Let’s talk about ascension: the ability of something — whether it’s a product, a dish, a tune, a marque, a work of any kind — to ascend beyond its modest intentions and find a place among royalty. Today, lobster is a costly delicacy, but it used to be fed to prisoners; they used to write about their horrible living conditions, having been fed these hideous insects of the sea. The original iPod was just a great MP3 player and it catapulted Apple into boutique status.
But perhaps no greater ascension has come from no one else than Land Rover, having started out making military and farm trucks, then ascending to full-blown bourgeois fashion-icon status — as seen in this 2024 Range Rover P530 Autobiography.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the retro-chic Land Rover Defender that’s been enjoying tremendous success since its rejuvenation a few years ago. I’m not talking about the Range Rover Evoque, Velar, or Range Rover Sport, either. I’m talking about the full-fat, big-body Range Rover — the classic that started it all, no suffix, no qualifier, the genuine article. The Rangie. What was once an interesting concept that started as an idea to build a truck that maybe wasn’t just a tool, has risen to ranks of The Kingdom’s royalty, alongside Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and Aston Martin.
The Range Rover falls into a very tricky spot in the market, almost not knowing if it has to directly compete with what would seem to be its rivals from Germany and America, or if it can just wander off and do its own thing, as Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and the like have done for decades. With this generation of Rangie, they’re starting to grow beyond the idea of competing directly with the BMW X7, Cadillac Escalade, and Mercedes-Benz GLS. It’s still a reasonably competitive product, but Range Rover obviously isn’t playing the same game.
This particular truck rang in at just a hair over $200,000 as-tested, and it’s not even fully loaded — the Rangie limo I drove last year, complete with a champagne chiller and ceramic trim, commanded an additional hundo-grand and change. This one is almost modest in comparison, with its subtle Charente metallic gray paint, nickel accents, and Perlino off-white leather — extending all the way around the doors and across the headliner.
They were too busy upholstering the gorgeous cabin to build an engine, so they borrowed it from BMW. It’s the same 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 from the X7 M60i, with 523 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque, routed through all four wheels via the same brilliant ZF eight-speed automatic that BMW favors, albeit calibrated a little differently. Suffice it to say this big Rangie can scoot like nobody’s business, but it can also be remarkably thrifty if you exercise restraint with the skinny pedal; I wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere and I averaged 13.1L/100 km in my time with it.
Why would you be in a hurry? You’re not playing the same game as everyone else at this point. You should be on your own clock; people will wait for you. While you’re leisurely making your way over to finalize your next business acquisition, you’ll find the big Rangie is geared heavily towards making sure you’re relaxed, so that you arrive at that meeting feeling refreshed and ready to deal.
In the past, I’ve compared some cars to a rolling dose of Novocaine in a derisive way, but the Rangie avoids that. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a smooth operator, but in its own very British way, it avoids being bereft of feel. The steering is glassy and relaxed, the brakes are progressive and reassuring, and the throttle is calibrated to be slick without being slow. It all coalesces to be a satisfying behemoth, with just enough going on to remind you’re piloting a small yacht, but executed in such a slick way that you feel satisfied that you’re able helm such a vessel so casually.
The bridge of this boat is a beautiful place to be, exhibiting a very minimalist design ethos, with every surface trimmed in soft leather, polished metal, or fine inlay wood — and no buttons to break things up. This is perhaps a bit of a double edged sword. Almost every control is relegated to the floating central touchscreen, and having everything from climate control to audio volume to seat functions (like massage) can be a little cumbersome at times. But maybe that’s just me, projecting my plebeian hurriedness to do something right now, instead of taking the time to calmly learn this ship’s systems.
It’s hard to quantify the appeal of something like the 2024 Range Rover P530 Autobiography in simple terms and measurements, but that was never the intention of Land Rover, just as it was never the intention of any of its siblings in the hallowed halls of British automaker royalty. A GLS 580 has some nicer luxury frills, an X7 is more athletic, a Navigator has a better audio experience, and an Escalade has more impressive tech. But none of that matters because none of them are the original. There’s only one Range Rover.
