At The Intersection of Mild and Wild: The 2019 Range Rover Sport HST MHEV

The 2019 Range Rover Sport HST MHEV.

MHEV.  It stands for "Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle".  "Mild" means that it's not a full system constantly splitting propulsion duties between a gasoline engine and an electric motor (think Toyota Prius), but that a smaller electric motor provides power for some limited all-electric driving and can also be used to boost the performance of the gasoline engine.

Evocative: The 2020 Range Rover Evoque First Edition

The 2020 Range Rover Evoque First Edition.

"Evoque". It's a made-up word, like a lot of car names. But in the case of the 2020 Range Rover Evoque, it sounds like a real word---"evoke"---and it matches the meaning of the word it sounds like---evoking luxury unexpected in this size class and all the attributes of the Range Rover brand.

30 Minutes With: The 2019 Range Rover HSE P400e

The 2019 Range Rover HSE P400e.

Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Day in Monterey, California.

Needless to say, these are quick drives and brief impressions that we hope to be able to flesh out with a full review of the vehicle at some point in the near future.

Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley over Laureles Grade and back or off-road on the acclaimed Land Rover Experience on the grounds of Quail Lodge.

My eighth drive of the day was the 2019 Range Rover HSE P400e.

Like A Locomotive That Needs No Tracks: The 2019 Range Rover 3.0 liter Td6 Diesel

The 2019 Range Rover 3.0 liter Td6 Diesel.

Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Day in Monterey, California.

Needless to say, these are quick drives and brief impressions that we hope to be able to flesh out with a full review of the vehicle at some point in the near future.

Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley over Laureles Grade and back or off-road on the acclaimed Land Rover Experience on the grounds of Quail Lodge.

My fourth drive of the day was on the Land Rover Experience course---in the 2019 Range Rover 3.0 liter Td6 Diesel.

Range Rover Supercharged Review

Sometimes the photos just nail it. It's tempting to write as little as possible and let the image do the talking.

To me, the shot of the Range Rover Supercharged above says "There are no other vehicles." "I'm it."

If that were the case, we'd need to carpool. The Range Rover Supercharged costs $93,325. That's without California emissions or transportation charges.

Which means it really costs $94,225.

If you could find one without options. The one Land Rover sent over for a weeklong test had black wood, a six disc DVD system with dual headrest displays, remote control and a 4-zone climate control.

Which cost $97,775.

I'm sure there's something you could find on the option sheet that costs $2,225 to bring this up to a nice, even hundred grand.

So what does it buy you? Well, it buys the flagship Range Rover, a thoroughly impressive vehicle...but with a 400 horsepower supercharged engine that makes 420 pounds per foot of torque. Which means this thing pulls like a freight train and once it overcomes inertia, it's all about speed.

Black inside, black outside, with 20 inch alloy wheels...a 710-watt, 14 speaker surround sound audio system. Hey, I was rollin' like an NBA player (apart from the 6 foot tall, 30 pounds overweight, 53 years old part).

Look, if you can afford it (don't forget tax, license, insurance and that 12 miles per gallon in town is expensive...and 18 on the highway isn't stellar), it's pretty awesome.

The Great Depression had Deusenbergs...we've got this.

Range Rover Sport Review

Lusting after a Range Rover but can't quite swing the $80,000 (typically equipped) price tag?

How about a near look-alike that lets you keep $20,000 in the bank? The Range Rover Sport is actually based on the mid-size (for Land Rover, anyway) LR3, but re-bodied to look like the big Range Rover. Unless you're especially observant (a few inches missing from the overall length and a less-upright rear window are the biggest giveaways), you've probably looked at Sports and thought they were the flagship.

On the inside, Land Rover has created an ambiance that suggests you're not settling for less...and an extra $3,000 buys still more...the Luxury Interior Package with premium leather seats (heated front and rear), a heated front wind screen (the UK term for windshield), heated washer jets, adaptive front lamps, wood trim and a cooler box.

The "sport" part comes from the more compact dimensions and a 300 horsepower V8, with 315 pounds per foot of torque.

The base price of $58,225 (for a Range Rover Sport HSE) buys you a list of standard equipment that could cause a Blogspot server overload, so we'll just cut to the chase by saying that our tester had only two options...the Luxury Interior Package and Sirius Satellite Radio. Those, plus transportation, ran the bottom line to $62,400...again, about 20 large less than the large Range Rover.

Bottom line: Despite the savings, the Range Rover Sport isn't a cheap knockoff..it's simply a different approach to the real deal...and well worth your consideration.