2023 Range Rover review: International first drive

Coming up with a new Range Rover is similar to eye surgery or bomb disposal; you really don’t want to mess it up. Like the HiLux for Toyota or the 911 for Porsche, the Range Rover is the heart of what Land Rover does, the nucleus from which everything else radiates. Get this one wrong and they’d kill the reflected glory that shines on the Sport and the Velar and the Evoque.

So when Land Rover needs to make a new Range Rover, there are no half measures. It starts with a fresh platform, brand new from the wheels up and not seen under any other model, though it will be used under the next RR Sport and other Land Rovers to follow.

Compared to the last Range Rover, the wheelbase grows by 75mm and the car itself stretches 53mm, though it’s a fraction narrower and lower than the old one.

173

Like the old car, the shell is largely aluminium, though it’s now ringed with steel at strategic points to make it stiffer, and if you like to stretch out in the back there’s a long-wheelbase version with an extra 200mm let into the back doors and so much rear space you could lose your kids in there.

Before you have a parental panic, you might discover them sitting in the optional third row because for the first time the full-size Range Rover can be had as a seven-seater, though only in the longer wheelbase.

From the outside, the styling looks very familiar at first sight. Only when you put the new car next to the old one, still a looker at a decade old, can you see the evolution. The new one is sleeker, neater and more modern. Some of the detailing is brilliant and took great engineering effort to achieve.

173

The new rear lamps, for example, are very thin and inky black when unlit, a look achievable only by fitting the bulbs the wrong way round, facing towards the front of the car and into a bank of reflectors that send the light backwards. Sounds complicated but it seems to work.

Likewise the neat junction between the windows and the bodywork, which gets rid of the clunky rubber sealing strip of every other car so that glass and metal meet in a way that looks tight and expensive. The actual weather sealing is done inside the door, strangely. There are lots of these little innovations going on around the car.

The result is that, where the average brand-new model might have a handful of patents taken out to protect engineers’ new tricks, the new Range Rover has 125. Yet the overall look couldn’t be anything else. With its clamshell bonnet, blacked-in pillars and those familiar proportions, you’re never going to mistake it for a SsangYong.

173

The same is true of the inside which, though completely redesigned to a style that’s minimalist without feeling bleak, still has something familiar about it. The windows are huge, the seats are massive and high, the steering wheel is of a size normally found on something with an anchor.

It’s a Range Rover alright. There’s even an old-fashioned knob to select the different drive modes of the Terrain Response system and, praise be, simple rotary dials to adjust the cabin temperature, though everything else is controlled by a vast and gently curved touchscreen in the middle of the dash. Whether you want to raise the suspension, turn up the air purification system or increase the intensity of your massaging seat, it’s all done through the screen.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to find somewhere there’s a little bell icon that summons a man to serve your passengers a glass of something chilled. Maybe we just didn’t get to that sub-menu.

173

As car touchscreens go, it’s about as good as it gets with clean graphics, snappy reactions and the option of haptic feedback but you’ll still find yourself hunting through pages looking for one elusive function muttering, “I just know it’s round here somewhere” like a forgetful grandfather searching for his hat.

Since we’re griping, those few precious physical buttons on the vent controls are a bit small and far away too. Otherwise, inside the new Range Rover is a leathery and delightful place to spend time, unless you’d rather only half of that was true in which case order the optional Kvadrat wool-blend upholstery instead. It’s nice.

No doubt, this Range Rover is a great place to sit. And the good news is that there’s little to spoil your enjoyment once you get on the move. That stiffer bodyshell pays dividends in refinement and it’s bolstered by eerily good active noise cancelling technology that works through 35 stereo speakers, plus a pair in each headrest, to reduce road and engine noise to almost unnoticeable levels, leaving only a disappointing fluttering of wind around the door mirrors to interrupt the library-like atmosphere.

173

Past Range Rovers never had a truly limo-ish ride, for which you could blame the hefty suspension parts needed in case someone decided to take their six-figure SUV up a dry creek bed. But this new one does a decent job of soaking up most divots and ruts.

Your passengers won’t be soiling their silk undershorts when you turn into a corner either, because it comes with a whole slew of new hardware designed to make it the best handling Range Rover in history. Of course, this is much like boasting of being the ballet’s most talented hippo but, by the standards of 2.5-tonne 4x4s, this one does a decent job of keeping itself right side up.

A chief weapon in the handling arsenal is a new four-wheel-steering system, standard across the range, which can dial in up to 7.3 degrees of counter steer to let this hefty truck dive into corners at higher speeds and U-turn like a shopping cart at lower ones.

