With the Land Rover Range Rover getting a recent update, it was only a matter of time until the Sport got the same treatment, too. And now we know just what that looks like: The 2023 Range Rover Sport has a meaner front and more taut styling, and power is bumped up to 523 horsepower in its highest offering: a twin-turbocharged V8. If speed is less your style, there’s a plug-in hybrid variant with 48 miles of all-electric range as well.
The Range Rover Sport is fully revised from its outgoing model for this new third generation, with cleaner lines and a more attractive grille and headlight combo on its front fascia. Riding on the MLA-Flex architecture, it offers several of the same drivetrain options as its more upscale brethren, the full-size Range Rover, despite its more compact size.
The base Sport P360 SE model is the least powerful of the lineup, with a hybrid inline-six drivetrain spitting out 355 hp. The next level up, the Sport P400, gets that same 395 hp Ingenium inline-six drivetrain that the full-size Range Rover is equipped with. The P440e trim, above that—more commonly known as the Autobiography, in Range Rover parlance—gets a plug-in hybrid system that pairs the inline-six with a 105-kW motor and a 31.8-kWh battery; the whole system is good for 434 hp and a massive 619 pounds-feet of torque, as well as that aforementioned 48 miles of pure electric range. The summit of the Sport’s trims unlocks the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 that puts out nearly 100 hp more, at 523, but doesn’t offer a hybrid supplement and actually puts out less torque than the plug-in variant does, at 553 lb-ft. Finally, the Sport offers an eight-speed ZF gearbox driving all four wheels on every trim.
Inside, things are plush as you’d expect them to be in a Range Rover, even if it is the smaller one. Lines are clean and the design is tidy. Land Rover also says there’s an option called Cabin Air Purification Pro, which “combines PM2.5 filtration and nanoeTM X technology to significantly reduce odors, bacteria and allergens, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus.” A timely option, I suppose!
The Rover Sport is also Land Rover’s first offering with Adaptive Off-Road Cruise Control, which allows for rocky hill climbs and descents to be controlled by the standard all-wheel-drive sensing out its surroundings. Interestingly, it also offers various “comfort” settings for the cruise control, presumably allowing off-roading to be taken in increments of “do not spill the passenger’s chardonnay” all the way up to “Ari Vatanen, 1988, Pikes Peak.”
For pricing, the base Sport P360 trim comes in at $84,350 after destination. Prices climb from there, culminating with the V8 First Edition, which rings up at $122,850 MSRP. Buyers shelling out for the First Edition do get four-wheel steering, electronic torque-vectoring, and an active air-suspension roll control system Range Rover calls Dynamic Response Pro, which makes the six-figure price tag a lot more enticing.
If all this sounds interesting, you can play with Land Rover’s Range Rover Sport configurator now and create your dream Rover Sport. Personally, I’m excited for the plug-in hybrid and the absolutely phenomenal torque on tap it offers, not to mention that 48 miles of pure electric range. That’s extremely strong for a modern SUV no matter which way you look at it.