The New Range Rover: A Luxury Vehicle with a Twist

As we sat in the new Range Rover, it was clear that this vehicle had been designed to serve multiple purposes. The car's working practice has been extended to include being a luxury vehicle, and we were asked to test its ability to do so. We started by putting two people in the back seat, with an SV version of the car fitted out with just two seats and a table in the rear compartment.

But as we sat in the front seat, it became clear that this was not just a practical exercise - the Range Rover is still expected to be a vehicle that can handle tremendous things off-road, as well as be a nice road car. So let's focus on what it's like up here, in this seat. The ride is composed, and the car turns nicely, with everything integrated really well. When we're turning, the roll bars stiffen and the rear wheels do their thing, giving the car a really nice natural feel to it.

For me, this feels like a much nicer car than some of the longer Range Rovers I've been in earlier. I've had a feeling that the less you spend on a Range Rover, the better car you get, and this is no exception. In fact, when we tested it against a Bentley Bentayga, it was clear that the Range Rover was the better choice. The Bentayga asked to be slightly dynamic, but also to be a luxury car and a three-and-a-half-ton tow car - all of which put pressure on the vehicle to do too much.

The Range Rover, on the other hand, was allowed to breathe a bit more freely, to be the SUV that it is meant to be. It doesn't try to do too much, and as a result, it's lovely. My feeling with this car is that its maxima has been extended just in some ways, but not necessarily fulfilled them all. The best Range Rover, I think, is one that is asked to do a little bit less than the others.

So what sets the new Range Rover apart from its competitors? Let's take a look at its off-road credentials. Angles and numbers are for a short-wheelbase Range Rover, although ground clearance on both models is up to 295 millimeters - slightly more than a Land Rover Defender and quite a bit more than a Mercedes-Benz G-Class. The approach angle at the front is 35 degrees, less than the Defender but more than the G-Class. The ramp or breakover angle is 27.7 degrees, which sits between the two competitors.

However, when it comes to departure angle at the back, the Range Rover is less good than both the Defender and G-Class - with only 29 degrees of clearance. But it can handle 900 millimeters of water, just like the Defender. And as for towing - all Range Rovers except the plug-ins can tow up to 3500 kilograms, while the plug-in hybrids can pull 2500 kilograms.

We'll get a chance to test this in the UK, where we'll take it to our quarry and put it through its paces against some of the best off-road vehicles around. Until then, know that the new Range Rover is still one of the best in the world - a brilliant country SUV that's posh and practical in equal measure.

If you subscribe and click the bell icon, you won't miss a thing from Auto Car. Every week since 1895, we've been bringing you the latest news and reviews from the world of cars. You can find us on all the socials - and we'll be back with more on the new Range Rover soon.