173

On motorways, the rear wheels turn in parallel with the fronts to make lane changes crisp and confident. Working in league with the 4WS is air suspension and a 48V electronic anti-roll system, which does its best to stop the Range Rover heaving like a stricken freighter. The biggest compliment you can give these new chassis systems is that you barely notice they’re there.

The steering feels entirely normal and the roll resistance tech is set up to allow a bit of lean so it feels more natural as it barrels through bends. Of course, this is still a big and heavy car. It’s not meant to feel as sharp and darty as a Cayenne Turbo.

It’s meant to feel like a Range Rover, and sure enough it does. It’s soft, it’s relaxing, it makes the journey as pleasant as getting to the destination.

173

How quickly you arrive at that destination depends on which engine you pick. At the bottom of the range are two 3.0-litre straight-six diesels in 221kW or 258kW outputs, followed by a 294kW turbocharged AND supercharged petrol, also a 3.0-litre straight-six.

Or, if you’d like to arrive later because you’ve had to stop to fill up, there’s a 390kW 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 bought in from BMW, modified to Land Rover’s needs and connected, like the other engines, to an eight-speed auto.

The diesels are perfectly good at moving this massive car around and are likely to be the least thirsty but the incredibly smooth petrol six is the nicest engine, though you can’t deny the addictive idiocy of a grunty V8 propelling this leviathan down the road to a soundtrack of (very muted) thunder, assuming you can afford the juice. Of course you can afford the juice, you’re buying a Range Rover.

173

You’re probably so rich you won’t even care that there’s a full-electric version arriving in 2024 or, in just a few months, a fuel-saving plug-in hybrid pairing the petrol six to an EV powertrain and a battery big enough for a claimed electric-only range of 113km. Why would you care about fuel costs when you’ve got $220,200 – before on-road costs – to drop on a car?

Except that, of course, that’s just the starting price. You want 23-inch wheels or adaptive LED headlights or 11.4-inch TVs in the back? You can have them, at a cost of course.

And if you’re feeling really flush you can move into the SV models where no white ceramic gear selector trim or electrically extending club table is too much trouble and no change will be given from $386,529 (again, before on-road costs).

173

Will anyone actually pay that for a Range Rover? In a world where people drop much more on a Bentley Bentayga or Rolls-Royce Cullinan, clearly Land Rover thinks they will. This car doesn’t have quite the badge prestige of those rivals but it’s got better off-road cred and, in the fickle realm of Insta show-offs, sports stars and Kardashians, it has the novelty of newness on its side.

If people are happy to pay a fortune to have satin paint, motorised cup holders and rose gold detailing on their Range Rovers then more power to Land Rover.

They’ve kept all the stuff that was enjoyable about the last Range Rover while making this new model quieter, comfier and more sophisticated. It’s a tricky job creating a brand-new flagship but they didn’t mess it up.

173

Go-go Gadget!

The tech on this car doesn’t end with four-wheel steering and noise-cancelling speakers. Other gadgets include remote parking, powered doors, virtual rear-view mirror, built-in Amazon Alexa, integrated Spotify music streaming, onboard Wi-Fi, air filtration with allergen and pathogen removal, active LED headlights with beam shaping, and LED downlighters that come on at night when you select reverse so you can back up in dark places surrounded by a pool of illumination.

Plus, the usual two-piece Range Rover tailgate now has the option of a flip-up seat with cup holders, extra stereo speakers and downlighters so you can sit in your boot watching the sun go down drinking something from your built-in champagne fridge.

Oh, and there are more than 70 electronic modules in the car that can receive over-the-air updates. If nothing else, this car is going to be a stern test of Land Rover’s less-than-stellar reliability reputation.

173

What about off-road?

The new Range Rover isn’t short of off-road tech. It’s got multiple Terrain Response modes covering a range of conditions including snow, sand, mud and rocks. It’s got air suspension that can raise the ride height by 135mm and decouple the anti-roll bars.

It’s got a four-wheel-drive system that monitors grip levels 100 times a second, can move torque between front and back axles and side-to-side across the back axle – which also has an active locking diff – and can brake individual wheels to achieve a torque vectoring effect.

Got creeks to cross? The new Range Rover can wade in water up to 900mm deep and you can use the wade-sensing system to check the depth before making your attempt.

So yeah, the new Range Rover can be taken off-road. The bigger question is if anyone will.

173