Land Rover

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Range Rover Sport – Kids Just Like The Rear-Screen Entertainment

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You might think that the main talking point about the Range Rover Sport is the sumptuous interior, the remarkable comfort, or perhaps, how it performs down a deeply rutted track in Gloucestershire.
The topic of conversation would no doubt turn to one of these subjects if two blokes were discussing it down the pub. But teenagers see it from a totally different perspective.
While I grew up playing Eye-Spy on the backseat, kids these days have a complete entertainment/communication package in their mobile phone.
So it was even more surprising how the children I drove back from the shops yesterday were just blown away by the £5,000 entertainment package in the back of the Rangey. They thought it was even better than the rear heated seats!
The wireless headphones were a hit, while the chance to watch The Big Bang Theory on the move proved priceless…

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Range Rover Sport – Big Car

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Every now and again, Jeremy Clarkson falls in love with a car. Once it was the new Beetle (hard to believe but true), then the Eagle E-Type Jaguar and more recently, the latest Range Rover.
Right now, I’m loved up with the Range Rover Sport. As much as you may cringe for its bling potential, the mid-size Rangey is a quite brilliant all-rounder.
You can go faster in a BMW X5, carry more in a Toyota Landcruiser and spend more on a Mercedes but none of them hold a candle to the Sport.
Next week I’ll be driving the sumbline Jaguar XF-R for my birthday. I got it wrong – the Range Rover would have been the perfect birthday car…

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Range Rover Sport – Robert Redford In The Back of My Range Rover…

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It’s August 1, it’s the first day of the holiday in Cornwall and it’s absolutely lashing down! Camping in the middle of a rain-soaked field was never meant to be like this. It’s water off a duck’s back to the Range Rover, of course. I’m already looking at the possibilities of sleeping in the car tonight.

The Autobiography has just about every piece of luxury kit available but the rear-screen DVD system is going to come into it’s own later. We’re planning a back seat screening of the Robert Redford sailing movie, All Is Lost – which seems appropriate, considering the circumstances.

Dog in the boot, £5,000 of top flight speakers and heated seats to enjoy. It costs £25 to take two people to the movies these days – I reckon that after three years, the Range Rover DVD system might have paid for itself.

Right, I’m off for a spot of sea-kayaking, followed by a light crab summer. It’s Cornwall, it always rains…

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Thursday – A Big Statement

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I’ve been scratching my head all day trying to work out whether I ‘love’ the Range Rover or not. One the one hand, it is pure, unadulterated luxury on a very large scale. On the other, it simply feels too large for British roads.

After being heckled in a multi-story car park, I’ve been rather more conscious of the size of the beast. And today, driving to Witney across the back roads of Oxfordshire, it seemed I was constantly having to pull left to avoid oncoming vehicles down narrow country routes.

There’s also an awful lot of car to handle on a corner. Make no mistake, this amazing Range Rover still wallows and dips on a fast bend like earlier models. It’s also so smooth that you are sometimes left braking late, a lot harder than you expected.

I’ve deliberately avoided rattling on here about the gadgets and giszmos, of which there are many and make life in a Range Rover so dizzily enjoyable. But once you have got over the thrill of a heated steering wheel, dual direction infotainment screen and electric reclining rear seats, it all comes down to how it drives.

As brilliant as the Rangey is as clambering over rough or smooth terrain in style, it’s not a vehicle you can drive enthusiastically. A luxury sofa on wheels that makes a big statement – that’s the new Range Rover.

 

 

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Wednesday – Slippery When Wet

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I can’t believe anybody would buy a Range Rover and then drive it over truly harsh terrain. Off-roading to most Range Rover owners would mean parking on the pavement outside Harrods.

When you put this to a Range Rover owner like I did today, they quite often tell you that isn’t the point. The point is, according them, that you have reassurance in just ‘knowing’ the Range Rover is almost unstoppable in the rough.

I suppose that is a little like an Aston Martin owner who usually keeps within the speed limit but ‘knows’ the car is capable of almost three times motorway speed limits.

