First drive review: Range Rover

Thursday, 21 April 2022

The all-new Range Rover is instantly familiar, yet represents a huge advance over the previous model.

LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER
Price range: $209,900 to $384,900
Powertrains: 3.0-litre diesel mild-hybrid 6-cylinder with 257kW/700Nm, 3.0-litre petrol mild-hybrid 6-cylinder with 294kW/550Nm or 4.4-litre petrol twin turbo V8 with 390kW/750Nm. All with an 8-speed automatic, AWD.

Instantly recognisable, yet all new, the 2022 Range Rover is a luxurious technological powerhouse.

Body style: Five-door SUV.
On sale: Orders taken now with first shipment arriving mid-2022.

The rear of the new Range Rover is the biggest departure from the previous model, with a new ‘hidden’ taillight arrangement.

Fifty years of evolution and five years of development have culminated in this fifth-generation ‘flagship-model’ Range Rover. With a ‘modern and reductive’ approach, the outward design is softer and more flowing and yet it’s also the most capable and refined Range Rover yet.

Make me an instant expert: what do I need to know?

The interior is minimalist, yet superbly luxurious.

For more than fifty years the Range Rover has been at the forefront of what a premium and extremely capable SUV should be. The first one was the company’s first vehicle to deliver permanent four-wheel-drive, it also featured a split tailgate, clamshell hood, a continuous waistline and showcased a design so modern that it went on display at the Louvre.

The Range Rover was launched somewhere it is very much at home – the Northern California wine region.

* Five Range Rover facts

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Would you like your Range Rover in silver or... silver? There are plenty of other colour choices though.

* The average car manual is longer than The Da Vinci Code

With colour and option combinations that number into the millions, you can pretty much spec your Range Rover’s interior any way you like.

Four generations later and the new Range Rover still boasts a clamshell hood, split tailgate and a continuous waistline, however, both the engineers and designers have simply made everything better.

Underpinning it all is a new MLA-Flex body architecture which is not only lighter, firmer and more rigid than before, but it reduces vibration and noise by 24% and opens up a myriad of model options such as short and long wheelbases (for five or seven-seat arrangements, or a very luxurious four seat configuration) plus makes way for plug-in hybrid and all-electric powertrains to follow.

Mosaic marquetry in the centre console? Yeah, you can have that.

Short overhangs front and rear and a gentle sloping roofline gives the new Range Rover instant roadside recognition and yet there are plenty of subtle changes to grab your attention.

The nose is now split into two elements with the upper including a new grille and freshly designed LED headlights featuring over 1.2 million optical mirrors that can mask up to 16 objects and still leave your way ahead perfectly illuminated.

Like lots of legroom? The LWB Range Rover SV brings a full Business Class experience on the ground.

The interior is as refined as they come with materials that range from ‘ultrafabrics’ and wool-bends, to leather and ceramics – what’s your pleasure? And when it comes to the SV, it’s estimated that the personalisable configurations exceed 1.6 million. However, the cabin itself is uncluttered and rather serene.

The 13.7-inch digital instrument cluster is highly configurable, while the infotainment comes by way of a 13.1-inch Pivi Pro system with integrated Spotify, Alexa, wireless Carplay and Android Auto, and (model dependant) a 1600-watt Meridian sound system that includes active noise cancellation and boasts 35 speakers.

While mild-hybrid engines are available now, more electrified versions including PHEVs and full EVs are on the way.

What’s more, the new Range Rover’s list of safety and driver's aids is seemingly endless. You can read about the complete line-up heading to New Zealand, as well as pricing, here.

Where did you drive it?

The glorious sweeping Northern California roads that surround the Napa and Sonoma valleys. The route included the winding highway 1 that hugs the Pacific coast and some rugged off-road tracks that highlighted the Range Rover’s all-terrain prowess.

Upon arrival at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport, we opted for the HSE D350 MHEV (mild hybrid) diesel where the navigation was set South to Santa Rosa on a loop that would have us heading towards the Pacific coastline at Dillon Bay.

With its uncluttered cabin, getting acquainted with the D350 was simple and with 24 way adjustable, heated and ventilated seats getting comfortable was even easier. Visibility all round is ideal thanks to its elevated ride height and big windows and I opted for the ‘clear view image in the rearview mirror as it offered up an uninhibited field of rear vision.

