If you're going to buy a luxury SUV, why not buy it from the company that has been manufacturing them for six decades or so? That's the value proposition behind the insanely expensive $360,000 Range Rover SV Coupe we encountered last month. And the same can be said about the rest of the Range Rover lineup. We know what we're doing, we know what you want in a luxury SUV, so why bother looking at any of the johnny-come-latelies? I'm no ad man, but if I were writing ad copy for Jaguar Land Rover, that's probably where I'd start.

That's the vibe the Range Rover Sport gives off—quiet, luxurious confidence. For the 2018 model year, the Range Rover Sport takes what Land Rover does well and puts another level of spit and polish on it. The result: a solid but unspectacular ride for those with an itch for a midsize SUV and $70,000+ to spend.

The Range Rover Sport sits near the top of the Land Rover's US lineup, above the Discovery, Velar, and Evoque. Pricing starts at $66,750 for the Range Rover Sport SE, which has a supercharged 3.0L V6 power plant capable of 340hp (253kW). Looking for more power? You can get a supercharged V8 that can crank out up to 575hp. The model we tested is the Range Rover Sport HSE TD6, which has a turbocharged V6 diesel that puts out 254hp (189kW) and an impressive 440lb-ft (597Nm) of torque—an impressive number that speaks to Land Rover's roots making vehicles for serious off-roading. The diesel engine uses diesel exhaust fluid, which is injected into the exhaust to reduce NOx emissions.

With the diesel engine, the Sport's top speed is 130mph, and it does zero to 60 in 7.2 seconds. You want fast? Go with the V8, which tops out at 176mph. All of the engines are paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission, and the Sport also has Land Rover's All-Terrain Progress Control for when you want to drive your expensive SUV through the mud or need to navigate through the worst a North American winter can throw at you. And it can do other SUV stuff, too—the Range Rover Sport can tow up to 7,716lb (3,500kg).

Like every car in the press fleets around the world, this Range Rover was not the $66,750 base model—the HSE TD6 I drove has an MSRP of $74,350. In addition to the diesel, it includes 20-inch wheels, premium LED headlights, 16-way heated front seats, 360-degree parking sensor and 360-degree camera, and cruise control. Added to that was the climate-control pack (panoramic moonroof, twin-blade sun visors, and a fridge in the center console), Drive Pro (adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist), towing pack, off-road pack with a twin-speed transfer case, and vision assist pack (heads-up display and 360-degree camera view), along with heated and cooled seats. All of that brings the price up to $86,775.

Unmistakably Range Rover

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

The silhouette of the Sport is unmistakable. Although it has seen some updates, it looks quite similar to the second-generation Sport. The differences come down to changes to the grille and bumper, along with a new headlight design—the kind of subtle stuff that you'd only notice if you had a 2017 parked next to a 2018.

The interior is lush—as one would expect from a car that costs over 80 grand, with lots of wood trim. A pair of cupholders in the center console slide forward to reveal a deep storage compartment underneath. There's also the refrigerator in the center console, large enough to keep your lunch or four bottles of your favorite water nice and chilly. If you really don't like pressing buttons, you can open and close the panoramic moonroof via gesture controls. I'd rather have somewhere to put my sunglasses than wave the moonroof open, but it's a neat feature.

JLR's dual-screen infotainment system, which made its debut in the Velar, is new to the 2018 Sport. You get two 10-inch HD displays, with the top one performing all of the functions you'd expect from an infotainment system: radio, GPS, weather, traffic, and the like. The bottom screen is the only way to interface with the climate-control system. Short, hollow cylinders jut out from the bottom display and are used to change the temperature and fan speed. Push down on the cylinders and you can adjust the seat heat and cooling—and the hint of a cool breeze flickering on the small of your back is a delicious feeling in the midst of a hot, Midwestern summer. You also access the drive settings from the bottom screen, including comfort and the various off-road settings. And if you're so inclined, you can also control the radio from the bottom display.

While there are a few buttons on the center console to do things like raise and lower the height of the SUV, most of your non-driving interfacing with the car is going to come via the two touchscreens. Having the interior controls spread across two discrete touchscreens is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The UI for the bottom screen is extremely well thought out, with reasonably sized virtual controls and landing areas for your fingers. There's a small learning curve with the bottom display, but, after a couple of days, it felt natural and easy to use.

