2005 Land Rover Range Rover Reviews

The V8-powered Range Rover Autobiography long wheelbase is fit for the Royal Family, but what about the Berry family? We found out when this luxurious large SUV and rival to the Bentley Bentayga came to stay for a week.

If you're in the market for a Range Rover, you're clearly doing well for yourself. If you're in the market for this particular model - the Range Rover SVAutobiography Dynamic - you're doing a lot of things right in life. It's a supercharged V8 monster truck that's big on luxury, comfort and performance. And price. Oh yes. It's expensive.

Range Rover's namesake flagship might feel right at home in the off-road rough stuff, but is it too big and bulky for life in the city?

Range Rover joins the plug-in hybrid crowd with two petrol-electric models that look the goods on paper. But these are big beasts, and Land Rover's off-road reputation must be upheld.

Land Rover takes the Autobiography and gives it to its Special Vehicle Operations high performance division to create a truly special car – the SV Autobiography Dynamic.

Peter Barnwell road tests and reviews the 2016 Range Rover SVAutobiography with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

We Aussies love our V8s. The history books say it, the Bathurst fans say it, and now there are more than 500 cash-paid deposits for the GTS from Holden Special Vehicles that prove it.The overwhelming support for the supercharged 6.2-litre Big Dog, and the rest of the HSV pack that's romping to a sellout V8 success of more than 3000 cars in 2013, shows there is still a place for old-school muscle in the modern world.But not at Nissan, where the all-new, petrol V8-powered Patrol is a disaster. Things are so bad that the geriatric superseded model is continuing alongside the newcomer and still finding plenty of friends.Nissan dealers have a backlog of unsold 5.6-litre V8 heavyweights and there is a growing backlash from long-term Patrol fans who cannot see the point in the company's new off-road flagship. It's nicely cushy, but it costs anywhere from $82,690 to $114,490 - a sharp jump from $53,890 to $57,390 for the old one - and there is no diesel engine.It's not just that, as the new Patrol also arrived in Australia more than 18 months late and - because development was focussed on wealthy Middle East buyers with no petrol paranoia - carrying the sort of specification that only works for a very limited number of people who are probably more interested in a Porsche Cayenne or Benz GL.Nissan has only sold 1600 of the new Y62-series Patrols this year and, to put that into perspective, more than 6000 people have driven away smiling in a new Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series in the same period.Nissan even resorted to a $1500 petrol voucher for a while to try and get things moving, but that's only 1000 litres - give or take, mostly take - in today's world, and the hulking Patrol can easily guzzle at 25 litres of unleaded for every 100 kilometres under the treads if you're towing something big or crawling off the blacktop.So it seems V8 engines have become a case of horsepower for courses. They are still fine for HSV fans who want something fun and fast, and also for Mercedes-AMG buyers who want flashy and fast, but not for family-focussed suburban work, or towing and off-roading.Even the latest Range Rover, the current Carsguide champion in the top-end SUV stakes, is most popular with a turbodiesel V8 despite prices that can balloon to $250,000. So, what makes the difference in the world of V8s? "I think there is a performance market still in Australia, and people want great cars," the head of HSV, Phil Harding, tells Carsguide. "I think there is still a passion in Australia for V8 performance, and sporting saloons that deliver excitement. We're fulfilling a need and a demand."