Having splashed through huge puddles and been forced to mount muddy ditches today in the Cotswolds (it’s still raining here!), all I know is that you are never going to go off-road in anything more luxurious than a Range Rover…

 

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Tuesday – Light Fantastic

IMG_1685The Range Rover has an intelligent key. By that I mean you just walk up to the car with the key in your pocket and the doors open automatically. Further to that, you can push button start and an array of interior lights gently lighten the cabin too.

It’s something of a masterclass inside, taking ambient lighting to a new level. Slick blue lights adorn the doors and the map reading spots are activated by gently brushing a finger over them.

That’s all well and good but if you forget where you parked your car, it has another neat trick up its sleeve. Press the key fob, the door mirrors fold out and a circular beam is flashed onto the tarmac.

Nothing new in that, you might think. Except Land Rover has gone the extra mile and the words ‘Range Rover’ are projected onto the ground! I thought I’d seen everything in a car but even I giggled. Totally unnecessary but very cool all the same…

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Monday – Armchairs on Wheels

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If you want a quick resume of why I like the Range Rover, this is what I told my neighbour this morning at the roadside…

The heated steering wheel and front screen – just what you want on a cold and frosty morning. It’s one step further than heated seats and will surely filter down the food chain to all cars one day.

The rear seats which automatically fold forward, or recline. Yes, it might sound lazy but how many times have you caught your finger in a seat mechanism?

Power in a straight line. Slip the gearchange dial into sport and the Rangey becomes the fastest set of luxury armchairs you will ever sit in. It still wallows on a corner though.

The electric tailgates. Everybody knows the back of a Range Rover is the best place to change muddy wellies. Now the lower section of the tailgate opens electronically too. It’s smart and still very comfortable.

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Sunday – A Range Rover Or A Bigger W*lly?

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Not sure I’ve ever been heckled in a four-wheel drive before… I mean, there have been a few abusive gestures aimed at me over the years but a heckle, well, that’s a new one.

So the little chap in the Vauxhall Astra estate following me out of the multi-storey car park seemed quite upset when the Range Rover clipped the curb. Mutli-storey’s just aren’t designed for anything bigger than a Fiat 500 these days.

So as I approached the exit barrier and wound down the window, a voice piped up: “Get a smaller car!’ Naturally, I responded politely and told him to get a bigger willy, or a better car.

Sure the Range Rover is large but it has emissions of just 196g/km, which is a bloody sight better than his smokey old chugger. Not only that but it averages almost 38mpg too…. Grrr

 

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Saturday – Hosing Out A Range Rover

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The very first Range Rovers featured just three doors and were fitted with a vinyl floor so that the interior could be hosed out! I have considered slipping a hose pipe into the Vogue SE but don’t fancy the bill.

Forty four years later and it’s something of a credit to the marque that there have only been four models. Each one has been groundbreaking in one way or another – the one parked on my driveway is already famed for using lightweight materials to reduce the Range Rover’s inherent weight problem.

It’s still a very heavy car but Jaguar Land Rover’s incredible TDV6 diesel engine is mustard. Just how a 3.0-litre 255bhp unit manages to propel a vehicle this size at such great speed is remarkable. The SDV8 is even faster, of course…

I’m happy with the TDV6. It’s responsible, quiet and copes with the Range Rover’s bulk with ease. Still think you should be able to hose out the interior though…

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Friday – Range Rover Vogue SE

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You might think that after a week in a Jaguar F-Type driving anything else would be a disappointment. Not if it’s the latest Range Rover Vogue.

If the F-Type is the ultimate grand design, the Range Rover is the height of automotive luxury.

For example, I had to slam to boot lid on the Jaguar. In the Range Rover the powered tailgate refuses and automatically takes the strain. Two cupholders in the Jag rather spoil the centre console – in the Range Rover they are hidden away discreetly under a self-closing cover that glides into place.

Both vehicles are roughly the same price but you have to say the Range Rover looks more worthy of the £77,000 price tag. It’s just loaded with equipment.

This is the mid-range Vogue SE model and not an Autobiography but I’m finding new buttons to play with all the time. It’s going to take a week and more to discover everything.

For now my favourite is the heated steering wheel. Cold mornings will never be quite so bad again…