Range Rover
this is the new fifth generation range rover and look it's actually got some mud on it we've taken it off-road we haven't just parked it in central London and in this review we're going to tell you everything that you need to know about this car and there's loads to discuss because there's new engines there's new tech there's a slightly new look but what does it all add up to does this live up to the range rover name and is it a brilliant luxury suv that's what we're going to find out but first if you want to see lots more new car reviews like this then subscribe to our channel and if you're after a great deal on your next car then click on the link up there look in our description below and go to whatcar.com so first what's new compared to the old range rover well underneath things are very very different but up top it does look fairly similar doesn't it so there's a few tweaks here and there but it retains that kind of overall range rover presence and range rover look now at the front you do have a redesigned grille the headlights are a bit different as well and actually each headlight cluster now contains apparently 1.2 million mirrors the side of the car also has a slightly sleeker look than before because you've now got these flush door handles which we first saw in the range rover velar and now you can also on the new range rover get up to a massive 23 inch alloys although these are only 22 inches on this test car that we've got here you can also get the range rover in short or long wheelbase forms and both of those versions are even bigger than the equivalent versions from the old car and look we have here a long wheelbase
Range Rover Review
range rover now first let's look at the back of the car this is the same whether you go for long or short wheelbase versions of the car but you have this slightly different look from before so the front's very similar at the back it does look a bit different because you've got these really slim vertical tail lights just like before you still have a split tailgate in the range rover but now they put a bit more focus on enjoying this split rear tailgate at the back here so for example you now have this movable part of the boot floor which you can pop up here to give you a bit of extra under floor storage but it's double hinged so you can also lift it up to give you a sort of a backrest back here so you can sit back and enjoy the great outdoors you can also add some cup holders in the back you can get some event seating which basically gives you two flip out chairs that sit on the tailgate back here and of course this doubles up as being a helpful barrier to stop all your luggage flying around in the back of the car as well but the big difference to point out in the back of this new range rover are these two rear seats that you can see here because if you go for the long wheelbase version of the car then as an optional extra you can choose to have a seven seat version of the range rover for the first time so what are those new rear seats like well to get back there you can very simply fold forward this middle row electrically takes eight seconds to do so apparently and then you can see it gives you this really pretty big space to climb inside and get into these back seats here when you're here you've got some more buttons to put that seat back in its place all very handy all pretty relaxing and okay i can't sit up dead straight and feel like i have loads of headroom above me but considering that this is the third row of a car this space is pretty good really kids will be absolutely fine and even adults would be able to put up with this for pretty long journeys there's very few cars that offer truly incredibly spacious third row seating but the range rover it's pretty good now we're back in the standard wheelbase version of the range rover in this middle row to show you that even if you go for the smaller of the two options that you can have in the range rover there's loads of room back here so leg room is incredibly generous and it's lovely having these carpeted floors as well that feel even with shoes on you can feel how soft they are headroom is very very good as well even with a sunroof fitted it all just feels very open and calm and spacious and these seats really are very very plush very padded and supportive there's more luxuries back here as well because you can adjust the angle of the backrest electrically although the way it operates is rather abrupt in its action it's not particularly smooth and slow but still nice that you can have it you can also put a blind up so you don't have to look at the poor people outside and if you want to up the luxury even further back here then you can get some screens on the back of the front seats you can also instead of this five seat layout you can get a four seat layout which effectively gives you two armchairs in this middle row and you can also on range topping sv models swap this middle seat for a champagne fridge now it's all very well having loads of space in the back and being very practical but this is a new range rover it's a luxury suv it's up against other amazingly impressive cars like a bmw x7 the bentley bentayga it really has to deliver a knockout interior up front and it looks like it does the materials feel really high quality with these leathers here and you can go for a vegan interior which actually costs more to have than the leather interior and it all feels amazingly high quality with this wood down here on the center console the metal trim does feel a little bit plasticky especially around the steering wheel here which is a bit of a shame but you still have these really nice actual metal paddle gear shifters on the steering wheel as well so overall this is really high quality it's all put Together very nicely feels really sturdy it is very impressive compared to Anything else in the class and there's a Lot of tech in here as well so you get a digital driver display as standard you get a head-up display and you also have this 13.1 inch touch screen infotainment system down here now this is the biggest screen fitted to a jaguar land rover product and we've seen that they have made huge steps forwards in their infotainment over the last few years and that continues with this here so it's very similar to what you get in the new f pace the screen's just a bit bigger so that means it's bright it's responsive it's got a really attractive layout it is slightly complicated there's a lot of menus and sub menus and of course we would always prefer an infotainment system that's got more physical controls so that it's easier to use while you're driving so for that reason the bmw x7 with its idrive infotainment system that has a rotary dial controller on the center console that still has an
Range Rover Full Specific
advantage over this but this is still very good you also get amazon alexa built in as standard along with apple carplay and android auto but the other thing to point out up front is that the driving position is pretty much perfect for this kind of car so even with the seat in its lowest position you have an amazing view out the front of the car you can see all the way down to the nose and you have big door mirrors you've got a brilliant view out the back with loads of glass it just helps make it feel a lot smaller and a lot more manageable than it actually is because this of course is a massive car and the seats themselves are so comfortable the leather is really thick there's so much support and there's so much adjustment and everything as well so you will without a doubt no matter your shape or size be able to find a perfect driving position very very easily in this car and there's a lot of storage up front as well so on this center console here you've got wireless phone charging neatly hidden under this with a storage compartment you've also got some cup holders you can even push those cup holders back to give you another storage compartment there and then in this massive armrest here you have this huge cubby hole that goes to the center of the earth down there and you also on the dashboard have two glove boxes one on the top and one on the bottom there's door bins as well they're not actually that big but they're still big enough for a water bottle or whatever else you might need to put there so with all the space the luxury the tech this really is a fantastic interior now of all the new tech and the new features in the range rover perhaps the most game-changing one enables the rear wheels to turn by up to seven degrees so what that does at high speeds is give you some extra stability especially when you're changing lanes on the motorway but the reason it's such a benefit is because at low speeds it reduces the turning circle of the car now in the old range rover the turning circle was more than 12 meters but now with the new car it's less than 11 meters which is about the turning circle of a vw golf so this is a massive car no doubt anything that you have to make it feel a little bit less massive and easier to maneuver is a very welcome addition and let's face it lots of these cars are going to be driven in tight urban towns with not much room and pretty small parking spaces so the fact that you have that as standard is brilliant because it does mean that this is the most maneuverable range rover yet you can also get some active noise cancelling tech with the new range rover so if you go for that it's a fairly expensive optional extra it's four and a half thousand pounds but it gets you an upgraded sound system as well and it puts microphones on the wheels outside which pick up the noise coming into the car and then there are some speakers inside the car as well that transmit a frequency to try and cancel out that exterior noise and apparently the new car lets 24 less noise into the interior than the old car now we haven't driven a car without this noise cancelling technology fitted so i can't say that it makes a completely enormous difference compared to a car that doesn't have it but what we can say is the refinement levels in the new range rover are exceptional it's also really comfortable you get adaptive air suspension as standard it gives you 9various different ride heights you can select it also gets a 48 volt anti-roll bar system as well so when you do go around the corner it stays remarkably flat considering this is a really tall really heavy really big suv and it's pretty good to drive the steering feels a bit more precise and accurate than it did before but it's still really smooth and light so again just to stress this is such an easy car to drive and it' such an easy car to drive smoothly as well because you've got that really light steering you've got that really impressively tight turning circle because the ride's really nice and isolates you from the worst of the bumps on the road and also even the brake