Range Rover has larger-than-life luxury
The fifth-generation SUV really goes to town with grandeur and gadgets, but don’t take it off-road, writes Denis Droppa
The Range Rover was the original luxury SUV when it was launched in 1970, blending off-road ability with the most opulence you could get in the Land Rover line-up. It’s become ever more sophisticated over successive generations, and for its latest encore the fifth-generation car really goes to town with grandeur and gadgets, but it isn’t without foibles.
Styling certainly isn’t one of its weak points, and the large SUV projects gravitas in a way that says “big shot” in no uncertain terms. In what its makers call a reductive design free from superfluous detail, the new Range Rover retains the chunky look of its forebears but with every edge smoothed out like a pebble in a river. Even the door handles fit flush with the body, until they glide out when the car is unlocked.
Running boards deploy from under the doors to provide short people with a step to help them enter and exit the car. Taller folk will find these steps merely put dirty marks on trousers and risk bashing shins, but thankfully the pop-out running boards can be disabled.
The Range Rover has traditionally mixed luxury with adventuring ability, but we didn’t take the test car off the tar as its 23-inch low-profile tyres weren’t conducive to exploration of the unpaved wilderness. The more sensible 22-inch tyres optionally offered would make a better choice for owners seeking to make full use of the vehicle’s all-terrain skills, which should be formidable thanks to all-wheel drive, height adjustable air suspension that varies ground clearance from 219mm-295mm, an impressive 900mm water fording depth, and several selectable off-road modes for different terrains.
However, all this adventuring ability remains theoretical with those impractical tyres, which are akin to an Olympic athlete wearing high-heeled shoes.
On the tarmac, where this luxury SUV will spend the bulk of its life, the air suspension delivers an impressively plush ride over undulating roads, but the low-profile rubber causes some jittering over potholes and small bumps. If you’re getting the feeling we aren’t great fans of those 23-inch wheels you’d be spot on; there’s a price to pay for the good looks they bestow.
Those gripes aside, the new Range Rover is a bed-of-roses experience with grand levels of space and comfort. The cabin is the lap of luxury with opulent materials, and there’s not a square centimetre of plastic to be seen; every surface is either coated in rich-feeling soft leather or garnished with metal or wood.
The R3.5m price tag comes with a commensurate profusion of features, and the car seemingly does everything but polish your shoes while you drive. Rear passengers are catered for just as lavishly as in the front and get their own climate controls, electrically powered seats and an entertainment system with two large screens. The front occupants have massaging seats with several different programmes to choose from.
The on-board features are mostly controlled by touchscreens in the heavily digitised cabin, but there is the occasional nod to analogue in the form of physical knobs for the climate control system and the off-road modes. Accessing the vehicle’s fearsome list of functions is a generally user-friendly experience, and the huge size of the infotainment touchscreen helps to make it so.
It is a huge vehicle in terms of cabin and boot space (the latter 818l) and the rear seats flip down electrically to provide up to 1,841l for oversized objects.
Encapsulating this familysized five-seater cabin (the Range Rover is also available as a seven-seater) is an enormous car that is 5,052mm long and weighs 2.4 tonnes. Light steering makes this hulk effortless to drive, with a little help from allwheel steering which improves high-speed stability and reduces the turning circle at lower speeds. It’s never a pleasure to guide through parking lots, but helping to squeeze this behemoth into tight spaces is a 360° camera with ClearSight Ground View that effectively lets you see “through” the bonnet. The latter also makes easier work of guiding the big vehicle through (theoretical) off-road trails.
It’s too bulky to be considered sporty in the corners, but the Range Rover has good traction when you crank up the pace, assisted by torque vectoring that balances the distribution of power between the four wheels.
The Range Rover line-up has 20 derivatives including petrol and diesel models in short- and long-wheelbase variants, with five or seven seats.
The model on test is the D350 First Edition, a five-seater powered by a 3.0l turbo diesel with gutsy outputs of 258kW and 700Nm. Based on the highend Autobiography, the First Edition is available in an exclusive Sunset Gold Satin finish, among a choice of five other exterior colours.
At Gauteng altitude there’s distinct turbo lag at pull off and it takes a couple of moments for the engine to wake up, but once it does, it shunts the big vehicle along at a very lively rate. It cruises and overtakes effortlessly, and at 11.2l/100km the fuel consumption is remarkably frugal for such a behemoth.
It is a serene driving experience and “white noise” speakers built into the headrests combine with acoustic laminated glass to keep the interior free of unwanted sounds. Alternatively, good vibes are provided by the 34speaker Meridian audio system with subwoofer.
The new Range Rover is a larger-than-life experience when it comes to luxury, technology and general grandeur. With the right tyres it could be an off-road giant too.