The diesel variant of Range Rover Sport is basically the entry-level trim but with a Diesel engine and entry-level on luxury SUVs mean trouble. You won’t get much of the features you would want on an $80k SUV. The HSE Silver trim gets bigger 21-inch wheels and LED headlights for external appeal and function. We do have leather upholstery and power seats as standard along with dual-zone automatic climate control. 

For infotainment purposes, the SUV comes with a 10-inch touch screen with smartphone integration along with a fully digital instrument cluster. The base trim gets a 13-speaker sound system but the HSE trim gets an upgraded 19-speaker Meridian sound system for a more immersive listening experience. For options, we have 4-zone automatic climate control, ventilated & massaging seats, and 10-inch displays for the second-row passenger entertainment.

Which Trim should you buy?

There's only one option left for someone who wants that torquey diesel engine, the HSE Silver trim. The standard feature set isn’t mind-blowing and the ambient lighting is absent as well which should have been standard for a luxury SUV. Thankfully the SUV comes with most of the active safety features that are available and only the high-speed emergency braking and adaptive cruise control remain off the list, otherwise, the Range Rover HSE has it all.

The 2022 Range Rover Sport Diesel at the moment comes with a 3.0L Turbo-Diesel V-6 engine and is mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. We are expecting the diesel engine and Plug-In hybrid mills to be discontinued but the diesel engine will always be a top choice for torque & mileage seekers. This engine churns out 254 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. The horsepower numbers are tiny considering the size of this SUV but torque is available in ample amounts. The transmission is smooth shifts on time. 

The engine, however, feels a bit stressed on higher RPMs but that’s one of the traits of diesel engines anyway. All that 443 lb-ft of twisting power is available from just 1,750 RPM and this proves helpful especially in towing or on steep inclines where the SUV pulls like it is empty. The towing capacity of the Range Rover Sport isn’t amazing but it is on par with the competition at 7,716lbs.

The 2022 Range Rover Sport Diesel gets the size and weight advantage here among its diesel rivals. It is comparatively smaller than the big American SUVs and that makes it quicker than all of those. Even though all the rival SUVs get a little more power than the Range Rover the weight of these hinders their performance capabilities. It is the quickest to reach the 0-60MPH run in just 7.2 seconds and can reach a quarter-mile in 15.3 seconds. All the three American rivals here get the same 3.0-liter LM2 Duramax I-6 Diesel engine under their hood and generates identical power and torque figures. The Cadillac Escalade, owing to its sheer size, has the highest acceleration times while the Chevrolet Tahoe gets the highest towing capacity here with a capacity of 8,400 lbs.

How well does the 2022 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Diesel handle?

The Range Rover Sport diesel is an agile SUV and comes equipped with 21-inch wheels and adaptive air suspension as standard. The Sport variant is shorter than the full-size Range Rover but only by 4-inches so we treated it as a full-size SUV and for that, it is super easy and comfortable to drive. All the Range Rover Sport trim comes equipped with adaptive air suspension and that results in a plush ride quality and the dampers keep adjusting on the fly making sure it stays like that throughout the journey.

This setup is a blessing especially when your SUV comes with 21-inch alloy wheels with thin sidewalls. The air suspension takes care of things most of the time unless the roads are really challenging. The suspension setup allows the SUV to increase its ground clearance up to 11 inches on its highest settings. The vehicle comes with all the off-road tech like terrain response system, crawl control, limited slip-diff, and low-high gear ratios. These SUVs are well known for their water wading capabilities and the Range Rover Sport fears no river; something no other SUV in this segment can manage. Overall, the 2022 RR Sport isn’t just a Royal SUV; it can do all adventurous tasks as gracefully as it drives on good roads.

Braking Performance

The 2022 Range Rover Sport Diesel comes with 14.3-inch rotors at the front and 13.8-inch rotors at the back. We don’t have any precise data but this exact same setup stops the regular Range Rover in 124 feet. So we should expect pretty similar results if not better.

Stopping such big SUVs is a mammoth task for non-performance brakes but all these SUVs should do just fine. 

The Chevrolet Tahoe gets the biggest brakes here and we expect its performance to be a lot better than the rivals here. The Cadillac Escalade has the highest curb weight and much like its acceleration, we expect it to post a higher stopping distance than the rest of the rivals here.

Diesel engines are always better than the gasoline counterparts in the fuel economy department and the turbo-diesel engine on the 2022 Range Rover Sport is the best performer in the segment overall. It returns 22 MPG in the city and 28 MPG on the highway but lacks the fuel storage capacity as compared to its rivals. These are really great numbers for an SUV this big. On a full tank, it can go up to 600 plus miles on the highway.

The rival SUVs all belong to the GM stable and get the same economy numbers. The Range Rover gets 636 miles of driving range on the highway. However, thanks to their large fuel tanks the GM SUVs offer 648 miles on the highway, 504 miles in the city, and an impressive 552 miles of combined driving range.

No matter what Range Rover you get you are bound to be treated in luxury and opulence inside the cabin. The 2022 Range Rover Sport Diesel gets a full leather treatment inside with most of the panels covered in leather. The dashboard isn’t particularly bold or unique but those multiple screens for infotainment, climate control, and instrument cluster make the cabin look modern while staying classy. 

The seats on the HSE trim are some of the best. The leather Range Rover has used is really very soft, and coupled with heating, ventilation, and massage features you won’t leave these seats often. RR Sport is a 5-seater SUV in almost full-size dimensions so interior space and legroom are more than anyone might ever need. The second-row seats can house 3 passengers. Overall the 2022 Range Rover Sport is one of the best you can get in terms of comfort and luxury.

