The All-New Range Rover – Best of British luxury

There are plenty of iconic cars, but is there a more iconic British staple than the Range Rover?

Land Rover has hit the mark again in 2022 with the newest iteration. This is a fully comprehensive remodel, though you might not notice too much difference from the front alone.

According to the company’s chief creative officer, Gerry McGovern, the Range Rover’s fundamental visual pillars are the falling roofline, the pronounced waistline, the rising sill, the clamshell bonnet and the floating roof. Essentially every one of these key pillars has been redesigned, so from the ground up, this is a brand new car, no carryovers here.

The Exterior

The new rear end is the biggest departure from past models, with the lights now forming a key part of the design. They swoop beautifully up the side of the boot hatch and into the interconnected trim that resembles a lightbar across the back, one of those ’90s trends that is making a welcome comeback in my eyes. Paired with a mirrored line along the edge of the bottom section of the split tailgate. The rest of the body seems to just flow around them, forming a statement piece of design. 

We would hope that some customers may make the most of the striking new look, using lighter and more complementary colours to emphasise the beauty here. Although going with current Range Rover trends, we all know the majority will be blacked out, or very close to.

The front end of the car doesn’t look all that different. Some cleaner lines and more swooping curves, with the lights creeping into the grille line. If you follow the bonnet lines that are stretching the full length of the car and the sloping roofline tapering towards the back, the shape becomes so much more than a big box on wheels. And with a drag coefficient of 0.30, that new, smoother shape does seem to have had a huge impact.

If you’re buying a Range Rover, you’re not just buying it for looks though are you? The luxury and innovation of the interior is something that just goes unmatched in comparison to its rivals, with the Bentley Bentayga being the only one that comes close in terms of luxury, but you will be paying a lot more for the pleasure.

Going off the base prices, and the level of standard luxury tech available, the Range Rover offers the best value for money already. Put some boujiee options on there and the prices start to escalate rather rapidly in terms of the DBX and the Bentayga.

Range Rover	Starting price – £99,375
Porsche Cayenne Turbo	Starting price – £110,240
Bentley Bentayga	Starting price – £146,700
Aston Martin DBX	Starting price – £158,000

The Interior

The upholstery sports plush, heated and cooled leather, matched across the entirety of the dashboard, with a choice of accents to pair it with. Honestly, you could spec this in any combination of colours and it would still look beautiful. The design of the whole interior is extremely well thought out, everything just seems to be exactly where you would want it to be.

The dashboard redesign is still just as easy to navigate, with simplified controls making the whole driving experience even easier. Land Rover have gone back to some proper switch controls (our prayers have been answered, not everything needs to be on a touchscreen), if only a couple of them, accompanied by touch buttons, and a large central screen covering just about everything you could ever need. The driving mode controls are sized down, with the centre console getting a much cleaner look. Everything is easy enough to find without you taking your eyes off of the road.

In the back

Continuing into the rear seats, there are a wealth of options to choose from, depending on who you are chauffeuring around. The passengers are never likely to complain about massage and reclining seats, independent heating controls, integrated screens and an integrated fridge all at their convenience. All things we’ve seen before with Range Rover, but refined to such an extremely high level. 

“Much of the investment and engineering inside has gone into the tactility”. “This is about amplifying the luxury remit and the new car isn’t trying to be something it’s not. We want to avoid mixing our drinks too much” – SVO boss Michael van der Sande

The emphasis here really has been purely on luxury. The engine choices cover the performance pretty comprehensively (listed below), but not one part of the car screams sporty. In no way is that a bad thing though, with the new Range Rover Sport to come out in a few months, we should see a much more substantial difference between the two.

Engine Options

The new Range Rover arrives on sale powered by a selection of two diesel engines, making 296bhp and 345bhp. It will also be available with a choice of two petrol engines, sitting at 395bhp and 523bhp. The latter is a twin-turbo petrol V8 sourced from BMW, reconfigured to enable a 900mm wading depth. In all seriousness, we can’t imagine many people taking their £120k+ Range Rover wading, can you? 

A plug-in hybrid will be coming later in the year, with a fully electric model set to arrive in 2024. 

Interested in an electric Land Rover for right now? Read more on Twisted’s very own Land Rover EV here. The Defender reimagined for the future, a fantastic option for fans of the old school, without having to live with the old-fashioned kit.

In Conclusion

The new exterior will divide some, I wasn’t a fan at first but it grew on me very quickly, but Land Rover knows their market and has delivered something that they know they will adore.

For me the new Range Rover really hits the mark, in a category it created on its own, and absolutely owns. There isn’t anything around that comes close to doing what a Range Rover does, as well as it does. The new design is beautiful, the interior is luxurious and the package as a whole is one that other manufacturers have been struggling to match for years.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Range Rover Sport, where the DBX and Cayenne will become much more competitive.