. Lighter than its bigger sibling and fitted with the ‘R’ version of the big V8, long distance touring with the family aboard, is what this one is all about.  With massive torque available from low revs, overtaking is a breeze – truly a case of “I would like to do this” and “It’s done,” happening almost simultaneously.

Fuel economy obviously takes a knock if you choose to cover kilometres quickly and pass everything in sight, but a big, powerful engine pushing a tall body weighing over 2,7 tons loaded, can’t be expected to sip fuel like a little shopping car. It’s a question of priorities. If you want maximum fuel efficiency, you have to drive like your grandmother. But if you’re going to do that, why buy a Range Rover in the first place? Average fuel consumption over the week I had it on test worked out at 17,6 l/100 km, so if a big SUV is what you need, that’s what it costs.

The numbers:
Price: R1 004 995
Engine: 4 999 cc, turbopetrol
Power: 375 kW at 6 000 rpm
Torque: 625 Nm at 2 500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 5,71 seconds
Maximum speed: 225 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 17,6 l/100 km
Tank: 88 litres
Ground clearance: 188 to 243 mm under front axle (Std height and Off road height)
Approach: 30,3 degrees (Std), 34,6 degrees (Off road)
Departure: 26 to 29 degrees (See above)
Rampover: 20 to 25 degrees (See above)
Wading depth: 700 mm (Off road height)
Warranty and maintenance plan: 5 years/100 000 km




What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so I do actually exist.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

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