Hammer on over to our website at auto.cart.co.uk for all your car needs - digital subscription and in print every week since 1895.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome to the inside of the new range rover now this is a land rover that to my mind doesn't need reinvention in the last half a decade or so land rover has kind of reinvented the defender into a very different car than it was before the discovery 5 is not the same car as discovery 4 by any means but the range rover is kind of the car it has always been it is the luxury the original luxury suv they would say and it has been that for nearly five decades so the idea is new range rover like old range rover but better so is it there are two variants there's a standard wheelbase and a long wheelbase there are loads of engine options from very ordinary six-cylinder twin turbocharged very conventional ice stuff with or without a mild hybrid depending on which market you're in in the uk it's all mild hybrid stuff then there is a couple of plug-in hybrids there's a full electric version coming and there is this this car is a short wheelbase conventional regular wheelbase whatever first edition with a 4.4 liter twin turbocharged v8 engine with 530 metric australia it is luxury luxury range rovers start at 94 400 pounds in the uk so they're all basically 100 grand plus and for that you get a new 80 aluminium architecture there's a steel front bulkhead there's a steel ring around the lower a-pillar there's one at the c-pillar there's one of the d-pillar to make this car stiffer they say it's got 33 kilonewtons per degree of torsional static torsional rigidity so if you put one bar on the front axle and one bar on the other you'd have to put in 33 kilonewtons before the whole thing twisted by a degree it's a big car so as uh this wheelbase form it's more than five meters which is a little bit longer than it was before and then the long wheelbase is 200 meters 200 meters 200 millimeters longer again so it's a it's a big car it's also a wide car 2.2 meters across the body and it's also quite a heavy car it goes from about 2300 kilos all the way up to 2700 because this is a conventional internally combusted one without a mild hybrid without the long wheelbase it's it's actually one of even though it's a v8 it's one of the lighter engines so as well as a lot of different engines there's quite a lot going on underneath the skin too so all range rovers ride on air springs which is no great surprise they that can that can drop from the standard ride height that i'm in now by 50 millimeters or it can raise by 135 mil for maximum off-road articulation there are 48 volt anti-roll bars front and rear the sat nav reads the road ahead so it primes the roll bars and the springs and dampers to go okay there might be a corner coming up it doesn't actually read the road it just knows from the nav that what's coming then there is active rear steer on every single new range rover which can give 7.3 degrees of opposite turn in maneuvering and as standard there's an electronically controlled limited slip differential there's electrically assisted power steering and there is break by wire so there's loads of systems to try and put together to try and make it to try and make this car work as as one so as with the ferrari 296 gtb that we reviewed i reviewed not very long ago on this channel if you like and subscribe you'll never miss one there is a lot to integrate together to make it work properly now this is the first regular wheelbase range rover that i've been in i like it rather more than a couple of the long wheelbase ones that i've been in already so let's talk about the interior for a start there's quite a bold swathe across the dash and then it's got some sort of vertical bits cutting through it and this comes from is a kind of continuation of a theme they put into a range rover in the early 2000s i think they said slightly yacht-inspired actually it's not quite as bold as it was then the material quality is mostly good big touch screen in the middle okay fine it's probably asked to do a bit too much but as touch screens go it's not too bad there are still separate controls for the heater and the volume control and that sort of thing so and there are shortcuts on the steering wheel so ergonomically it's it's it's pretty good material quality is pretty good and then we come to the way it drives as i say i've been in a couple of long wheelbase cars already this morning and i'm not as convinced with the long one as i am with this regular wheelbase car this blends things really nicely the ride is is good the maximum wheel size is now 23 inch which is big and you know it's important for the looks apparently but actually when you speak some of the engineers they go well yeah a bit more tyre sidewall is not a bad thing on a car like this and in this car that so you so it's a stiff shell and those are big wheels and it's on air springs so you can it's it's mostly very isolated it's mostly very flat you occasionally get a little sprawling and over some sort of surface imperfections and expansion joints and things like that you do get a little thump through into the cabin in this one it's not too bad actually in a long one if you're sitting in the back it can be quite intrusive can be quite harsh back there and here we end uh a phase of wondering what is it fair to ask an suv to do so jaguar land rover recently canned the next generation jagger x j it was they're gonna make it it was gonna be all electric and they've and they've shelved it i do wonder if as a result the range rover is being asked to extend its working it's working practice into being a bit of a luxury car yeah we'll put people in the back we'll get an sv version with just two seats back there and a table back there but you sit in the back this is not refined enough this is this is not luxurious enough and i wonder if part of that reason is because this is still a range rover and it's expected to do tremendous things off-road as well as be a nice road car up here so let's focus on what it's what it's like up here what this version is like in this seat and it's nice that ride is is composed it's good it turns nicely things are integrated really well so when i'm turning and the roll bars are obviously stiffening and the rear wheels are doing their thing it's got a really nice natural feel to it and i like it very much really i like it very much it feels like a much nicer car than a couple of the long ones that i was in earlier we'll have a go in a d350 diesel later i'm not gonna judge a car before i've