New petrol engine option for Range Rover Sport

Part of Jaguar Land Rover’s ‘Ingenium’ engine family, the ’P400’ 3.0-litre inline six was presented back in 2019. While it’s making its Australian debut now, the new Range Rover Sport engine option won’t be available until later this year, as a 2022 model.

In terms of tech, the engine has everything that Land Rover can throw at it – supercharging, turbocharging and an electric motor to feed energy back into the vehicle and qualify as a mild hybrid system (MHEV).

Replacing JLR’s petrol V6, the new inline six combines a conventional twin-scroll turbocharger with an electric supercharger that spools up in less than 0.5 seconds to virtually eliminate turbo lag. Continuously variable valve timing, variable valve lift and other technologies ensure maximum efficiency, while a start-stop system that shuts the engine off when stationary improves fuel economy by a claimed 20 per cent over the outgoing V6.

The integral electric motor harvests energy whilst the vehicle is decelerating and stores it in a 48V battery. This energy can then be re-deployed through torque-assist, reducing C02 emissions by reducing the workload on the engine.

When it was announced back in 2019, the 3.0 supercharged/turbocharged MHEV six was to be offered in two outputs – 265kW/495Nm and 294kW/550Nm. The latter will be fitted to the MY22 Range Rover Sport for Australia and available in two spec levels – SE and HSE.

Staying true to the Range Rover Sport’s performance image, the P400 3.0 petrol six delivers 0-100km/h acceleration in just 5.9 seconds and a top speed in the region of 225km/h, combined with claimed CO2 emissions from 236g/km and fuel economy of up to 8.7lt/100km.

The introduction of the P400 3.0 six comes at the expense of the P300 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which was the previous entry-level petrol engine option for the Range Rover Sport and offered 221kW/400Nm, 7.30-second 0-100km/h acceleration and a 201km/h top speed.

Australian release of the MY22 Range Rover Sport P400 SE and HSE is expected in early Q3, 2021.

Pricing starts at $128,206 for the Sport P400 SE and $144,906 for the Sport P400 HSE. The turbo diesel D250 SE remains the cheapest entry into the Range Rover Sport family at $115,506 (all pricing + ORCs).