"Super Yacht"
The Cotswolds was my destination of choice for the Range Rover test. Until you reach the little villages full of topiary and sandstone cottages, even if you have seen pictures, you really can’t appreciate the perfection of this English tableau.
And so it is with the Range Rover – another British institution that has to be tried to be believed. You have probably seen Range Rovers soar past you and over the Motorway’s horizon and noticed the large leather armchairs all round. But only when you lift yourself up into the cabin do you ‘get it.’
The scale of a Range Rover, in stark contrast to the diddy Cotswold lanes, makes you gasp. The enormity of the cabin means the chairs, all round, allow adults to sit as though they are at the dining room table. Rather than having to compensate for the seating position, as you do in lesser cars, with knees splayed or legs slightly extended. Indeed the Audi Q7, which some assume is a competitor, has a very high cabin floor which means sitting in the back, as an adult, requires your knees to be level with your eyes.
While the cabin may be better, the driving experience of a Range Rover is very similar to an Audi: Staggeringly light at the wheel when trying to turn around in little lanes, but neutral and responsive when sweeping through long, gentle B-road corners.
The 3.6 litre engine doesn’t seem very big for a car this size but it never laboured pulling away and had plenty guts to deliver a quick gain from 50 – 70 mph when overtaking on A-Roads. If that sounds like the kind of manoeuvre that could send you into a cold shock as a passenger, fear not.
The latest Range Rover air conditioning allows all passengers to create what I have come to think of as a personalised ‘weather cell.’ So, in order to cope with the shock you are suffering as a passenger of mine, you can turn your seat controls up to warm, and not only will it heat the chair but it will blow hot air at you too. Not impressed? Seen that on a Mondeo? Well, quite. But the clever bit is, while you are trying to heat the shock and fear out of your bones, I can switch my seat to cold, and not only will it blow cold air on my sweaty hands as they grip the wheel, it will chill the seat!
My only concern is that if all four passengers set their controls to different extremes, the ensuing convection current may lead to a tropical storm inside the cabin.
Which will get right in the way of the movies everyone is watching on the DVD screens fitted as extras on the test car and I suspect most of the Autobiography models on the used market too (for £2,500 on a £75,000 car who wouldn’t?). Of course, it may also impede my use of the otherwise intuitive and comprehensive Sat Nav or manoeuvring cameras.
But I am less concerned about that even though it is terribly clever that you can touch the screen and switch to a camera that shows you how close any wheel is to a kerb or what’s behind you. But even when turning this tanker around in little lanes I found that visibility is very good – big mirrors, windows and a high vantage point – whereas judging the distance in videos was an awkward experience, even with the useful on screen markers and warnings.
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| Range Rover in motion |
Range Rover dashboard |
What’s the market like?
The most popular engine on the used market is the 3.6 TD and the most popular spec available for sale at the moment appears to be Vogue. Which makes sense as they give you the most practical fuel economy and equipment levels that make life both spiffy now and easier when you come to sell on.
A two year old Autobiography 3.6 TD like the one tested, but in a standard specification is £45,000 - £48,000. Which is a lot but represents a £30,000 saving over a new model. By four years old, the value will have dropped to £30,000, assuming average mileage of around 38,000.
What else can this budget buy?
Even if we exclude the superior off road capability, there still isn’t really anything that truly compares to the classic Range Rover.
Mercedes M-Class, Audi Q7, BMW X5 are all a bit less capable and rivals more to the less serious Range Rover Sport.
But if you must have one of these then the Audi is cheapest to buy and a close rival to the BMW X5, which is really the one to have.
Summary
A gin palace is an English name from the 18th century that applied to a fashionable venue, fitted out lavishly and at great expense. They were thought by some to be vulgar, but were hugely popular and widely admired. Just like a Range Rover.