As you may, or may not know, my Ford Everest long-termer is currently being driven around by a certain Vanessa Haywood of District 9 fame as part of her fundraising drive with the Starfish Greathearts Foundation. As such, Deputy Ed Hannes Oosthuizen has gamely lent me his Range Rover Sport 5,0 Supercharged for the time being…Not a bad arrangement!
Being used to the Everest's vast dimensions has meant that acclimatising to the Rangey has not been chore, and the park distance sensors and cameras have allowed my neck something of a reprieve from the incessant craning that "docking" the big Ford often entails. The only thing I'm still getting accustomed to is the big V8's voracious appetite for unleaded – there are honestly times when you gun the throttle and can actually watch the digital fuel gage visibly dip – although I'm not exactly a the most lead-footed member of the team, I've battled to keep the fuel consumption below a somewhat eye-watering 17,5 litres/100 km.
Still, there's nothing quite like the punch and guttural snarl served up by a big, supercharged V8, and the Jaguar-sourced unit in the Range Rover Sport is an absolute peach making short work of any overtaking manoeuvre. For all its imposing stature and wicked pace the Rangey is an incredibly soothing place to while away your commute. The cabin is studded with just about every conceivable luxury you could want and more technological wizardry than you can shake a large stick at. One feature I got to appreciate recently (ok, "appreciate" is something of a relative term in this situation) was the onboard tyre pressure sensor.
Climbing into the Rangey one evening I was confronted by an array of ominous looking yellow lights and a near-seizure-inducing message on the info display that the left, rear tyre was under-inflated. A cautious trip to a nearby garage to top up the offending tyre revealed a sizeable screw poking out of the tread at a jaunty angle. Needless to say, the trip thereafter was undertaken at a pace that invoked the ire of fellow road users and the interest of some interestingly-attired ladies I passed in one of the Southern Suburbs less savoury areas after dark.
The expected repeat of last night's dashboard light show didn't materialise when starting up the car but the trip to the Claremont branch of Tiger Wheel and Tyre, did see the previous evening's cautious pace return. The friendly staff there hoisted the big Rangey onto the lift to remove the wheel and show me the piece of ironware that had pierced the low-profile tyre. Thankfully, a replacement tyre was not deemed necessary and a mushroom plug repair was speedily fitted while I waited. Three days on, and the repair R60 repair, which included a nice clean up of the tyres and rims, is holding up fine…Good job lads!
So much for that flat feeling…
