By Alistair Weaver
09 November 2007
From time to time I’m asked to join television debates about all manner of motoring topics. In the past few months, I’ve argued about speed cameras, red diesel and even whether men who live alone are the kings of conspicuous consumption. But it’s the subject of urban 4x4s that has stimulated the most vociferous debate.
Over the past couple of years, endless reams of ink and hours of precious air time has been spent arguing about whether the yummy mummy in her much-loved SUV is really the spawn of Beelzebub. Organisations such as the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s has shot to prominence as the agitator-in-chief against all things yummy and mummy.
The Alliance’s success lies in television’s craving for confrontation. Three minutes of someone weighing up the pros and cons makes dull TV. Everything has to be black and white, right or wrong and the most extreme views get the most attention.
On a couple of occasions, I’ve been pitched against members of the Alliance to discuss the horrors of 4x4 ownership. As a motoring journalist, I’m presented as the champion of all things automotive and charged with countering the Alliance’s more extreme opinions. It’s knockabout fun, but you sometimes wonders whether the truth is lost somewhere in the middle.
Too often, these debates have left me wondering what it’s really like to live with an SUV in an urban area. Are they really too big, too thirsty or too socially unacceptable to live with on an everyday basis? Was Mayor Livingstone right to suggest that the people who drive them are idiots? Or does an SUV make sense in an urban jungle fills with pot holes and speed bumps?
In an attempt to answer these questions, I’ve agreed to spend the next few months with an urban SUV. I live in Clapham, a relatively trendy area of Southwest London, which is home to a few SUVs and more than a few yummy mummys. It’s at least an hour’s drive from here to anywhere that could be considered even semi-rural so it should be a good test of the car’s townie credentials. This will be my everyday transport, although I’ll also be driving other vehicles, which will give me a useful reference point.
The 4x4 in question is the poster-boy of the Alliance’s campaign, a Range Rover Sport. While retaining the off-road capabilities expected of the brand, the Sport has always posed as the trend-setter in the Land Rover line-up. While the Discovery is all about utilitarian practicality and the full-size Range Rover tempts the country squire, the Sport is self-consciously hedonistic. It is big, butch and bold – everything the Alliance hates.
In common with over 85% of the all the Land Rover’s sold in the UK, my car is a turbodiesel. The 3.6-litre TDV8 was introduced earlier this year and develops 268bhp and a gargantuan 472lb ft of torque, which is enough to imbue this 2675kg off-roader with the kind of performance expected of an executive tool.
The TDV8 is only available in the high-spec HSE guise, so it comes fitted with all manner of luxury items, such as premium leather seats, satellite navigation and even a centre-console mounted fridge. It’s a comprehensive specification, but it was still all-too easy to plunder the options list.
If you’re going spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, an integrated digital TV (£500) makes a lot of sense. So too does the Harman Kardon Logic 7 stereo upgrade (£1000) and the rear entertainment system (£2,250). A tyre pressure monitoring system (£395) is a useful safety aid, while an active rear locking differential (£495) will prove beneficial should I ever venture off-road. Throw in a towing kit (£400) and Premium Carpet Mats (£100) and you add £5140 to the £53,550 list price.
At £58,690, the Sport is far from cheap and it will be expensive to run. Despite the diesel propulsion, the combined consumption is still a modest 25.4mpg and the carbon dioxide emissions are a hefty 294g/km. For an eco-warrior, this is grist for the mill.
There are lots of hugely desirable cars on the market for this price, not least Mercedes’ brilliant S-class, but those in the pro-SUV point to a different set of virtues. This should prove to be a very interesting few months.
If you have own a Range Rover Sport, join in the debate by contributing to our Car Spy blog.
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