Land Rover Range Rover Review (2022)

Range Rovers are cool right? I was invited to test drive thenew P400 LWB and then a long SV model, trying it in both the back and the front seats. Every variant that I tried had 23in rims shod with 285/40 tyres. 

Starting with the LWB, though, is a little inauspicious. Its issues are twofold. For one, if you’re in the back, I’m not sure the ride is up to the job. It’s mostly flat and contained and controlled but gets caught out – as air suspension sometimes is – by sharply poor surfaces and expansion joints.

From the front, things are better, but there’s still a niggle. The steering is beautifully smooth and accurate and the other controls weights spot on. Isolation is good (those thumps that affect the ride in the front too aside, although they’re less noticeable from behind the wheel) and noise levels are really low. But there’s something about the way it steers, turns and balances its body movements that doesn’t feel natural. 

Verdict

The new Range Rover is modern British luxury at its best. It blends traditional craftsmanship and engineering brilliance with the very latest tech that enhances ownership and the driving experience. And what surprised us most is how much we enjoyed driving the car. The Range Rover always was a great all-rounder; part luxury car, part family car, part 4×4. That has all been enhanced – and we’d add part GT into the mix. It’s an outstanding achievement.

There are a lot of chassis facets and technologies at work, and while it’s impressive, and in a way that most passengers and a fair few drivers won’t really notice, you don’t quite always get back the amount of turn you asked for. It’s subtle. It’s fundamentally good, but it feels like it wants a bit more finessing. 

Given there are so many powertrain options, there are two lengths and JLR is a relatively modest size on global terms, maybe it’s understandable that the variants don’t impress equally.

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If the long one doesn’t quite hit the mark, roll up the short one. It melts the doubts away within about five corners. 

I drove a P530 and then a D350. The P530’s BMW-sourced V8 is a real peach, but, like the Defender’s V8 (a different engine) does feel a bit ‘not made for the British’.  It’s lusty, smooth and alluring, but you’re probably not going to buy one, because it its First Edition specification it costs £140,420 before options and returns 275g/km of CO2. 

The D350 is more palatable, although these things are relative: it costs £108,775 in HSE form and emits 205g/km. But the Ingenium 3.0-litre straight six thrums away nicely and, paired with an understated interior, feels like the most old-school version of the new Range Rover and the most appealing: a car that would be happy to go from Essex to London.

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