We settled into our leather trimmed lounge seats after admiring their deep red hue, with traditional stitching that increased the upmarket image. We turned on the TV, flicked through the channels but couldn't find anything to interest us, so went instead to one of our favourite movies on the DVD player.Comfortable as we were, it was time to get moving to meet some friends at a new coffee spot they had discovered. So I fired up the supercharged V8 engine in the front of our hotel room, clicked the automatic into Drive and set off to cruise down the road.The all-new Range Rover really is like a mobile hotel room – yes, you’ve probably guessed by now that we weren’t trying to pilot a Hilton suite down the road. It just felt that way.The Range Rover Vogue SE V8 is spacious, luxurious and finished to an immaculate standard in top-line leather, timber and alloy.As regular readers will be well aware, I consider driver inattention to be the number one cause of road crashes -- so I was no longer able to watch the movie. In any case I wanted to key the details of the new coffee place into the Rangie’s sat-nav.Not a problem. We pushed the pause button on the DVD, keyed in the coffee shop’s address, then hit ‘play’ on the DVD. Julie put on headphones to watch the movie and I looked at the same centrally mounted screen to see the satellite navigation route.That’s right, the same screen. From the driver’s seat I watched the sat-nav map, from the front passenger’s seat the movie was playing. Even when your eyes see it, they don’t quite believe the stunning technology.STYLINGNew, fourth generation Range Rover is considerably larger than the original that launched over 40 years ago, but retains enough visual features to instantly make its heritage obvious. The castellations on the bonnet are shallower than we, and other purists, would like, and the windscreen slopes back significantly more than in the first three generations. But the Range Rover Vogue SE V8 turret stands aloof and makes an upmarket, perhaps even arrogant in the English manner, statement.There have been unfavourable comments about the dummy air intakes on the front doors. But as most cars have false intakes on their front guards these days it’s good to see Range Rover trying something ahead of the field. May we predict other designers will follow with their doors one day soon?ENGINESSupercharging a five-litre V8 petrol engine, as was done in our review Range Rover, results in a 375 kilowatt powerplant that can rocket this mobile hotel room from rest to 100 km/h in only 5.4 seconds. That’s amazing.Other engine options are a 4.4-litre V8 turbo-diesel (250 kW) and a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel (190 kW). Range Rover calls the V8 diesel the SD - for Super Diesel - not a lot of Pommie modesty here…A supercharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol will arrive down under late this year.TECHNOLOGYThe previous Range Rover was disgustingly overweight. Thankfully the designers have managed to pull almost half a tonne, 420 kg, out of the new one, to bring it down to a respectable 2150+ kilograms (depending on the model). This, weight reduction has been achieved despite the vehicle being significantly larger and more spacious. Even better, the guys and gals at the Range Rover division of LandRover have made major improvements to the engines, transmissions and aerodynamics, resulting in fuel and CO2 cuts of as much as 22 per cent. That’s clever.Though it’s a superb luxury vehicle rear legroom is good without being limo like. The boot is huge and easy to load through the two-piece, horizontally-split tailgate. Our test vehicle had power operation of the gate to make life positively lazy.DRIVINGRide comfort is most impressive and the big Range Rover Vogue SE V8 shows its usual disdain for speed humps - we love it for that.Handling is tenacious rather than sporting and keen drivers won’t like the over-soft feel through the steering.The gen-four Range Rover is even more capable than its forebears in serious off-road conditions - and that’s saying something. A complex electronic system that juggles grip according to terrain combines with adjustable suspension height to provide extraordinary competence that makes even inexperienced drivers feel comfortable.VALUEPrices start at big $168,900 and range all the way up to a sky-high $240,100 for the supercharged V8 petrol. Putting the Range Rover way above anything else comparable has never hurt sales before and we certainly don’t expect anything to change with this new fourth-generation model.

