• Plenty of room in the front
• Less boot space than rivals
• Well-sized interior storage areas

How much space is there?

The Range Rover Sport isn’t much smaller than the full-sized Range Rover – in fact the wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear axles) is identical in both cars. As a result, the Sport finally offers genuinely generous space for back seat passengers as well as those in the front – in sumptuous surroundings.

Up front, you get loads of leg, head and shoulder room to complement the commanding driving position. We found you don’t get quite as much headroom as a full-sized Range Rover offers, but only extremely tall people will really notice the difference.

Space for passengers in the rear is equally good. It’s not as spacious as something like the vast BMW X7 but it’s similar to short-wheelbase Range Rover models, so there’s ample room for six-footers to spread out in the back even if those in the front are similarly tall – as several of our testers can attest. It’s a wide car, too, so don’t panic if said six-footers are burly rugby players. Three adults fit relatively comfortably across the rear bench, as well.

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Boot space and storage

The Range Rover Sport’s boot is well sized and the car comes with an electrically opening tailgate as standard. Useful on a tall car like this, but the tailgate itself isn’t huge, which might make loading in really big stuff a mite tricky.

With the rear seats up, you get 647 litres of capacity which grows to 1,491 litres with them folded – they split 40:20:40. This compares with up to 1,870 litres for the BMW X5 and 2,055 for the Mercedes-Benz GLE. So the Sport isn’t the last word in practicality.

You can drop the load height by lowering the air suspension via buttons conveniently placed in the boot. Usefully, the plug-in models’ boot space is identical to the mild-hybrid powered versions. There are many, many optional accessories for the boot available including floor protectors, luggage dividers, oddment boxes and retention nets.

There are two cupholders on the centre console that can be covered by a sliding lid. The smaller of the two central cubbyholes divides such that you can stow your phone alongside its charger port, so you won’t have cables cluttering up the interior. The generously sized glovebox is split into two compartments, but it’s electrically operated so you can only open it with the ignition on. Which we found slightly annoying.

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Is it easy to park?

At more than five metres long and 2.2 metres wide (including the door mirrors), the Range Rover Sport is a very large car. However, we found the high driving position and impressive forward visibility make driving in cities and on narrow roads is easier than you might expect. The car’s four-wheel steering system is brilliant. It turns the rear wheels in the opposite direction to the fronts at low speeds, reducing the amount of space it takes to turn the car around which can be especially helpful in tight car parks.

Rear visibility is typically SUV-poor, but front and rear parking sensors, a plethora of cameras, and an excellent 360-degree parking system take the stress out of slotting into tight spots. You can also spec Land Rover’s automatic parking technology, which scans for a suitable space and theoretically parks the car with minimal input from the driver. It’s a bit slow in use, which could cause drivers behind to lose patience.

View the car’s dimensions on our Range Rover Sport specs page.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP rating
• Loaded with safety kit
• Assisted driving tech works well

The Range Rover Sport received a five-star rating when tested by Euro NCAP in 2022 and it scored particularly well for its adult protection and driver assistance systems. Safety equipment is generous, and it’s in line with all recent Range Rovers, which have also scored the full five-star rating.

Standard safety equipment includes the usual autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keeping assist and a vast array of sensors that monitor that car’s surroundings and how it’s being driven. Effective Matrix LED headlights and one of the better adaptive cruise control systems we’ve used take the sting out of long drives, day or night.

Watch: Range Rover Sport Euro NCAP crash test video