RANGE ROVER VOGUE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Specifications

The latest version of Land Rover’s full-size Range Rover, this time equipped with a new aluminum monocoque that cost the company a billion quid to develop. It’s bigger but lighter than the old car (up to 430kg less in the case of the new-to-Range Rover 3.0-litre V6 diesel), faster but more efficient and tangibly better to drive.

It might look very much like an evolution of the old model, and the styling is very much of the ‘if it ain’t broke’ school of car design, but the car is all-new underneath.

For once, a car manufacturer’s claims stack up across the board. The current Range Rover steers with more fluidity, controls its body better via standard air suspension and ‘active lean’ software and rides with the competence of a limousine. It’s not a sports car, but it encourages relaxed driving and feels built to take care of everything with the minimum of fuss.

It is also faintly startling to drive off-road for what is still a relatively large and heavy car; this thing will get to places you wouldn’t believe. It’s easy, too. Just leave the Terrain Response II off-road software in auto, and you can cross rivers (up to 900mm), climb mountains and traverse the most treacherous surfaces, all while listening to Radio 4 and wondering what all the fuss is about.