Vehicle details
Introduced in 2005, Land Rover's first generation Range Rover Sport (L320) appears to be a smaller and more athletic version of the larger, more traditional third generation Range Rover (L322). It was the first Range Rover primarily designed to be driven on-road, and it includes a lot of advanced technology to achieve handling that justifies the 'Sport' name. Choose the most powerful 5.0-litre supercharged version and it's remarkable, yet as a Land Rover, the Sport also offers serious off-road capability. As a used buy its popularity is largely driven by street cred, rather than green lane credibility, and that's partly down to the blend of technology that Land Rover chose to put into the Range Rover Sport. Although it is a newer model than the contemporary Range Rover, it owes more to the Discovery 3 including retaining an old-school ladder chassis despite having full independent suspension. Its rivals include the Porsche Cayenne and Mercedes ML, and as a used buy it has a lot going for it over both of those cars.If you don't plan on serious off-roading and are considering the Range Rover Sport as a family SUV, bear in mind that it is an astonishingly heavy car for a five seater. It is also one that cost a substantial amount new, and maintaining that technology does not come cheap. When browsing used cars for sale the Range Rover Sport looks like good value and it can be. Find a good one and you'll enjoy mid-2000s luxury for less than the deposit on a new hatchback. Find a bad one and your repair bills could probably have bought that new hatchback outright.Fans of Land Rover products can manage their expectations, but if you haven't owned a Land Rover, Range Rover or Jaguar before bear in mind that the advanced technology and engineering is not something to take for granted and ignore. The Range Rover Sport achieved glowing reviews when launched, mostly for the way it took almost two and a half tonnes of 44 and made it handle like a hot hatch without compromising off road ability. It's packed with sophisticated systems, such as Terrain Response a system that optimises the car's off-road performance depending on the road surface. Active anti-roll, powerful, complex engines, advanced electronics all work brilliantly when new but there's a lot to go wrong, and by the time the car is over a decade old, a lot of it will. It's also a popular workhorse for heavy towing, which can mean more wear on suspension, drivetrain and brakes. Interior trim and bodywork is generally robust, but underneath it inherits some more old-school issues from its Discovery ancestry and the popular TDV6 engine is a significant weak spot. 2009-on Range Rover Sports benefit from a thorough facelift that brought a much upgraded interior, improved engines and a wider range of options.