The rival SUVs are all big boys and their overall dimensions allow them to have a 3-row set up inside. How comfortable third rows are is very well known to everyone by now and that’s the reason Land Rover hasn’t bothered to add that extra seating space. The trunk space of all the SUVs is similar and one can get extended wheelbase variants in all the GM SUVs to get the extra third-row space and double the cargo space compared to standard.

Standout interior features:

• Panoramic glass roof
• Quad-zone automatic climate control
• 16-way power-adjustable front seats with heating and cooling function
• Head-up display
• Dual-zone automatic climate control
• Second-row entertainment screens

What’s there to keep you entertained?

All the Range Rover Sport trims are well equipped with a similar infotainment setup. The HSE Silver trim gets a 10-inch touchscreen unit for infotainment and another dedicated 10-inch touch screen for climate control.

The standard speaker setup contains a 19-speaker audio system for Meridian along with Android Auto & Apple CarPlay as standard. The touch sensitivity and usability of this system are great and our only gripe about this system is the long startup time, it’s been bothering us since day one and it hasn’t been fixed yet.

Standout infotainment features:

• Android Auto & Apple CarPlay
• SiriusXM
• 19-speaker Meridian sound system
• 10-inch touch screen
• Navigation
• Bluetooth
• Available 1700-watt sound system

Range Rover has always had an iconic design language since day one and yes there have been several improvements done along the line but the core design theme is the same; boxy and square. This unique shape has kept the design fresh till day whereas everyone else has embraced curves. The 2022 Range Rover Sport Diesel does look sporty enough while still not letting go of the classic design and it does not overpower the sportier Evoque. The front end is rather basic with that small grille and the LED matrix headlight setup. 

The hood does get some punches in design; the body line that starts at the headlight unit and goes all the way back to the taillight section makes the SUV look symmetrical. To support the sporty nature of the SUV, Land Rover has incorporated some fake vents on the fender and the exhaust tips at the rear are fake as well. The LED headlight and taillight units create an aggressive look overall and especially at night, those DRLs look menacing. We weren’t expecting the design of the Range Rover to change much but the small details Range Rover adds makes it look new every time even though most of it is still the same.

The Range Rover Sport is the most compact SUV in the group, especially in front of its full-bodied American rivals. The GMC Yukon, Chevy Tahoe, and the Escalade all are longer than the RR Sport and that makes them have a better space inside overall as well as a third row that is somewhat usable. Cadillac Escalade gets a little more ground clearance compared to the Range Rover but our host SUV can do wonders with its adaptive air suspension so this advantage is null & void.

Standout exterior features:

• LED headlights & DRLs
• Puddle lamps
• 21-inch alloy wheels
• Black front grille
• Deployable of fixed running boards

Let’s go straight into the active safety features list as is the ritual. These expensive SUVs don’t get tested for crashworthiness by the NHTSA or even IIHS. The aluminum chassis that the SUV is built upon did shed some significant weight as compared to the previous generation’s model yet stays strong enough to handle any mishap. As standard, the Range Rover Sport Diesel comes loaded with features so you don’t get anxious about missing crash ratings.

Standout safety features:

• Forward Collision warning
• 360-degree camera
• Automatic emergency braking
• Adaptive cruise control
• Lane departure warning
• Lane keep assist
• Blindspot assist
• Parking sensors
• Driver attention monitor

2022 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Diesel vs 2021 Cadillac Escalade Diesel

The Cadillac Escalade costs more than $3000 less than the Range Rover Sport and it even makes a little more power than the Rover. But all this isn’t enough as it weighs more and is bigger than the Range Rover.

This affects the performance of the Escalade and fuel economy as well. Escalade has more towing capacity but there isn’t any significant difference. The extra length and width get the Escalade more room on the inside for cargo and passengers, both. The driver assistance features on the Cadillac contain more features than the Range Rover so this becomes another plus point of the Escalade.

2022 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Diesel vs 2022 GMC Yukon Diesel

The GMC Yukon is the most affordable option in the group today with a price difference of $28k. The on-paper figures suggest that the Yukon is more powerful than the Range Rover but in real-time it doesn’t really reflect on the road. GMC offers more interior space and 3 seats extra but it just can’t match the quality and luxury of the Range Rover’s cabin.

2022 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Diesel vs 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe Diesel

Chevrolet Tahoe is one of the tried and tested SUVs in the market and it does some things much better than the Range Rover. Tahoe gets much more space inside due to bigger overall dimensions and that makes for a better, relaxing sitting experience inside this cabin.

Range Rover Sport is no slouch here but what Tahoe can do for 8 people, the RR Sport can do that for 5 at best, but better. Chevy Tahoe lacks the fuel economy but gets more space and capacity all at a significantly lesser price.

The 2022 Range Rover Sport Diesel is the best Land Rover one can buy. It gets almost all the luxury features like leather upholstery and 4-zone climate control along with a big list of active safety features. passenger comfort wasn’t the point of concern in a Range Rover but the pricing was. Especially in the diesel variant, the rivals offer much more space and size and at a very lesser price but those American SUVs are of no match to the Rover’s quality and finish. Where those SUVs are about quantity the Range Rover Sport is about quality. The kind of experience the passengers will get in this SUV is well worth the asking price of the Range Rover Sport.