In recent years, Land Rover has suffered some pretty stiff competition. Other car manufacturers have cottoned on to the fact that people want a big car that makes them feel safe. SUVs and 4x4s have morphed; once the preserve of rural farming communities but now an aspiration for city dwellers.
Yet, despite all this, Land Rover remains the pinnacle of the industry. And it’s not all that difficult to understand why. Take the new Range Rover Sport, for example. It is quite amazing what they’ve achieved with this car. They’ve managed to get the performance of a genuine sports car from a vehicle that is essentially on stilts.
But the Range Rover is so much more than it’s competitors. It has that luxury that only Jaguar Land Rover seems to be able to muster. The interior is beautifully finished and offers an enormous amount of space. And there’s a seven seat option if you happen to have a big family that needs to be carted about.
What’s more, the modern Land Rover has been helped significantly by the competition. In the old days, Land Rovers were derided because of their poor reliability. In the face of stiff competition from the East and from German carmakers, Land Rover have upped their game. Improvements to the drive train and the engine have allowed the Range Rover and the Discovery to transcend former models and deliver genuinely next-gen performance.
Testing has repeatedly revealed that Land Rover cars have more reliability than earlier models, which is good. But it actually better than this. Emissions have been reduced dramatically to make this car more appealing for a world obsessed with CO2. And the improved economy makes this car relatively inexpensive to run – at least compared to its predecessors. What’s more, companies like Paints4Trade now sell paint to customise your Land Rover for business.
But perhaps the single greatest aspect of the new set of Land Rovers is the performance. The second generation Range Rover Sport, for example, dramatically upped Land Rover’s game. Thanks to the car’s aluminium chassis and firm suspension, the driving experience is sublime.
And coupled with the four-wheel drive system the pedigree of the Range Rover is immediately apparent. It makes offroad driving feel almost natural. And this is essentially why Land Rover is the class leader. They’ve employed their years of experience with off-road vehicles and modified them to go on the road. Compare that to their road hugging competitors like the Porsche Cayenne and the BMW X5. These car makers have always stuck to the road and now they’re trying to go off the road. And going off road is a heck of a lot more difficult.
When it comes down to it, the basic offer from Range Rover is essentially unchanged. For quite a bit of money, you can have a moderately expensive running car that offers all the space and off-road performance you could ever want. But it’s a much better offer than what we had before. Now the costs are lower and the benefits higher.