Land Rover’s Range Rover is a five-person, all-wheel-drive sport-utility vehicle that has infiltrated popular culture to the point where people refer to it strictly by model name. At its core, the Range Rover is an all-terrain vehicle that’s designed to take its passengers in comfort over hill and through valleys as well as through the rough and tumble of downtown city streets.
This effortless performance is achieved through powerful engine options, a clever all-wheel-drive system and an adjustable suspension system.
This allows the Range Rover to traverse rutted roads and muddy trails with confidence. Meanwhile, a plethora of interior and exterior options help make your Range Rover unique.
It’s this go-anywhere capability that has garnered the Range Rover its reputation. Combined with its stately exterior and interior designs and five trim levels spanning multiple price segments, the Range Rover easily earns my recommendation for a luxury SUV.
What’s new in the 2018 Range Rover HSE
For 2018, the Range Rover gets a new SVAutobiography Dynamic trim level. The Dynamic has a more powerful supercharged V8 and its own suspension calibration that features active stabilizer bars to tame body roll during sportier driving.
All 2018 Range Rovers benefit from increased in-car technology thanks to a new infotainment system (InControl Touch Pro). A few advanced safety feature revisions, including a new Advanced Tow Assist, round out the changes for 2018.
What would I recommend?
If you’re in the demographic able to afford a Range Rover, picking one largely comes down to getting a configuration that suits your needs and desires. I recommend opting for either the Td6, with its fuel-efficient diesel engine, or going the distance with the Supercharged variant and its extremely strong (but thirsty) supercharged V8.
Though equipped in the same vehicle, these powertrains show two different sides to the Range Rover. Stately, calm and effortless with the turbocharged diesel or aggressive, sonorous and responsive with the supercharged V8.
Trim levels & features
While the standard 2018 Land Rover Range Rover comes well equipped, the Range Rover HSE offers more standard features. The include soft-close doors, a panoramic roof and a higher output gasoline engine. The Range Rover Supercharged is similarly equipped but has a supercharged V8.
Next, the Autobiography adds more luxury options and driver assist systems while the SVAutobiography Dynamic adds more power and sportier suspension tuning. Long wheelbase versions of the Supercharged and Autobiography add more than 7 inches of extra rear legroom.
Driving the 2018 Range Rover HSE
The Range Rover HSE delivers exactly what you’d expect. A quiet and mostly soft ride in a handsome but conservative package that offers ample passenger and cargo space. The engineers from Jaguar land rover have done an impressive job with their suspension that honestly cannot be improved even if they tried because it is at its best.
The Range rover is a confident car on the road and with its driver assist softwares, I have to admit it’s one of the most comfortable and safest SUV you can get for yourself.
Above all, the Range Rover is a quiet machine, even when equipped with the diesel engine. There’s a definite luxury slant to its ride character, but it could be better at filtering out sharp edges. The seats are firmer than we’d like.
The Range Rover feels big inside, and once you climb aboard it offers a good view outside. Most of the controls are easy to use, but the audio and entertainment system interface isn’t as convenient.
There is a learning curve around it. The boot splits into two when opening to make easy for you to load heavier items.