driven it but with the old range rover my feeling was that the less you spent the better car you got we tested one against a bentley ben tiger probably last year or maybe the year before relatively recently face lifted ben tiger and the range rover was for me the better choice over the bentley because bentley asks that ben tiger to do so many things it asked to be slightly dynamic it asks it to be a luxury car it also asks it to be a three and a half ton tow car and no matter how much technology you throw at a product there's only so much a vehicle can do before it becomes slightly compromised you know if you're asking you do all those things around a spider chart there's only so many things it can actually manage whereas the range rover was allowed to breathe a bit more freely a bit more easily it was allowed to be the suv the big comfortable working vehicle that you can also take to the opera that it that it always was it doesn't try to do too much my feeling with this car is that its mo has been extended just in some ways and it's not necessarily fulfilling them all i think as before the best range rover is the ones that is asked to do a little bit less than the others and that means this short one with just a just just slightly less just slightly less asked of it and then it's lovely this is really nice this is absolutely lovely and i haven't spent loads of time on it but if you ask me what car in its class i would rather be driving right now i can't think of too many whereas if i was sitting in the back of one i could think of several different vehicles i'd rather be sitting in the back of the range rover is best left to being a range rover and it is still spectacular off-road i have not yet driven it very far off-road so let's talk off-road credentials these angles and numbers are for a short wheelbase range rover although ground clearance on both is up to 295 millimeters now for context that's a tiny bit more than a land rover defender and quite a lot more than a mercedes-benz g-class the approach angle at the front is 35 degrees which is less than the defender but more than the mercedes the ramp or breakover angle is 27.7 degrees which is again sits between the two competitors but there's not a huge amount in it and a long wheelbase one will be considerably worse departure angle at the back is 29 degrees now that's less good than both the defender and g-class but it can afford 900 millimeters of water same as the defender and quite a lot more than the mercedes now all range rovers except the plug-ins can tow 3500 kilograms and the plug-in hybrids can pull 2 500 kilos when we get a car in the uk we will do a big off-road test we'll take it to our quarry that we do and we'll take it up against not just the obvious competition we'll put it up against the best stuff there is and we'll see how it gets on but in the meantime know that the new range rover in the locations where it is allowed to pick up where it was before being a brilliant country suv posh country suv it is still one of the best in the world thanks for joining us there will be lots more on the new range rover to come when we get the car in the uk now if you subscribe and click the bell icon you won't miss a thing in the meantime we are at auto cart dot co dot uk all the time on digital subscription and in print every week since 1895 hammer on all the socials see you next timehello welcome to the inside of the new range rover now this is a land rover that to my mind doesn't need reinvention in the last half a decade or so land rover has kind of reinvented the defender into a very different car than it was before the discovery 5 is not the same car as discovery 4 by any means but the range rover is kind of the car it has always been it is the luxury the original luxury suv they would say and it has been that for nearly five decades so the idea is new range rover like old range rover but better so is it there are two variants there's a standard wheelbase and a long wheelbase there are loads of engine options from very ordinary six-cylinder twin turbocharged very conventional ice stuff with or without a mild hybrid depending on which market you're in in the uk it's all mild hybrid stuff then there is a couple of plug-in hybrids there's a full electric version coming and there is this this car is a short wheelbase conventional regular wheelbase whatever first edition with a 4.4 liter twin turbocharged v8 engine with 530 metric australia it is luxury luxury range rovers start at 94 400 pounds in the uk so they're all basically 100 grand plus and for that you get a new 80 aluminium architecture there's a steel front bulkhead there's a steel ring around the lower a-pillar there's one at the c-pillar there's one of the d-pillar to make this car stiffer they say it's got 33 kilonewtons per degree of torsional static torsional rigidity so if you put one bar on the front axle and one bar on the other you'd have to put in 33 kilonewtons before the whole thing twisted by a degree it's a big car so as uh this wheelbase form it's more than five meters which is a little bit longer than it was before and then the long wheelbase is 200 meters 200 meters 200 millimeters longer again so it's a it's a big car it's also a wide car 2.2 meters across the body and it's also quite a heavy car it goes from about 2300 kilos all the way up to 2700 because this is a conventional internally combusted one without a mild hybrid without the long wheelbase it's it's actually one of even though it's a v8 it's one of the lighter engines so as well as a lot of different engines there's quite a lot going on underneath the skin too so all range rovers ride on air springs which is no great surprise they that can that can drop from the standard ride height that i'm in now by 50 millimeters or it can raise by 135 mil for maximum off-road articulation there are 48 volt anti-roll bars front and rear the sat nav reads the road ahead so it primes the roll bars and the springs and dampers to go okay there might be a corner coming up it doesn't actually read the road it just knows from the nav that what's coming then there is active rear steer on every single new range rover which can give 7.3 degrees of opposite turn in maneuvering and as standard there's an electronically controlled limited slip differential there's electrically assisted power steering and there is break by wire so there's loads of systems to try and put together to try and make it to try and make this car work as as one so as with the ferrari 296 gtb that we reviewed i reviewed not very long ago on this channel if you like