{"id":803,"date":"2021-12-10T12:24:20","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T12:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland\/?p=803"},"modified":"2021-12-10T12:34:30","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T12:34:30","slug":"test-drive-range-rover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/highlights\/test-drive-range-rover\/12-2021","title":{"rendered":"Test Drive: Range Rover"},"content":{"rendered":"

An automotive interpretation of modern luxury\u2026 It\u2019s a tall order indeed to reinvent a car that\u2019s been an iconic sight in\u00a0 both town and country for over 50 years. There\u2019s a lot riding on Land Rover\u2019s new flagship Range Rover. Can it deliver?<\/h3>\n
\"The
The 2022 Range Rover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back in 1970 the world was a very different place indeed. There\u2019s more technology in even modest cars today than it took to send a man to walk on the surface of the moon.\u00a0Today\u2019s cars are a mass of chips, sensors and driver aids, not to mention being rather more comfortable than anything you could pilot half a century ago, with better engineering, manufacturing and design.<\/p>\n

Looking back at the original Range Rover now it\u2019s difficult to believe that it was considered the embodiment of comfort… it looks positively crude by today\u2019s standards.\u00a0Over five generations, its successive reinvention has brought us right up to October 2021, when Land Rover chiefs unveiled an all new model for the 21st century to the world\u2019s press at London\u2019s Royal Opera House.<\/p>\n

Commensurate with a vehicle which is available to order now with first deliveries in spring 2022, it\u2019s been created with an all new architecture that builds in electrification (full electrification will not be available until 2024) and eco-friendly qualities as well as reflecting traditional Range Rover values like space, luxury and terrific breadth of capability.<\/p>\n

With the advent of the Range Rover Sport, Velar and both Land Rover\u2019s Discovery and\u00a0Defender, the market place has become much more crowded in recent years, with the Range Rover jostling among its siblings to secure sales, never mind the fact that other manufactures like Bentley and Rolls, Aston Martin and Porsche have all entered the posh-SUV market.<\/p>\n

With prices for the best vehicles now comfortably in the \u00a3150,000 region, this version of the Range Rover has been given the necessary breathing space to put some distance between its sub-\u00a3100,000 siblings and really make the new flagship special.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, the new model starts at \u00a394,400 and tops out at \u00a3131,000, which will increase when the dedicated sports model, which will be badged SV \u2013 a reference to the firm\u2019s Special Vehicles Operations engineering department \u2013 launches later in 2022.<\/p>\n

For now though the Range Rover is available in SE, HSE and Autobiography trims, in both a standard and longer wheelbase version. Engine choices at launch include a 3.0V6 diesel (badged D300 and generating 300hp), 3.0V6 diesel (badged D350 and generating 350hp) and a P400 3.0V6 petrol generating, 400hp. At the top of the lineup\u00a0 is a 4.4V8 petrol unit generating 530hp.<\/p>\n

Two additional engines with plug-in hybrid technology and all-electric ranges of at least 60 miles are yet to go on sale and will doubtless lead to the extinction of diesel in the lineup, providing a last hooray for combustion prior to full electrification in a couple of years.<\/p>\n

One very welcome addition to the new Range Rover is the option to specify six or seven seats including two \u2018Executive Class Comfort Plus\u2019 seats in the middle row, mostly aimed at the Chinese market where being chauffeured is more popular than self-driving. Otherwise, it\u2019s possible to seat seven in comfort in the new model, and of course all seats can be heated, cooled, they can recline and provide a hot stone massage.<\/p>\n

In terms of spec, we\u2019d recommend the shorter wheelbase unless you really do make the most of the rear seats, and spec those rearmost seats according to your needs.\u00a0We think the D300 has all of the smoothness, power and economy you\u2019ll need, although we\u2019ll quickly consider the plug-in hybrid model instead, as soon as it launches.\u00a0Likewise, base SE\u2008trim is very well equipped indeed with adaptive cruise and a 3D camera\u00a0 making motorway driving and parking easy.<\/p>\n

Heated seats in the front and rear, electrically adjustable and clad in leather, plus a heated steering wheel, panoramic roof and a power tailgate are all standard, so we\u2019d opt for the SE\u2008and add perhaps a few choice options like Park Assist for automated parking, which will pay for its \u00a3250 list price the first time it spares you the ignominy of a scuffed bumper in a tight car park.<\/p>\n

Being a Range Rover, an eight speed auto gearbox, low range gears, air suspension and the company\u2019s Terrain Response system are all standard. There\u2019s probably no terrain around the county that a Range Rover driver would find inaccessible, and not only will you get there, you\u2019ll do so in style, comfort and in unashamed luxury.<\/p>\n

The Details: 2022 Range Rover<\/strong><\/p>\n

Price:<\/strong>\u2008\u00a394,400, D300 SE (first deliveries March 2022).<\/p>\n

Powertrain:<\/strong> 3.0L 300HP diesel, all wheel drive, eight-speed auto box.<\/p>\n

Performance:<\/strong> 0-62mph: 6.5 seconds, top speed 135mph.<\/p>\n

Economy:<\/strong> 36.7mpg, 202g\/km,<\/p>\n

Equipment:<\/strong> Heated electrically adjustable leather seats, 360\u00b0 camera, adaptive cruise, navigation, heated steering wheel, power tailgate, soft door close, keyless entry, Apple Carplay.<\/p>\n

\"The
The 2022 Range Rover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An automotive interpretation of modern luxury\u2026 It\u2019s a tall order indeed to reinvent a car that\u2019s been an iconic sight…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":806,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions\/806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}