The 3.0-litre 6-pot diesel engine is torquey from the get go and 0 to 100kph in 6.1 seconds makes this 2.5-tonne SUV no slouch, yet as with all the models we drove, the speed is delivered elegantly. Being the SWB its overall length was a shade over 5 metres and there was plenty of cabin space for all five seats.

On the highway, the most noticeable thing was the lack of external noise. The engine is muffled even under revs and wind noise is at a minimum, just a little input from the wing mirrors - it’s a very respectable place to be.

As part of the first stint, we experienced our first off-road segment in the farmlands around Bodega Bay. Now more often than not, these trails are only designed to just give us a taste of some of the vehicles capabilities, but I have to say, the tight dirt tracks required engaging the elevated ride hight and mud settings from the Terrain 2 system, and was no place for a Corolla, (not even a rental one). However, the Range Rover handled it with ease, even displaying the SUV’s wheels and terrain below on the colour infotainment screen.

From there we headed north to a lunch venue set amongst the redwoods near Guerneville where we switched vehicles to the SWB Range Rover First Edition P530, boasting a 4.4-litre V8 twin-turbo under its clamshell bonnet. It’s a step up in refinement, with things like hot stone massage seats, Perlino Leather furniture and a powertrain that will get you from 0 to100kph in 4.6 seconds.

It was also the perfect new Range Rover to test out the suspension upgrades. Previously it’s been remarked that Range Rovers have a tendency to excessively pitch during acceleration and braking, but not with the new model. Physics would dictate that there has to be some movement, but the new Bilstein twin-tube continuously variable dampers meant that my lunch stayed well and truly put.

More food was consumed atop a hill on the edge of Orrs springs and although the track offered very little difficulty for the Range Rover in terms of a hill climb, we inadvertently set ourselves a treacherous downhill task of trying to deliver a piping hot mug of coffee to one of the staff members at the foot of the hill. Again, the off-road suspension setting was activated and perfect communication between driver and co-pilot meant that the coffee arrived all still in the cup – albeit rather tepid.

The night's accommodation was at the Montage Hotel in Healdsburg and the next day we grabbed the keys to the first 7-seater LWB Range Rover. The extra 200mm in the wheelbase meant that the LWB’s shell extended out 200mm in overall length. And much, if not all of this added room is around the B-Pillar in the centre (so the rear doors are a little bigger too). Access to the 3rd row is a one button push affair and the 2nd row seats don’t fold during this process meaning that the child seat can remain in place.

Despite the extra length, extra 100kg and 3.0-litre MHEV engine, the bigger Range Rover trundles along nicely boasting a 0 to100kph time of 6.1 seconds and in fact feels very much the same as its SWB siblings, hard to spot the difference in all honesty, apart from the extra kids in the rear I guess.

Once we arrived at Robert Young Estate winery (for a little more food), we were given the chance to drive the LWB SV and that was an experience all by itself. As a driver, you are bombarded with a sublime tactile overload. For example, the gear stick and seat arm adjusters were in ‘luxury watch’ ceramic (or they could be in whatever else you desire), and there was mosaic marquetry in the centre console. But it’s those that prefer to be driven that get the real treats.

The SV is a Range Rover limousine that takes decadence to the next level. Should you require legroom, the front passenger seat moves forward, and the rear seat extends and reclines. There’s a cooler in the armrest to chill your favourite beverage. A table pops up from somewhere near the transmission tunnel and the drink holders only appear when summoned. Both rear passengers get large 13.1-inch entertainment screens and there’s an unmistakable air of ‘having made it’.

What’s the pick of the range?

Depending on the size of your family, wallet or vehicle demands, the new Range Rover range has something for all who can afford to pony up the dollars required. Personally I liked the V8 SWB but would gladly be driven everywhere in the back seat of the SV. The upcoming PHEV and BEV may well come to the fore though.

Why would I buy it?

Range Rover is a fifty-year iconic nameplate that just gets better with each and every iteration. If you are looking for a luxurious SUV that will handle the rough stuff when required, well look no further.

Why wouldn’t I buy it?

Tough question… it’s not the cheapest luxury SUV on the market but nor should it be. You may start taking in a cockney accent.

The 2022 Range Rover is a vast improvement on what was already a very desirable luxury SUV. With demand already exceeding supply, you may have to wait for yours to come, but it’ll be well worth it.