and subscribe you'll never miss one there is a lot to integrate together to make it work properly now this is the first regular wheelbase range rover that i've been in i like it rather more than a couple of the long wheelbase ones that i've been in already so let's talk about the interior for a start there's quite a bold swathe across the dash and then it's got some sort of vertical bits cutting through it and this comes from is a kind of continuation of a theme they put into a range rover in the early 2000s i think they said slightly yacht-inspired actually it's not quite as bold as it was then the material quality is mostly good big touch screen in the middle okay fine it's probably asked to do a bit too much but as touch screens go it's not too bad there are still separate controls for the heater and the volume control and that sort of thing so and there are shortcuts on the steering wheel so ergonomically it's it's it's pretty good material quality is pretty good and then we come to the way it drives as i say i've been in a couple of long wheelbase cars already this morning and i'm not as convinced with the long one as i am with this regular wheelbase car this blends things really nicely the ride is is good the maximum wheel size is now 23 inch which is big and you know it's important for the looks apparently but actually when you speak some of the engineers they go well yeah a bit more tyre sidewall is not a bad thing on a car like this and in this car that so you so it's a stiff shell and those are big wheels and it's on air springs so you can it's it's mostly very isolated it's mostly very flat you occasionally get a little sprawling and over some sort of surface imperfections and expansion joints and things like that you do get a little thump through into the cabin in this one it's not too bad actually in a long one if you're sitting in the back it can be quite intrusive can be quite harsh back there and here we end uh a phase of wondering what is it fair to ask an suv to do so jaguar land rover recently canned the next generation jagger x j it was they're gonna make it it was gonna be all electric and they've and they've shelved it i do wonder if as a result the range rover is being asked to extend its working it's working practice into being a bit of a luxury car yeah we'll put people in the back we'll get an sv version with just two seats back there and a table back there but you sit in the back this is not refined enough this is this is not luxurious enough and i wonder if part of that reason is because this is still a range rover and it's expected to do tremendous things off-road as well as be a nice road car up here so let's focus on what it's what it's like up here what this version is like in this seat and it's nice that ride is is composed it's good it turns nicely things are integrated really well so when i'm turning and the roll bars are obviously stiffening and the rear wheels are doing their thing it's got a really nice natural feel to it and i like it very much really i like it very much it feels like a much nicer car than a couple of the long ones that i was in earlier we'll have a go in a d350 diesel later i'm not gonna judge a car before i've driven it but with the old range rover my feeling was that the less you spent the better car you got we tested one against a bentley ben tiger probably last year or maybe the year before relatively recently face lifted ben tiger and the range rover was for me the better choice over the bentley because bentley asks that ben tiger to do so many things it asked to be slightly dynamic it asks it to be a luxury car it also asks it to be a three and a half ton tow car and no matter how much technology you throw at a product there's only so much a vehicle can do before it becomes slightly compromised you know if you're asking you do all those things around a spider chart there's only so many things it can actually manage whereas the range rover was allowed to breathe a bit more freely a bit more easily it was allowed to be the suv the big comfortable working vehicle that you can also take to the opera that it that it always was it doesn't try to do too much my feeling with this car is that its mo has been extended just in some ways and it's not necessarily fulfilling them all i think as before the best range rover is the ones that is asked to do a little bit less than the others and that means this short one with just a just just slightly less just slightly less asked of it and then it's lovely this is really nice this is absolutely lovely and i haven't spent loads of time on it but if you ask me what car in its class i would rather be driving right now i can't think of too many whereas if i was sitting in the back of one i could think of several different vehicles i'd rather be sitting in the back of the range rover is best left to being a range rover and it is still spectacular off-road i have not yet driven it very far off-road so let's talk off-road credentials these angles and numbers are for a short wheelbase range rover although ground clearance on both is up to 295 millimeters now for context that's a tiny bit more than a land rover defender and quite a lot more than a mercedes-benz g-class the approach angle at the front is 35 degrees which is less than the defender but more than the mercedes the ramp or breakover angle is 27.7 degrees which is again sits between the two competitors but there's not a huge amount in it and a long wheelbase one will be considerably worse departure angle at the back is 29 degrees now that's less good than both the defender and g-class but it can afford 900 millimeters of water same as the defender and quite a lot more than the mercedes now all range rovers except the plug-ins can tow 3500 kilograms and the plug-in hybrids can pull 2 500 kilos when we get a car in the uk we will do a big off-road test we'll take it to our quarry that we do and we'll take it up against not just the obvious competition we'll put it up against the best stuff there is and we'll see how it gets on but in the meantime know that the new range rover in the locations where it is allowed to pick up where it was before being a brilliant country suv posh country suv it is still one of the best in the world thanks for joining us there will be lots more on the new range rover to come when we get the car in the uk now if you subscribe and click the bell icon you won't miss a thing in the meantime we are at auto cart dot co dot uk all the time on digital subscription and in print every week since 1895 hammer on all the socials see you next time\n"