Notorious reliability issues and ease of theft notwithstanding, Jeremy is an ardent devotee of the Range Rover, currently owning two — a battered old one for farm work and a fourth-generation model, which is currently used by girlfriend Lisa Hogan as a daily driver. He recently looked into replacing the latter, but was shocked at the prices of the all-new model.
“I wanted another Range Rover because I adore them. Until I saw that prices for a well-specced one with a proper engine [read: a big V8] start at about £130,000. I was amazed. So amazed that I thought I’d better have a look instead at the new Range Rover Sport.”
But Clarkson found the Sport rather lacking in nous when it came to off-road countryside pursuits when he took it to a game shoot.
The Range Rover Sport was more Cheshire than Chipping Norton, he concluded.
“Unnecessarily heavy, unnecessarily tall and unnecessarily thirsty. Sure, the V8 in the new Sport will average about 24.5mpg, which is remarkable, really, but imagine how much more you’d get if the car weren’t so … big.”
“It may be a good car, and I’m sure it’ll go down well in the footballing suburbs of Britain. But you have to know that if you buy one, or any of its rivals, you didn’t buy the real thing. Certainly I think I’m going to have to do that, unless I can find one to steal.”
Full review at the link...
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