2023 Range Rover SV

Landy rides again.

BY TIM LAPPEN

LET’S START BY CLEARING UP A FEW THINGS: THE COMPANY’S name is Land Rover, not Range Rover, and it has been building virtually indestructible vehicles since 1947. According to the company, the first Land Rover was designed using a stick to draw an outline of the vehicle in the sand on the beach (no doubt explaining the “svelte profile” of the earliest models). This British workhorse made a name for itself with a number of overland ventures, typically with lots of things (shovels, extra fuel, tarps, and innumerable other essentials) lashed to its flanks.

The Range Rover model was introduced to the Land Rover lineup in 1970, but it wasn’t formally introduced to the U.S. until the late 1980s. (Cars brought to America before then were “gray market” cars that weren’t really authorized to be here.) It’s hard to believe, but those early versions were very utilitarian, with vinyl and plastic interiors and generally made to be washed out with a garden hose!

The company started as part of the Rover Company. It was then acquired by British Leyland Motor Corporation, BMW, and Ford before Tata Motors of India bought Jaguar Land Rover in 2008.

Land Rover still makes its basic Land Rover vehicles, though there are several iterations of them today. But the most luxurious vehicles in its lineup are the Range Rovers. I am pleased to tell you here about one of the most luxurious Range Rovers around: the Range Rover SV (from Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations group), which I had the absolute pleasure of borrowing for much of my trip to the most recent Monterey Car Week, including my time at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

One thing’s for sure: the new Range Rover is about as sleek as they come. It resembles the 1940s version of the Land Rover as much as the first human life slithering out of the miasma swamp resembles Don Draper on Madison Avenue. It’s available in the standard and extended wheelbase (both have 523 horsepower and hit 0-60 mph in about 4.5 seconds, though the extended wheelbase is about 8 inches longer and can be fitted with seating for seven people).

The first thing you notice is that the door handles now sit flush with the doors. Along with the clean-line design of the body panels front, aft, side, and top, it seems that a wind tunnel study mandated that even the smallest protrusion would have to be eliminated.

Next is the stance. The car sits tall (about 73 inches) and proud, on wheels that are available up to 23” (all the better to ford the nearest stream or traverse a damp Starbucks parking lot). The larger wheels add a perfect balance to the tall body, and even the wheel well arches are a good size, allowing the Range Rover to display its great proportions.

Open the driver’s door and prepare to be impressed. Leather, leather everywhere, with a great dash design that is much more luxury car-like than what you’d find in a truck. In fact, that’s the main thing that comes to mind: it’s a lot more like an elegant car than a utility vehicle, notwithstanding its impressive off-road cred, which allows it to climb hills which are improbably steep (a few years ago, a Range Rover climbed the 999 steps of the awesome Heaven’s Gate in China, an incline with a reputed 45-degree angle) and then proceed with equal sure-footedness on the descent. The advertised wading depth is a hefty 3 feet (when the words “atmospheric river” are part of your weather forecast, you will appreciate that metric). The clearances permitted by the angles of approach (how the front of the vehicle clears a hill when first starting a climb) and departure (how the tail of the vehicle clears the hill it’s about to finish descending) are impressive, too, at 24 inches and 22.3 inches, respectively ― unheard of in vehicles made for street use. And when set to off road, the clearances allowed by the approach and departure angles increase impressively to 34.6 inches and 29 inches, respectively. If you are concerned about your ability to navigate a steep descent, no problem — choose the driving mode “Hill Descent Control” and let the car choose the acceleration and, more importantly, the braking amounts to maintain optimum control.

Speaking of off-road chops, the Range Rover has a lot of tricks it can play with its suspension, traction, power, and transmission ranges. Of course, you can change ride height, which is great when you want to lower the car to let people in or out or load cargo or raise the car when driving off road. You can also choose various settings to make the ride softer or firmer. The transmission offers settings from comfort to sport and a few in between, which is convenient for driving in snowy or icy conditions. And some settings, such as “Dynamic Mode,” simultaneously adjust suspension, throttle response, transmission shift points, and even the responsiveness of the steering.

With a base price of $201,500 for the standard wheelbase Range Rover ($226,500 for the long wheelbase model), the price is up there with the competition — Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin DBX, and their ilk all have versions priced similarly. Ticking the order boxes on a standard wheelbase Range Rover to make it “nicely appointed” can lead to a sticker price north of $215,000, but that would include items like laminate acoustic glass (to make the cabin quieter while driving), fancier paint, special wheels, and more. (By the way, if you really want to hit the stratosphere in terms of price, go for one of the 17 Range Rover SV Carmel Editions, which I saw unveiled at Pebble Beach — they are gorgeous and priced at $345,000, though buyers were invited to purchase them at Range Rover dealers, so you’re probably too late to get one now.)

I loved my time with the high-end Landy and was happy with every driving condition I encountered. I was very pleasantly surprised by how quiet and elegant it was, in addition to its copious amounts of power, excellent handling, and great braking. Land Rover’s decision to have the Range Rover extend into the luxury space was a good move, and they’ve done a great job of building a vehicle that is well up to the challenge