It may have started the luxury SUV craze, but nowadays Jaguar Land Rover’s Range Rover brand faces more competition than ever. Exotic marques like Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini are making a play for its customers from above, while Cadillac, Lincoln, and Jeep are coming at it from below. Still, the Range Rover retains its perch as the benchmark luxury SUV by doing just about everything fantastically well.
It all starts with looks. The Range Rover is simply elegant. A simple two-box shape, clean lines, smooth sides, and flush door handles and trim give the Range Rover a sleek look devoid of the flared flourishes and geegaws of some rivals. Set on standard 21-inch wheels and offered with 23s, it looks imposing and grounded. But what’s better is the way it drives.
Prodigious Power

The Range Rover SE P530 model I recently tested is powered by a V8, and it’s the most satisfying of the available powertrains from behind the wheel. As a throwback to the early 2000s, when BMW owned Land Rover, it uses a BMW-sourced twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 that spins out 523 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque. An eight-speed automatic transmission sends the power to all four wheels.
It may be a BMW engine, but Land Rover engineers had input in its development for this application. They made sure the oiling system could handle a 45-degree tilt for off-roading, the intake would be placed high enough for almost three feet of water-fording capability, and the engine mounts could handle a ditch drop when the path steps down abruptly.
Between the two automakers, they couldn’t have tuned this engine any better. It’s a paragon of smoothness that also deals out easy, robust power. Land Rover quotes a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds, and it feels every bit as strong as that. It eases into the power and pours it on from there with a muffled, authoritative growl. The transmission executes virtually imperceptible shifts and responds quickly to throttle requests.
A Dynamic Dynamo
The ride quality is just as smooth. Even with the 23-inch wheels on my tester, the ride was supremely comfortable thanks to a well-tuned four-corner air suspension with twin-valve Bilstein adaptive dampers. It can get even better, too. Opt for the Dynamic Response Pro 48-volt active anti-roll bars and the SUV links two miles of navigation data with the suspension to predict and adaptively damp the vehicle for the road ahead.
The air springs give the Range Rover a standard eight inches of ground clearance, though an Access mode drops that two inches for easier ingress/egress and Off-Road 1 and 2 settings raise it to 10 and 11 inches, respectively. With the tall standard ride height and roughly 6,000 pounds of British SUV to lug around, handling is the one area where the king of SUVs doesn’t excel…well, mostly.
As equipped, my tester had notable lean in corners, and it didn’t gather its weight well for quick changes of direction. However, the optional active anti-roll bars react quickly to fight body lean and elevate handling to something near sporty. Standard rear-axle steering that can turn the rear wheels up to 7.3 degrees opposite of the fronts also makes the Range Rover easy to maneuver in parking lots; at higher speeds it adds stability in cornering.

While I didn’t take the Range Rover off road during my loan, I did test its capability during the media drive when the company introduced the fifth-generation model in 2022. Land Rover outfits its flagship SUV with lots of off-roading features. The 4WD system has low-range gearing, a terrain-management system tailors the vehicle systems for six types of surfaces, the air suspension raises the ride height to clear obstacles, and an active locking rear differential apportions power where it’s needed along the rear axle. The optional active anti-roll bars can also disconnect at the front for greater wheel travel to keep a tire on the ground in extreme off-road conditions.
During that 2022 drive, I encountered vineyard dirt paths that tested the vehicle’s ability to climb and descend steep grades. The Terrain Response system worked with the hill-descent control, low-range gearing, and an off-road cruise control system to automate much of the work for me. A 20-degree hill climb was no problem. Similarly, hill-descent control did its job on a rather steep 34-degree downward slope.
The Range Rover can handle much more off-roading than that, with the ability to crawl over rocks, plow through mud, surf over sand, and ford 35.9 inches of water. As part of its do-everything approach, the Range Rover also has 7,716 pounds of towing capacity.
A Coddling Cabin

Land Rover offers short- and long-wheelbase versions of the Range Rover. My tester was a short-wheelbase body style that coddles five passengers, but the long-wheelbase version increases carrying capacity to seven thanks to a third-row seat. Either version offers an airy feel, especially with the soft Perlino (cream color) Windsor leather of my tester. My tester’s Premium Interior Upgrade package extended the leather to more surfaces, too. Anywhere I touched offered a high-quality look and feel.
Next-level comfort is built in. The front row has a power tilt/telescoping steering column and 20-way power seat adjustments to tailor a comfortable position for any body type. Comfort is aided by standard front-row heating and ventilation, a heated steering wheel, and heated rear seats with power recline. My tester went even further with the optional 24-way power front seats with massagers, as well as ventilated rear seats.
The cabin tech is generally good, with one caveat. Land Rover provides a standard 13.7-inch digital instrument cluster and a 13.1-inch touchscreen for its Pivi Pro infotainment system. The touchscreen responds quickly to inputs and offers an abundance of controls.

However, the touchscreen is used for almost all of the controls, even absorbing the climate settings. While the interface is relatively easy to learn, it requires delving into a few levels of screens to find some of the commands, which takes longer than simple buttons.
If you want the best you’ll have to pay for it. The 2026 Land Rover Range Rover starts at $140,450 with the V8, $24,700 more than the base inline-six and $9,100 more than the plug-in hybrid version with its 21 miles of electric range. The options on my tester brought the total to just below $160,000.
And that’s the base SE trim. The more luxurious Autobiography trim starts around $161,000, the SV around $221,000, and the SV Ultra line-topper will cost you more than a quarter million dollars.
I see no reason to move up to the higher trims. The SE is as luxurious as anyone needs, and its on- and off-road prowess, towing capability, and ability to carry passengers in style and comfort help the Range Rover retain its title as the benchmark luxury SUV.
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Images: Jaguar Land Rover