Land Rover Range Rover 4x4 review
Very few cars can genuinely be called motoring icons, but we feel safe in saying the Range Rover is one of them. The trouble is, when you are updating an icon, it’s a really tricky process.
You have to balance the desire for progress with a need to remain what turned the car an icon in the first place. When Land Rover set about designing this fourth generation model the customer simply said don’t change it just make it better, but for Land Rover, better wasn’t good enough. They wanted to make not just the best luxury SUV but the best luxury vehicle full stop. So let’s see just how successful they’ve been.
The company call this a bold evolution of the classic design but it’s still unmistakably a Range Rover. The traditional head light shapes, clam shell bonnet and imposing grill are all present and correct. As ever it’s all the proportions that make this a Range Rover. The way the three major horizontal lanes work together along the roof, the waistline and the sill. And with a short front overhang and a long rear overhang they give the car a real elegance.
Of course there is some progress, but it’s been achieved without being fussy or contrived. The basic shape is more rounded and softer than on previous models and there are lots of lovely little details too - like the headlights being modelled on camera lenses for example. In the metal the car impresses you with its size, its scale and its grandeur. It may be almost 5 metres long but the vertical details in the front doors reduce the impression in length and the hockey stick graphics on the sides that can either be colour coded or coloured in chrome add an elegant design flourish.
Just as outside, inside some things just haven’t changed. You still get arm chair front seats and imperious driving position and the cabin is covered in a mixture of leather and wood. But there are some new features like the 8” touchscreen which reduces the amount of buttons on the centre console.
If you’re buying one we recommend two upgrades first the panoramic glass roof and secondly the meridian signature reference sound system. Overall there are only a couple of things that are disappointing first the gear change panels are plastic when you really want aluminium, and the chunky typography on the dashboard just chips away at that luxury car feel. On the other hand you certainly won’t complain about how much room there is inside. This is the biggest Range Rover ever and if you’re sat in the front or the back, you’ll have acres of space. The boot is split too and has a fully electric split tailgate which is really handy given the current fashion for SUV size prams.
The Range Rover is one of the widest cars on sale in the UK but as long as you cope with its sheer size there’s nothing about driving it that should cause you any problems. For a start this fourth generation version is much lighter than the previous model and that means it feels remarkably light on its feet, agile even. It’s really comfortable and refined too and it simply glides down the road with its super slick 8 speed automatic gear box on every model. The benchmarks for Land Rover whilst developing this car were the Rolls Royce Ghost and it really shows. This is a superb luxury car.
Last but not least the Range Rover is also superb off road. Not only does it have 300mm ground clearance it also has excellent terrain response system coupled with hill descent control. That means it can tackle any sort of terrain in any sort of weather you could possibly throw at it.
The Range Rover is an automotive icon that single handedly invented the prestige 4x4 market, but with this fourth generation model the company has raised its game again thanks to its light weight chassis and its terrain response system. It’s luxurious, its classy and its superb to drive both on and off road. This is the most capable luxury 4x4 you can buy.
