Range Rover Sport

When the first-generation Range Rover Sport appeared, the clue was supposed to be in the name. But a weight of well over two- and-a-half tonnes was inimical to a sporty nature. Yes, it would do some surprisingly athletic things, but the veins in its neck were standing out with the effort.

The new TDV6 RRS has lost the equivalent weight of five well-fed men - 420kg - by switching to aluminium for the monocoque and suspension and making a low 'box optional. The V8, which keeps that dual range, has dropped 300kg. It's still 2.3 tonnes, but then we're looking at a big and capable vehicle. The off-roading stats are best in class: the wheels have more than 500mm of vertical travel and it'll wade to a frankly terrifying 850mm. Plus, it now provides the option of a third row of seats.

The effect of all the weight loss, plus an even broader suite of chassis technologies, is an amazingly agile machine. This much is clear from our first, infuriatingly brief, time in the driving seat. It was a late-build prototype, and it was at JLR's own test ground at Gaydon in Warwickshire. So bear in mind caveats about the advantages of playing on home turf.

The test car has the supercharged V8. Accelerate hard and the exhaust spits out a sharp, deep, V8 growl, an early and very audible signal of the way thr RRS now thinks to itself. Sure enough, it isn't slow: they say 0-100kph in five seconds (weight loss assisting already,see). On a fairly brief leg-stretch between corners, it howled comfortably up to 217kph. The eight-speed autobox operates smoothly and smartly on its own initiative with the paddles.

But the corners are even more of a surprise. The V8 comes with adaptive anti-roll bars and adaptive dampers,electronic variable-lock diffs at the centre and rear, and brake-actuated torque-vectoring. All of which means the engineers have been able to endow the RRS with remarkable light-footedness into and though tight bends, and, as you pour out of them, you can feel the rear tyres edging outward. Yet it remains stable at speed and in lane changes. It feels transparent and natural, almost as if you were in a low and light car and receiving no help. But it isn't natural, it's far better than that: if you drive like a mutt, the technology will do all it can to keep this tall and heavy contraption going in the correct direction.

In Dynamic mode, when it's all stiffened up, the suspension can occasionally patter and crash. In Normal mode, it's tautly damped, but still manages to be nicely feathery and quiet over the usual suburban speed degraded tarmac. This sort of ride quality is a good match for the luxury cabin. After all, the clue really is in the name. There's Sport in it, but there's also Range Rover.