New Range Rover: Five Things You Need to Know

With timeless styling, a majestic interior and a sense of occasion like few other cars, the all-new Range Rover, now officially unveiled, has a tough act to live up to. We now have all the official details, including pricing, so we’ve selected the five most important things you should know about the latest incarnation of an icon.

 

 

Styling a new Range Rover is a much harder job than it looks. It may be comprised mainly of straight lines, but the previous car was such a brilliant work of form and function that the new model hasn’t changed greatly. It now looks - and is - longer, which also helps it look lower and less upright. The grille is now slanted at an angle and flanked by intricately-detailed light clusters, while the previous car’s side vent has moved from front wing to front doors.

 

 

At the back, the bumper tapers upwards to a more delicate rump than the current car. It’s all subtle, avoids being too “bling”, and still looks very much like a Range Rover should.

 

 

One thing that compromises many cars, but the Range Rover in particular, is bulk. The new model has been on a crash diet, losing a massive 350kg on average over the old model. That’s like four washing machines being removed from the old one. Or a Renault Twizy without its batteries. Or 350 bags of sugar, if you regularly carry such a thing. Thank the new aluminium construction, plus further weight savings in the drivetrain. It’ll benefit fuel economy, performance, handling and more.

 

 

Partly thanks to that weight reduction, the Range Rover is available for the first time with Jaguar-Land Rover’s 3.0-litre, V6 turbodiesel - the TDV6. It develops 258PS through a slick 8-speed automatic transmission, and having driven this engine in Jaguar XFs, XJs and Range Rover Sports, we can confirm it’s a peach. Also brilliant are the 4.4-litre, 339PS TDV8 and the 5.0-litre supercharged petrol. Put it this way - you’re unlikely to be disappointed by the engine range.

 

However, there is another engine set to join the range in late 2013 - a diesel hybrid. Land Rover is predicting CO2 emissions of 169g/km, which should equate to around 44mpg on average - uncharted territory for a Range Rover.

 

 

Though few ever venture off-road in their off-roaders, Land Rover has a reputation to uphold. The new Range Rover shouldn’t disappoint, and the next-generation of the company’s Terrain Response system should keep you out of trouble off road. It’ll be better on road too - more refined and more reliable.

 

Kit levels are enormous, befitting the car’s status. Keyless entry, soft-close doors (like a Rolls-Royce), four-zone climate control, a Meridian sound system, multi-mode massaging seats, LED mood lighting - the list goes on almost endlessly. The safety spec list is like a who’s-who of automotive acronyms.

 

 

Land Rover has also announced pricing for the new Range Rover, and the range kicks off at £71,295 for the Range Rover Vogue 3.0 TDV6. At the top of the tree sits the Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged, which will set you back £98,395 before you pile on the options. Order books are open now, so get in there soon if you don’t want to sit on a huge waiting list…

 

 

If the new Range Rover is anything less than a masterpiece, we’d be very surprised indeed.

 

Even the previous car was virtually unsurpassed, still winning magazine group tests today and selling in large numbers. That the new model is lighter, more refined and luxurious, and uses less fuel, will hardly diminish those talents.

 

The TDV6 is likely to be the high seller, but we’re also intrigued by what the diesel hybrid will offer when it arrives later next year.