2008 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Interior Review at Automotive.com
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2008 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Review: Interior

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2008 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Review

Agile on road, capable off road.
Interior
While the Range Rover Sport's exterior unabashedly mimics the top-of-the-line Range Rover's looks, the interior stays truer to its LR3 underpinnings.

The dash top, instrument cluster and steering wheel are direct transplants from the LR3, right down to the stacks of cruise control buttons and redundant audio controls next to the thin, vertical, metallic horn buttons along each side the airbag cover in the steering wheel hub. The tachometer has no redline, leaving drivers dependent on the Sport's computers to coordinate engine speed and gear selection with terrain idiosyncrasies (not that you'd normally be revving high off road). Although the center stack structure lays back at a more ergonomically friendly angle than the LR3's, the switches, knobs, buttons and display screens are the same as the LR3's, too, which while plentiful, are fairly easy to decipher. The four dash-top vents are shaped differently, but located in the same positions, belying the shared, behind-the-scenes framework. The navigation system's display is recessed in the dash at the top of the center stack and accessible to both front seat occupants.

The seat contours are more defined than both the LR3's and the full-size Range Rover's standard accommodations, although the seat bottoms could be deeper and provide more thigh support. More pronounced bolsters in front add lateral support, and the rear seat's softer cushions render it less bench-like than it looks; we appreciated this over a several hour drive from Aspen, Colorado, to the smooth red rock around Moab, Utah. Infinitely adjustable, inboard arm rests in front ease long, droning, interstate drives.

The head restraints could be better. The positioning of the front-seat head restraints favors the back-seat movie watchers. To ensure the best viewing experience, the head restraints, which double as housings for the video screens, are fixed in a vertical plane; in other words, they're adjustable only up or down and cannot be angled forward or backward. We found the head rest a bit intrusive. More vehicles are coming this way in an effort to reduce the chance of neck injuries in a rear-end collision. Reclining the front seat a bit lessened the discomfort.

A panel of auxiliary jacks for the entertainment system is set into the rear of the front center console, along with the levers for the optional rear seat heaters.

In most interior measures, the Sport fits between the more utilitarian LR3 and the better-appointed but tighter-fitting Range Rover. The Sport's front seat offers less leg and headroom than the LR3, but more legroom than the Range Rover and about the same headroom. The Sport's rear seat headroom is also less than in the LR3, but about the same as in the top model; and legroom is the same as in the LR3 but more than in the Range Rover.

In cargo space, the Sport fits where it logically should, offering almost 20 fewer cubic feet than the much more upright LR3 but less than four fewer than the Range Rover. Save for cup holders, of which there are but two, protected by a sliding cover in the front center console, incidental storage is decent. The nifty little cool box packaged with the Luxury Interior option fits in the cubby in the center console aft of those cup holders and chills small beverage bottles and snacks. The front doors have two map pockets, the rear doors, one. Pouches for magazine and headsets are stitched into the backside of the front seat backs. The bi-level glove box's upper element doubles as a CD rack. Atop this, a divided tray for odds and ends fills the space between the air conditioning registers. Next Page



2008 Land Rover Range Rover Sport
  
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