At first glance, the Range Rover Sport could easily be mistaken for the top-of-the-line Range Rover. To the extent there are differences, they are confined to dimensions and subtle styling cues.Although nominally based on the Land Rover LR3 (formerly known as the Discovery), the Sport is smaller on the outside in all but width, and that by less than half an inch. The Sport is more than two inches shorter than the LR3 in overall length; its wheelbase is shorter by more than five inches. It's not as tall, by three inches. In one significant measure, it's identical to the LR3, and that is its track, the distance between the wheels from side to side, which is also less than an inch narrower than the taller and longer top-of-the-line Range Rover.
Appearance-wise, the Sport so closely resembles the top-of-the-line Range Rover that it's like the Disneyland version of Main Street: It looks just like the real one built to a slightly smaller scale. Only the most discerning and trained eye will notice that the hood, or bonnet, as they call it on the other side of the pond, is mostly flat, missing the full-size Range Rover's castellations, those longitudinal humps running along the top outer edges back from the headlights. Or that the windscreen and backlight (rear windscreen) are faster, or more raked. Or the presence of understated side skirts, front air dam and rear spoiler. Maybe the front quarter panels' side vents are more obvious, being closely patterned after the LR3's and in stark contrast to the Range Rover's vertical louvers.