Words by: Adam Allen
This is not the first time a Range Rover has graced the Carpages Garage with its presence. A little over a year ago, we had one of the first examples of the then new generation in our charges and it was a honey- slathered in British Racing Green paint over a rich tan interior and equipped with all the toys, it got many of us right in the feels. The fact that it came with BMW’s creamy 4.4 litre turbocharged V8 under the hood was the icing on a very compelling cake.
Also, the fact that the Range held our attention for as long and as intensely as it did was saying something- sports cars are more our jam.
And yet in a sea of skullduggery-related SUV fatigue, Range Rovers have never had to shoulder such a burden. They are the crème de la crème of SUVs, usually gazed upon with quiet awe and desire. These trucks exude presence from every pore, though its tough to pinpoint exactly one reason why. Is it the beautifully understated styling? Perhaps it’s the palatial accommodations of their interiors? Maybe it’s because they can go places off the grid that other SUVs wouldn’t dare set a tire tread in, all while spoiling passengers with decadent opulence? We’d say it’s all three.
All those months ago saw us coming away suitably impressed by the experience, calling it “undeniably exquisite.” We still stand by those words and maintain that if some unknown trust fund we were not aware of ever starts writing big cheques, it would be the SUV we would unhesitatingly ensconce in our climate-controlled garage.
As familiar as it was sliding behind the new digital instrument panel and getting comfy in the decadently upholstered thrones, something was different this time around. Our 2024 tester arrived sporting the longest wheelbase available and wearing top shelf Autobiography trim, Range Rover speak for ‘king of the hill’. Only the steroidal powered SV attains a loftier perch in the model lineup, and as cool as that one is, it cannot usurp our glitzy tester for all-about-baller vibes.
Where it can serve up an old-fashioned beat down on the example we’re driving is on the dragstrip. The SV’s calling card is its engine lifted out of a BMW M5 CS and while it’s rated at over 600 horsepower, it’s been said that the actual output likely begins with a 7. So, quite fast, then.
But we’re not behind the wheel to fling ourselves towards the horizon on the wave of absurd power figures. Our full zoot Rangie would be pressed into chauffer duty of sorts- every summer we embark on a yearly golf trip up to the Muskoka region to rub shoulders with celebs and dominate the leatherboards wherever we happen to be playing. OK, so we hung out with zero VIP’s and our scores would make any skilled player laugh uncontrollably, but at least we would get up and down Highway 11 in serene comfort and a whole lotta style.
This would also be one of those rare times where there would be arguments on who’d get to seat in the second row in lieu of shotgun. With that lengthy wheelbase and all the trimmings that come with the Autobiography package, it was positively palatial back there. It evoked the feeling of the nicest first class airline seating, if said seating was upholstered in some the most supple hides we’ve felt in recent memory. We may not have hobnobbed with any of the one percenters, but some of us felt like members of that exclusive club, what with huge amounts of legroom, a digital centre console used to control all manner of vehicular of functions and sharp digital monitors fastened to the back of the front seats. These ensured the guys could watch a movie when traffic snarled up and boredom threatened to set in.
The Range Rover is designed and built with a distinctively minimalist vibe which is why it took longer than usual to discover and marvel at the attention to detail. The seatbelts have these discreet lighting strips on them so you can find them easier in the dark. The door cards and map pockets within them are not spared those decadent hides like the rest of the seating areas, and they have little bits of padding within them so whatever you’ve put in there won’t make any uncouth noises while your driving along. If you needed to, you could drown out any noise with the utterly exceptional Meridian Pro sound system that cranked out the music from our youth in incredible clarity. The list goes on, but suffice it to say, this is a nicely decked out rig.
And this SUV will go down the road so sweetly that the word we kept circling back to was ‘glide’ to describe how it feels. How they have managed to get this truck to do that on horribly paved rural backroads while wearing 23” wheels remains an elusive mystery, but the ride quality was so sublime that we all felt fresh when we arrived at the course after a lengthy highway slog, something that would not be possible in lesser cars. Oh, and did we mention that the Range Rover can offer all this comfort but still make its way far, far off the beaten path? We flatly refused to put it through such paces because we are not very good pilots off tarmac, and also because of our testers eye watering price tag- we did NOT want to come home nursing an injured Rangie along with varying degrees of hangovers. There is a Dynamic mode which sharpens things up appreciably, but we just felt that taking it out of Comfort mode didn’t make much sense so we didn’t really touch the drive modes. Who’s gonna hustle this thing around anyway? If you want a Range Rover that can carve up corners, please see our comments about the SV model we made earlier.
The Range Rover surely must be the perfect high-end steed for all your golf trip needs, right? Like anything we drive, we have found examples of places where even the topflight Rangie falls a bit short. Like all its ancestors before it, the Rover is plagued by electronic issues. Now to be fair, most of the time everything works like clockwork. But when you’re trying to unlock the doors using the key fob so that the handles can deploy from the body work allowing you to clamber aboard in front of everyone at the course entrance is staring since they parked us right out front (whew!) it can feel like not such a minor letdown. Sometimes the air suspension would decide not to lower down to its access ride height setting which necessitated a less than graceful exit and made the Rover look like it was waiting for a flood. Some of the guys were put off by the squiggly lines imbedded in the windshield for defogging purposes, and once they noticed it they could not unsee ‘em. That last one is a first world problem, but we didn’t have an answer when they asked why other ultra-lux SUVs don’t go this route.
While no one could agree If squiggly lines in the windshield was a terrible thing or a mild annoyance, the consensus was unanimous that this Range Rover is one badass rig, and perhaps the best chariot to get to the golf course we as a group have ridden in to date. If someone is unclear of what the exact definition of a luxury car is, have them go for a quick spin in one of these. No wonder it’s the vehicle of choice for business moguls, rappers, royalty- and of course, for a select few monumentally terrible amateur golfers.
2024 Land Rover Range Rover P530 ATB LWB – Specifications
- Price as tested: $203,345
- Body Type: 4-door, 5 passenger SUV
- Powertrain Layout: Front engine/all-wheel drive
- Engine: 4.4-litre twin turbo V8, DOHC, 32 valves
- Horsepower: 523 @ 6,000 rpm
- Torque (lb-ft.): 553 @ 1,800 rpm
- Transmission: 8-speed automatic
- Curb weight: 2,714 kg (5,982 lbs)
- Observed Fuel Economy: 13.6/100km (17 mpg)