It's hard to believe the new Range Rover is only the fourth generation of the iconic premium off roader. It's been around for 40 years so the people at Range Rover obviously put plenty of thought into any new model before committing. They must have put an extra effort into the latest version because it's a huge step up over the previous (already impressive) model.Range Rover seems ready and willing to adopt new technology which abounds in the new model. It's all aluminium for a start shaving weight by some 420kg.As you can no doubt tell, this is an impressive vehicle as it should be pitched at a start price of $217,100. It bristles with multimedia communication options and has slick touches like the virtual instruments, auto high beam, adaptive cruise control with auto braking, expanded Terrain Response and now, wheels up to 22 -inches in diameter.The large format touch screen has a split screen function that enables the driver to see one set of images and the passenger to see something completely different. Digital TV is piped in on three screens (two in the back) and the sound system on the mid range test car pumps out some 850w of power.But this is all the frilly stuff around the edges because a Rangey must be the ultimate off roader as well as offering ultimate luxury.Power comes from a cracking good 4.4-litre, twin-turbo, V8 diesel with 250kW and 700Nm of torque from as low as 1750rpm. It drives the permanent all wheel drive system through an eight speed auto with paddle shift. This is sufficient to propel the 2360kg Rangey from 0-100kmh in a scant 6.9 seconds while consuming as little as 8.7-litres/100km.The poms have nailed it with this vehicle which can go pretty much anywhere a driver chooses on and off road. The multi-mode Terrain Response system takes care of everything simply by rotating a dial to the required setting for a given driving environment. You can raise and lower the vehicle on its adaptive air suspension or leave that to the auto mode.Sick of not being able to see what's coming when reversing out of a car park? Not a problem with this Rangey - it looks three ways for you, left, right and straight behind.The front seats are lounge-size and multi adjustable and the rears recline and offers sumptuous room. Then there's the large load space down the back with a full size spare under the floor - just as it should be.The entire roof is pretty much glass. We like the look from some angles. It's bluff fronted and too chamfered at the rear behind the wheel but still looks the goods - a real Rangey.On the highway it's superb, off road - equally as good with a supple, controlled ride from the air suspension and enhanced stability from the 21-inch wheels. The turning circle is tight, there's plenty of ground clearance up to 295mm, it will wade through almost 1.0 metre of water and can tow up to 3500kg braked.The test vehicle was more with selected options like the desirable adaptive cruise control with queue assist - yes, it will maintain your position in a queue automatically. Quite disconcerting at first. Would you take it off road? Hardly but that would be underutilising possibly the most capable luxury off roader on the planet.

Land Rover's V6 diesel does a 'Stirling' job of moving the bulky Ranger Rover. The Ranger Rover portfolio also includes V8 petrol and diesel engines as well as a supercharged petrol V6 that was added recently. But with an impressive 190kW of power and 600Nm of torque, why go past the V6 diesel? The answer is that for some, enough is never enough - especially when it comes to cars.There are four rungs on the large Range Rover ladder. Our TDV6 Vogue sits one up from the bottom. Priced from $178,900 it's not cheap. In fact, the Ranger Rover is the most expensive vehicle in its segment - but then some people will find that attractive in itself.And before you ask, it's still manufactured in a new, state-of-the-art aluminium manufacturing facility at Solihull in the UK - not on the Sub-Continent. Standard features include leather, wood veneer, satellite navigation, heated seats and even a heated steering wheel for those cold mornings - plus a hi-end Meridian sound system.They've managed to shave 420kg off the weight of the vehicle through the adoption of a totally aluminium monocoque body/chassis. In fact, it's this dramatic weight saving that has allowed them to introduce the acclaimed V6 diesel. The interior finish is impressive too.The instrument panel has been decluttered, with 50 per cent less switches and as a result it's a lot less intimidating. Even the off road dial has an automatic setting which means no driver intervention is necessary - the car will do it all.The driving position is claimed to be 90mm higher than other premium SUVs affording a clear view of the traffic ahead. Some of the more often used controls have been moved to the sides of the touchscreen to stop the screen acquiring dirty finger marks.A reversing camera is standard and it comes with more acronyms than you can poke a stick at, including Hill Descent Control (HDC), Gradient Release Control (GRC), Hill Start Assist (HSA), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Electronic Traction Control (ETC), and Roll Stability Control (RSC). If you option active cruise control, you also get automatic emergency braking which is particularly handy in heavy traffic.It's fitted with a ground-breaking next-generation version of Land Rover's Terrain Response system. Terrain Response 2 features an Auto setting that uses sophisticated `intelligent' systems to analyse the current driving conditions, and automatically select the most suitable terrain program.It's surprisingly quick for a vehicle that weighs in excess of 2100kg. With an eight-speed ZF auto the dash from 0-100km/h takes 7.9 seconds, but it feels quicker than this - with a top speed of 209km/h.It's quiet inside too, so quiet that you'd be hard pressed to tell it's a diesel. The thing sits on air suspension and some body roll is apparent, but it firms up once you get into it.Fuel economy is a claimed 8.5 litres/100km and that's exactly what we were getting from the 85-litre tank, giving the car a theoretical range of 1000km from on a single tank. Trailer stability control is standard and it can tow a 3500kg load.The best of both worlds. The Range Rover is tough and luxurious, a car that is as much at home in the city as it is in the back lots. Time was when Rangeys used to suck fuel like a vampire - but not so anymore.