THE BRITISH CAR industry is officially 'kaput'. Of course it's been proclaimed dead many times before only to have various bits resurrected by foreign hands but now, the last surviving English-owned bastion, MG Rover, has collapsed, an apparent victim of corporate strip mining and inappropriately holidaying chief executives.

Happily though, other one-time branches of the old Rover group are doing well. Mini is a runaway success thanks to BMW and Land Rover has never had it so good, thanks to new parent Ford.

The car-buying cognoscenti can't get enough of the Discovery 3, which was launched last year, and now they've got the new Range Rover Sport to hanker after. The Sport slots in between the top of the line Range Rover and the Discovery, and even though it's heavily based on the Discovery, Land Rover insists that the Sport is an entirely new model in the lineup.

In supercharged guise and squatting purposefully on 20-inch alloys, the Sport looks fantastic, classy and bling-squared at the same time. Add the looks to the unassailably trendy Range Rover badge and you have a combination that blows the competition into the weeds.

DRIVING IT

First off, the most impressive thing about the Range Rover Sport dynamically is the fact that it didn't make me sick while I was in it. Specifically it didn't make me sick even when I was being driven around by a journalist whose ineptitude behind the wheel defies my powers of description.

Nevertheless, here goes. He was clinically devoid of finesse, feel or machine empathy, and yet he somehow only flirted with outright recklessness. His throttle control was spastic at best, epileptic-plugged-into-the-mains at worst, and in any other car, I would've painted the dashboard with my breakfast.

But not in the Range Rover Sport. By golly, this car rides well. In fact, it rides so well that you'd expect to find a Lexus badge on the bonnet. In the supercharged model, Land Rover's Dynamic Response system comes as standard. This clever feature uses cross-linked air suspension and active anti-roll bars to minimise lean in corners.

It works, but only up to a point as there's just no disguising the car's 2.5-tonne bulk. Even the 4.2-litre supercharged V8 has a devil of a time delivering the urge you'd normally associate with something that packs 390bhp. The engine sounds good though, and for the most part the Sport delivers a pretty sharp drive, given its weight.

INSIDE IT

You sit high up in the driver's seat but Land Rover's designers have contrived it such that the dashboard and centre console impart a sporty wraparound effect. The main controls are lifted from the Discovery, which is no bad thing. However, some fairly cheap-feeling plastics are used in the cabin, especially on the panel housing the main light switch.

On the centre console you'll find the Terrain Response system controller, the same set-up used in the Discovery. It's devilishly simple to use and it gives the Sport the same idiot-proof off-roading capability as the Disco. There's plenty of space up front and the generously bolstered seats do grip you very well.

Space in the rear isn't so good. There's room for six-footers but only just, and given the size of the car you'd expect a lot more rear room.

Luggage space is excellent though, the boot has a vast maximum capacity of 2,013 litres, and the tailgate has a split-opening window that facilitates the loading of smaller items.

DOLLARS AND SENSE

It's a little difficult to put a number to the Sport, not least because the local dealer has yet to decide on a price. But given that the flagship Range Rover lists at about $340,000 and that a V8-engined Discovery with maxed-out spec should cost near $270,000, we figure that $300,000 for the supercharged model should be about right.

That puts it in between the entry-level Porsche Cayenne and the Cayenne S. As Land Rover intends for the Sport to compete directly with the Cayenne Turbo, that makes it a bit of a bargain. There is a naturally-aspirated variant available but it's actually 200ccs larger than the supercharged version, which means road tax implications.

The supercharged Sport does come with plenty of kit, including intelligent cruise control, which maintains the car at a set distance from the vehicle in front, as well as an excellent Harman Kardon Logic 7 sound system.

VERDICT

The only real niggle is some questionable trim quality. Apart from that Land Rover has crafted a terrifically desirable vehicle. It might not be on par with the X5 or the Cayenne in terms of dynamic ability but it's the Sport's breadth of ability that's more important and in this sense it has no genuine rival. And anyway if it's a sharp drive that you're after, you should just get a proper sports car.

NEED TO KNOW

Model Range Rover Sport Supercharged
Engine 4,197cc 32V V8
Max Power 390bhp at 5,750rpm
Max Torque 550Nm at 3,000rpm
Gearbox 6-speed dual clutch sequential
Top Speed 225km/h
0-100 km/h 7.2 seconds
Price $300,000 est. with COE
Warranty TBA
Contact Regent Motors at 6479-7277

SIMILAR CARS WE HAVE DRIVEN

Porsche Cayenne Turbo $448,888 w/o COE

A TWIN-TURBO 4.5-litre V8 gives the Turbo enough punch to see off the 0-100km/h sprint in 5.6 seconds. You'd need a proper supercar, or better yet, a 911, to keep up.

BMW X5 4.8is $400,000 with COE

WE HAVEN'T DRIVEN the 4.8-litre model but given how well and how car-like the base-model 3.0-litre X5 handles, we expect that the addition of a 360bhp 4.8-litre V8 can only improve on things.