I prefer two screens—with the bottom one angled toward me—to the single, giant display of the Tesla. JLR's InControl infotainment system is present in the Range Rover Sport. I didn't like the dollar-store feel of the apps in the Jaguar E-Pace, and I don't like it here. The sooner JLR adopts CarPlay and Android Auto, the better.

The downside to all of these screens is that it's not always readily apparent where you should go to change settings. Some are done via the controls on the steering wheel, some via the top display, and some via the bottom. To be fair, some of the settings are things you'll only want to tweak once or twice while you own the car. But finding them all can still be confusing.

The Range Rover Sport steering wheel has some changes from previous years as well. Instead of buttons on the wheel, there are a couple of plastic housings mounted toward the center of the steering wheel. They contain a combination of mechanical rockers and touch controls for controlling the instrument panel and driver-assist technology. It's a clever idea in theory—I'm not a fan of steering wheels that are jam-packed with buttons and dials (I'm looking at you, BMW). But the execution is lacking. My selections didn't always register when trying to tweak the settings using the controls on the left side of the steering wheel by pressing down on the appropriate part of the dial. This is frustrating when you're trying to change the instrument panel to show a map instead of analog-type dials or to adjust the height of the heads-up display.

Things may not be quite where you expect them in the Sport, either. The power-window controls are in the windowsill on the top of the door, and the door handle is about thigh height. It takes some getting used to, but if the Sport is your daily driver, you'll adapt quickly. The seats are incredibly comfortable and supportive, and there's plenty of room for everyone inside. Adults will find the back seats to be comfortable and spacious, and the middle seat is surprisingly good as well. Back-seat occupants get their own climate control system, along with heated seats and a fold-down armrest. You can also find a pair of 5W USB ports back there (something like 15 power ports of various kinds are lurking in the Sport).

If you don't go for the optional third row, there's 27.5ft3 of cargo space in the rear, which goes up to 62.2ft3 with the rear seats folded down. The power liftgate can be opened by making a kicking motion under the rear bumper, and, when it works, it's fantastic. There's also a pair of buttons for raising and lowering the height of the cargo space for easier loading and unloading.

Road trip

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

Marlowe Bangeman

My folks have a place outside of Shelbyville, Illinois, (70 miles from Springfield, with no lemon tree nearby), and the stars aligned in the Bangeman household so that I could head down there for a couple of days in the middle of the week. In comfort mode, the Range Rover Sport is an ideal vehicle for a long road trip. Adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist always make for a better highway-driving experience, but the suspension and insulation in the cabin made most of the usual highway noise a mere whisper.

Even better was driving on the secondary and tertiary roads through farm country. In central Illinois, many of those roads are paved with tar and chips or what appears to be a rather thin and insubstantial layer of asphalt. An apparent lack of money for road maintenance paired with a climate that sees temperatures hit the high 90s (34-36° C) in the summer and single digits in the winter (-15°C or so) results in ridges, potholes, and other bits of road damage. In my 2008 Chrysler Pacifica crossover, I've felt every one of those. In the Range Rover Sport, they were barely noticeable at about 10-15mph faster than I'd dare to drive my Pacifica. It was a fantastic ride.

The Range Rover Sport feels like an SUV through and through. Despite the name, not much is sporty about the handling. It's not as ponderous as, say, a Volkswagen Atlas, but there's little temptation to take the long, scenic route that twists up and down hills and winds along the riverbank. You'll still enjoy the view, of course, but it's not going to be as rewarding as if you were driving its smaller sibling or cousin.

One unexpected but welcome surprise from the Sport was the fuel economy. It's rated at 24mpg (22mpg city and 28mpg highway), but I got 28.8mpg on my 380-mile round trip downstate and averaged 26.7mpg for the week.

Land Rover has done well with the Sport. The interior is extremely comfortable, the diesel gets good mileage for a car of its heft, it can tow more than 7,000 pounds, and you can legitimately off-road if that's your thing. JLR's dual-screen infotainment/climate-control system works really well, and, again, there's a refrigerator built in. With an $86,775 price tag, however, you're closing in on Maserati Levante territory, and this is a completely different type of SUV. If you want straight-line speed and a dash of Italian panache, look elsewhere. But if you want something solid, comfortable, and luxurious that can do all of the usual SUV things, the Range Rover Sport may be for you.