As a publicity exercise, Range Rover ventured into the Saudi Arabian desert to demonstrate the versatility of the new Range Rover Sport. For a vehicle most often seen outside school playgrounds at 4 p.m. this was a radical departure.
The desert, known as the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia, is the world’s biggest sand desert and one that even the locals are wary about venturing into. The crossing was done in record time, traveling east to west across the desert over the 850 km route in just 10 hours and 22 minutes. The only non-standard equipment was a skid plate for the underside of the vehicle. Other than that, it was just like the Range Rover Sport that you see parked in the forecourt of a Bangkok luxury hotel.
Desert Rover
The Sport has a choice of four engines: a 190 kW 3.0 liter TDV6 diesel, a 215 kW SDV6 diesel, a new 250 kW 3.0 liter V6 and 375 kW 5.0 liter V8 – with a 250 Kw 4.4 liter diesel version also due to arrive soon with all mated to an 8-speed ZF auto transmission.
In the fastest Range Rover Sport, the V8 Supercharged, this means 0-100 km/h in just 5.3 seconds with the performance figures resulting from 420 kg trimmed from Range Rover Sport with extensive use of aluminium in both the body and suspension.
