When Range Rover first appeared in 1970 it was a revolutionary concept.

Farmers, it was decided, needed a 4x4 which could cope with ploughed fields, mucky boots and everything else that being a farmer entailed.

But by night they needed something a little more elegant to take the missus out to a Berni Inn. This was 1970, don’t forget.

So the guys at Land Rover, the company which popularised the 4x4 after the war, whatever those guys at Jeep say, had a brainwave. Why not create a posh 4x4 which could suit both tasks?

A car which could take bales of hay by day and be swilled out with a hosepipe (I’m serious!) ready for a night out.

So, the Range Rover was born and suddenly every car company worth its salt was turning out posh 4x4s or Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) as they came to be known.

Fast forward 42 years and Land Rover are just about to launch the fourth generation Range Rover to the delight of company directors and footballers everywhere. It’s a great car, more limousine than farm vehicle and arguably pound for pound the best car on the road.

It really is good value which is astonishing for a car costing upwards of £71,000. It comes with the sort of refinement you might find in a stately saloon costing twice as much. But while the new Range Rover is on its way, arguably the best version has been around for a few months. That’s the Range Rover Sport.

You see, Range Rover has become a brand within a brand at Land Rover. You have the main, proper Range Rover, a fantastic bit of machinery, but too expensive for most people.

Then there’s the Evoque and Evoque Coupe, more modestly priced vehicles, yet still carrying the Range Rover cachet.

Then there’s Range Rover Sport, tested here. It is, as the name suggests, a more sporty version.

While Range Rover can be a lumbering giant of a car, RR Sport is an energised version. It feels more taut and it will give hot-hatches a sensible run for their money.

It still isn’t cheap. It costs from £49,795 (or an eye-watering £67,995 in the Autobiography version tested here). But what a lot of car you get for your money.

It looks rather like a standard Range Rover. It has a gentleman’s club of a cabin (wood, leather and wool carpets as far as the eye can see).

Yet the performance is more akin to a Jaguar or a beefy BMW. Top speed 124mph. Nought to 60mph in 8.8 seconds.

If you want ridiculously quick, then try the 5.0 V8 which will reach 60mph in 5.9 seconds. It handles more like a sports car than a 4x4, yet it retains the luxurious air of a car for the landed gentry.

It comes with a dazzling array of features designed to keep you going through mud, streams and goodness knows what else. You’d be mad to punish a near-£70,000 car like that, but it’s good to know it can cope, especially if you live out in the sticks.

It will hold up to 2,000 litres of luggage with the back seats down and it could tug 3,500kg with little trouble. It’s a huge car (4.7 metres long) yet it rides and handles with elegance. The high driving position, as ever with SUVs, gives you a distinct safety advantage, yet this beast will flick into sports mode at the drop of a hat.

Wow, £67,995 never felt like such good value before.