Frankfurt King Elizabeth II is out and about with him in his rare private life and Prime Minister Johnson gets out of him every day at 10 Downing Street. Apart from Rolls Royce, hardly any other car is as associated with the British way of life and quirkiness as the classic off-road vehicle, which was the still current age of 1970 SUV opened.
It’s really difficult for the designers to maintain the nobility of a classic Range Rover with each generation and still serve the zeitgeist of modern cars. Gerry McGovern, chief designer with the title of professor, describes it as follows: “Restraint on the outside, quiet and flawless retreat inside and always striving for perfection”.
Never before has a Range Rover wore such a sleek sheet metal cladding that largely saves folds and beading. The roof, sloping gently towards the rear, appears to float, as dark struts and tinted windows mean that there is no apparent solid support. A deliberate illusion, so as not to apply thickly and to prevent aggression against a five-meter ship in the first place.
There is also a lack of swank at the stern because the classic lamps are missing: a modest black bar traces a kind of gymnastics bar with the lower end missing. Only when braking, blinking or at night does the bar become colorful and lively, because the LED lights are powerful enough to break through the black. That should make the Range Rover unmistakable even without a nameplate.
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The same logic at the front. The areas of the bonnet, headlights, grill and wide breathing organ with crossbars are clearly separated from each other, but together they still form a unit, the icing on the cake is the graphically playful radiator grille.
The fifth generation Range Rover is at least 5 feet long.
At the back there is a kind of lounge made of brown leather and wood.
In the interior, on the other hand, there is boasting. Although the digital instrument unit in front of the driver is in the usual format, the large central monitor is a statement. Not as huge as with Tesla, but at 13.1 inches by far the largest that has ever been in a Range Rover. The inside mirror is no longer a mirror, but shows the image of a rear-view camera, the lens of which is hidden in one of the two roof fins.
The wide center console with the knobbly automatic selector lever separates the two wide front seats, for the leather upholstery of which the buyer is spoiled for choice from many materials.
A kind of lounge opens up at the back. In the Range Rover with a long wheelbase, the legroom is one meter. Individual seats with backrests that can be gently lowered on request. Then adjust the distance to the screen on the back of the front seat, so you can relax and watch your Netflix series before you go to sleep.
Because the Range Rover can always be online, if there is a cellular network out there in the world. Depending on the equipment, more than 70 modules and control units can be supplied with updates. Alexa is also on board. Once spoken to, switches and touch functions of the monitor can be replaced by voice inputs.
The virtual passenger from the distant USA can also switch off the lights at home, activate the heating or conjure up the live and color images of the home cameras in the rover. Conveniences that are almost as important in today’s cars, such as the classic values of engine power, driving experience, assistance systems and top speed.
In the Range Rover with a long wheelbase, the legroom is one meter.
Of course, the new Range Rover is also suitable for off-road use.
Of all of this, the new Range Rover has a lot to offer in addition to its comfort requirements. All electronic co-drivers who manage semi-autonomous driving according to the usual level 2 can be ordered. The autobahn pilot, who automatically helps to overtake on the autobahn, is not there. That would be level 3. But that’s our turn, say the technicians.
Sophisticated helpers are also on board for the tour through and in the terrain. Less new under the hood. All diesel and gasoline engines rely on 48-volt technology, often misleadingly referred to as “mild hybrid”. A flawless plug-in hybrid is also available. Its combination of a three-liter petrol engine and a 105 kW electric motor generates up to 375 kW / 510 PS.
Even more important than the ample power: The socket range should come up to 100 kilometers, because finally a strong battery is on board. Its capacity of 38 kW / h is greater than that which drives the pure electric VW e-Up, for example. Now the future owners only have to reload their Nobel cruisers regularly. A purely electric Range Rover is expected to arrive in 2022.
At the moment, however, the well-known Range Rovers are still driving with classic technology, do not breathe too tightly from thick exhaust pipes and pamper you with six or eight cylinders and a power of up to 390 kW / 530 PS. And an upcoming Range Rover Sport will easily top that. Range Rover needs the powerhouses, most customers are from the USA and China.
For old Europe, the English are also loyal to diesel. Three versions with up to 257 kW / 350 PS are on offer. Whatever is under the hood: The modernized icon is available from around 120,000 euros. If you then want the long version with up to seven seats and unrestrainedly avail yourself of the thick list of options, you can easily spend twice as much. At least that’s not new to a Range Rover.
Range Rover P 400 Technical Specifications
Five-door off-road SUV with up to seven seats
- Length: 5.05 or 5.25 meters
- Width without mirror: 2.05 meters, with unfolded mirror 2.21 meters
- Height: 1.87 meters
- Wheelbase: 3.00 meters or 3.30 meters
- Luggage compartment volume: 818 – 1,841 liters or 1,050 – 2,728 liters
- all wheel drive
- Empty weight: 2,505 kg
- Drive: three-liter six-cylinder turbo gasoline engine
- 294 kW / 400 PS
- max.torque: 550 Nm
- Vmax: 242 km / h
- 0-100 km / h in 5.8 seconds.
- Eight-speed automatic
- Consumption according to WLTP: 10.2 liters / 100 km
- CO2 emissions: 230 g / km
- Emission standard: Euro 6d
- Price: 128,300 euros
More: Electric cars with range extenders: the quiet comeback of the combustion engine