If you’ve ever borrowed someone’s new car and dented it you’ll know how I felt when I had an accident in a new off-roader. It wasn’t just any off-roader, either, as I was the first journalist in the world to drive the Range Rover Sport.

If you think that sounds like a conventional Range Rover with rally stripes stuck along its flanks, let me assure you it isn’t. The Sport is only the fifth new model line in Land Rover’s 57-year history and there was only one press demonstrator vehicle available. I had driven it too fast over a giant sand dune and hadn’t realised the down slope was . . . vertical. The nose slammed into the sand and I climbed out, dazed, to inspect the damage.

Yet when I looked, the car was not even grazed. I thought at the very least I’d torn the front off it, yet there was not a mark. Sure, sand provides a softer landing than most surfaces, but take it from me, the next time someone tells you they don’t build Land Rovers like they used to, the correct response is “Thank God”.

The Range Rover Sport is an entirely new car. If it has a relative, it’s the new Discovery 3, whose platform it uses, albeit in heavily adapted form. It is far and away the most sporting Land Rover ever created, designed to tempt people out of their BMW X5s and Porsche Cayennes.

As such, many owners will never venture off the road, and if that leads you to ask what we were doing in the desert, it was because Land Rover felt the need to prove that it can. “It’s partly pride and partly because this is what Land Rover always has and always will be about,” says Roger Craythorne, Land Rover’s off-road specialist. “Our customers still want to know it can cut it in the rough, even if they’ll never use that facility.”

The trip was designed to test the vehicle in extreme conditions. Starting in Fez, Morocco, the plan was to drive the long way to Marrakesh via the snowy peaks of the Atlas mountains and the scorching sands of the Sahara. The Sport was on standard road tyres that appeared to have little hope of finding grip on the deep snow and sheet ice that I encountered in the high Atlas. Cars, vans, buses and trucks littered the roadsides where they had given up the struggle. But by selecting the snow setting on the Sport’s “terrain response” dial, I kept going.

I spent the first night in Erfoud, near the Algerian border, and in the morning, with a deep breath and a support crew driving a Land Rover Defender loaded with spare tyres, sand ladders, spades and a winch, I headed into the Sahara. Our first task was to complete a stage of the Dakar rally route — several hours on stony tracks leading into the world’s most famous and largest wilderness. But nobody had reckoned on the toll the scalpel-sharp rocks would take on the Sport’s tarmac tyres. I destroyed two in the first hour. So we turned around and took a circuitous route to the part of the Sahara I’d waited all my life to see: the bit where rolling yellow oceans of sand stretch for thousands of miles.

At first it seemed beyond daunting, but by learning a few techniques — most importantly the value of momentum — the Sport could do the apparently impossible. Yes, I got stuck more times than I could count, and soon became very adept with the spade, but we kept going. After we had scaled mountainous dunes and dug the Range Rover out following my mishap, we finally emerged from the sand onto something that in this part of the world passes for a road.

I was told no Moroccan policeman would stray this far from civilisation so I felt free to put my foot down. The road was narrow and very bumpy but ran straight to the horizon. In most cars 100mph on such a surface would have been a wild ride, but in the Range Rover all was serene. At 110mph it was still firmly in control of its unforgiving environment and even at a 120mph cruise there was no real cause for concern. Only at a steady 130mph did it start to float sufficiently over the road’ s severe undulations to dissuade me from pushing on to its restricted 140mph top speed.

Finally we ran out of desert and hit the highway back through the mountains towards Marrakesh. For a tall, heavy SUV with superlative off-road ability, it handles rather well on the road. There is no slop in the steering and it is genuinely fun to drive, which makes it rare among SUVs.

There remains scope for improvement, though. The exterior styling is good rather than great and some of the interior materials smack of cost-cutting. It seats only five and if there are adults in the back they’ll find the cabin more snug than spacious. True, the ride is almost surreally secure in the most challenging circumstances, but at more everyday speeds those huge 20in tyres pitter-patter too much on broken surfaces. And then there’s the fuel economy. Land Rover claims almost 18mpg but I reckon even that requires an unusually light foot.

But that’s about it. As I parked outside the terminal of Marrakesh airport and handed the key back my impressions of the vehicle were overwhelmingly positive. Land Rover has managed to create a convincing sporting SUV without compromising its brand values. It took two days, a thousand miles, one mountain range and the world’s largest desert to win me over, but in the end it did. This car is undoubtedly a fine SUV, but most of all, it’s a true Land Rover.

Vital statistics

Model Land Rover Range Rover Sport Supercharged
Engine type V8, 4197cc
Power/Torque 385bhp @ 5750rpm / 405 lb ft @ 3500rpm
Transmission Six-speed automatic
Fuel/CO2 17.8mpg (combined cycle) / 374g/km
Performance 0-60mph: 7.2sec / Top speed: 140mph
Price £57,495
Verdict Land Rover's convincing first attempt at a sports SUV
Rating 4/5

The opposition

Model BMW X5 4.4i (£48,780)
For Well built, characterful engine, good handling for its size
Against Getting a little old now, packaging not among the best

Model Porsche Cayenne S (£43,540)
For Porsche image, surprisingly good off road
Against Looks awful, terrible ride quality, cheap-looking interior