Range Rover Sport to make mad dash through New York
Land Rover will unveil its updated Range Rover Sport the week before the opening of the New York auto show, with a drive through Manhattan.
Last year, Land Rover took the wraps off its fully re-engineered, weight-reduced Range Rover. At the upcoming New York International Auto Show the company will unveil the Range Rover Sport edition, traditionally a more powerful, lowered version of Land Rover's big truck.
Land Rover promises a drive through New York as the first public appearance for the new vehicle on Tuesday, March 26.
I picture it something like this: Land Rover, wanting to enter Manhattan in style, sends the driver on a route over the Brooklyn Bridge, surrounded by camera cars. However, due to construction on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the driver exits on Flushing, losing the lead camera car in the process.
After half an hour in Brooklyn Heights traffic, mostly caused by legions of parents pushing strollers to their favorite bars and cafes, Land Rover central instructs the driver to break for the Williamsburg Bridge. Losing a second camera car in the traffic melee, the driver finds a relatively clear road on DeKalb, making his way through light after light to Broadway.
Hopelessly behind schedule, he gets the Williamsburg Bridge in sight, only to find extensive traffic due to hordes of teenagers heading to the East Village for an evening of drinking and puking in the streets. Now the driver makes an executive decision and heads for the Midtown Tunnel.
The crossing to Manhattan finally accomplished after losing a final camera car to a diverging lane, the driver takes the Range Rover Sport crosstown on 34th. Squeezing four cars into two lanes, the car picks up yellow taxi stripes on each flank, a suitable New York decoration.
Losing the opportunity for a triumphant procession through lower Manhattan, which jaded New Yorkers and wide-eyed tourists would not have registered against the other distractions of the city, the Range Rover Sport finally ends up at the Jacob Javits Center, the location of the New York auto show. The journey ends, late and unremarked, just like most trips through New York.
Land Rover will Webcast the trip on its Range Rover Sport site beginning at 7:30 pm on March 26.
No details of the new model have been announced. For the Range Rover revealed last year, Land Rover specified a supercharged 5-liter V-8 making 510 horsepower. Expect this engine to power the Range Rover Sport, possibly tuned for even more output.
CNET's coverage of the 2013 New York auto show begins on March 27.