The new Range Rover nears absolute perfection

“Money doesn’t buy you happiness” goes the cliché. That might be true but it’s definitely more satisfying to drive around the Cape in a Range Rover than in the usual SUV. 

This week, Land Rover launched its newest edition of the Range Rover in South Africa and we tested it out in the Western Cape. 

Starting off in Stellenbosch, after a fine dining experience at Overture Restaurant at Hidden Valley Wines, the car almost lured me into the front seat with its picture perfect look, especially as it served as a foreground to the farm. 

That was until I strolled around the car and had a look at the rear end of the vehicle. The historically crafty nature of the Range Rover to tuck everything in and make the vehicle as neat as possible was there. You wouldn’t really know that the rear lights exist until they are on, but the shape of the back just had me feeling like I was looking at an early 2000s station wagon.

But like most things, it is the inside that counts and it was time to hop in and see what all the fuss was about.

Since unlocking buttons now seems to be a thing of the past for the brand, the vehicle sensed my enthusiasm and rolled out its deployable step like a red carpet to assist my curious jump into the vehicle. 

Once the journey began, it was smooth and pleasant. The views along the way were nothing short of amazing but the weather was overcast and rather windy. Still, the vehicle held its own. No bounces, no bumps and certainly no noise. It almost felt like I was floating through the Cape Winelands on a cumulus cloud. 

The tranquillity of the drive is something Range Rover has prided itself on with this vehicle. The new Range Rover boasts an impressive active noise cancellation system, which monitors wheel vibrations, tyre noise and engine sounds transmitted into the cabin and generates a cancelling signal, which is played through the system’s 35 speakers.

To top it all off, the driver and passenger seats offer a massage feature, which I took full advantage of to assist me with not only my ageing back, but also the almost two-hour route from Stellenbosch to the charming little town of Paternoster. 

I could have dozed off if I wasn’t in the driver’s seat. But being behind the wheel, something kept me excited and that was the power.

From the three engine options available, we were able to test out two of them. 

The D350 3.0 litre straight-six turbo diesel, which outputs 257kW and 700Nm, was extremely sharp and rapid down the R27 and pushed high speeds with little to no effort. With the active noise cancellation system, you could almost get carried away with how fast you are driving, but the reflective speedometer on your windshield will save you from the cameras and the cops.

Being a man who enjoys comfort and is not madly attracted to speed, I didn’t think much of it when it was time to drive the P530 with the new 4.4 litre twin-turbo V8 engine that is supposed to take you from 0-100km/h in 4.6 seconds.

But when I felt the first kick in this vehicle, I was sold. It was difficult not to put the pedal to the metal. The acceleration was phenomenal and the handling of the car complimented it as the car eased around the tricky bends of the West Coast at 120km/h.

But the most beautiful part about it is that although you have all this speed at the heel of your foot, the comfort does not disappear. 

I don’t know how it feels to be a young and a millionaire at the same time, but I’m positive that driving the P530 was somewhere close to it, if not it.

On the journey back from the West Coast, a coffee stop was needed to fuel the last stretch back to Cape Town and as I approached Bothmanskloof Pass, it was time to take on the gravel.

It’s a known fact that not many people would take their lavish Range Rover off road, but the vehicle remains a 4×4. 

Thanks to the off-road feature on the vehicle, which lifts the air suspension, the Range Rover can move through the dirt like a beast. This is when I realised that an active noise cancellation system is really a luxury. 

Most 4x4s are smooth sailing on the road but you still need to exercise caution when you drive on gravel. With this car, it was a wasted detour off the highway, because I could not feel a difference between being on the tar and being on the gravel.

As soon as I arrived at the coffee stop at Eight Feet Village in Bothmanskloof Pass, I saw an exquisite view of the mountains. I was on a hill and I was itching to test out the car’s tailgate event suite.

Activating this feature opens both doors of the boot and allows the bottom to act as a seat, while transferring all the sound in the car to the two speakers situated in the boot.

I sat in the trunk viewing the wondrous mountains and playing some of the calmest music on my playlist. All I missed was some company. The tailgate event suite is definitely not a solo feature, but then again, neither is the vehicle.

The new Range Rover also provides a rear seat entertainment system, which provides adjustable 11.4-inch HD touch screens mounted on the rear of the front seats. They can be operated independently and support the connection of most devices with an HDMI port, while using a wi-fi hotspot capability means rear-seat passengers can enjoy smart TV entertainment on the move.

Although this can be helpful to stop all the nagging if you have children, I was only interested in reclining the back seat for the final stretch and falling asleep in comfort before I had to board a congested FlySafair flight back to Johannesburg.

I guess I will have to keep flying in a noisy, packed cabin because the new Range Rover starts at R2 947 000 for a standard D350 and R3 117 000 for a standard P530. If the petrol price has you down, you will be happy to know that you can purchase a P510e electric hybrid for R3 633 000. Range Rover will also release a pure electric vehicle in 2024.

Overall, this car is exquisitely executed in all aspects, giving the driver and passengers individual luxurious experiences. If you have the money and enjoy both speed and comfort, and don’t mind cars behind you calling your backside ugly, then this car is definitely more than a choice, it’s a priority.

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