When it comes to the European automobile industry, the United Kingdom, which was once the boss of the Western sun, must be an unavoidable topic, compared to the precision and rigor of the Germans and the passion of the Italians. The British use a comprehensive and solid aesthetic system to perfectly interpret what is called British atmosphere, not only that, the strong brand culture output has also allowed them to gain a lot of fans around the world. But our protagonist today is neither the classical bentley nor the extravagant and ferocious Aston Martin, but a land rover range rover, an ace of the British car industry that cannot be ignored. From the enduring "007 Series" to the recently blockbuster "Battle of Succession", in recent years, they have also begun to appear in domestic dramas from time to time. Even the Queen of the United Kingdom and Prince Charles also drive it out from time to time for the major media to broadcast, help Land Rover bring a cargo, and properly arrange the "C-bit" of the royal car.
A regular in film and television dramas - Range Rover
This time, we were the first to test drive in San Francisco, USA to the fifth generation of the new Range Rover, and the new car has many unexpected changes and improvements in terms of platform architecture, appearance, interior and performance. But in fact, the evaluation of this car is now also seriously polarized. Good to say "real incense", dislike to say "copy the homework of the previous generation". So whether this car is the IQ tax of the rich, or a detail devil built by Land Rover, follow the article today to understand.
●Appearance: The philosophy of change and invariance
When you see it in person, the fast head is obviously bigger than the previous generation. After the replacement, the length of the car is 200mm longer than the old model, and even the standard wheelbase version we test-drove today has reached 5052mm, fortunately, the proportion of the body is not out of balance. In addition to the added muscular feel to the 23-inch rim, concealed door handles, windows flush with the door frame, a penetrating waistline, and a suspended roof all make the entire side line look smoother.
Even in order not to destroy the look and feel of the body side lines, even the rearview mirrors have been moved back a little. That's why the lines of the new Range Rover are so clean and powerful. In addition, even if it is so big, thanks to the minimum turning radius of 10.95m brought by rear wheel steering technology, it is more flexible than many compact cars.
When you come to the front of the car, the change in the front face can be said to be minimal. But what does it feel like? Unlike most manufacturers, who have a large logo and a large grille approach, Perry Mcgovern and his design team did the opposite this time, reducing the proportion of the central mesh and the headlights, widening the chrome strip decoration on the edge of the central mesh, and making the visual center of the entire front face closer. Coupled with a smooth and smooth surface and prominent LED strips, it gives people a refreshing feeling. It's like dancing in shackles, and sometimes this design limitation can make designers burst out with greater creativity.
Skirting the body to the most controversial rear, the thin strips of black LED taillights blend in with the "RANGE ROVE" black logo that runs through above, well hiding the position of the turn signals. The hidden rear wiper also makes the entire tail more concise and avant-garde, and it has the feeling of a concept car. The way to open the tailgate is also based on the upper and lower split structure, and the trunk seat structure can also be optionally installed. It's not a problem to have you and your sister look up at the stars and have a glass of champagne.
In terms of space, the trunk has nothing to say except that it is large, and it can already be converted into cubic meters (M3). As for what can be done, everyone makes up their own brains.
●Interior: Exclusive courtesy for the rich
Before entering the front row to see the interior, I would like to enter the noble back row to enjoy it. The first thing that catches the eye is the 11.4-inch OLED entertainment screen with curvature, and the display detail is not to be picked. And the use of suspension + curved design, it actually made me feel a little relaxed at home.
Our test drive featured semi-aniline leather seats and a Signature Suite kit, and the small electric folding table panel rises from the fixed central armrest for a convenient work platform. Meetings, reading documents is not a problem, tired can also take out the prepared bubble water from the middle of the Xiaoice box to moisten the throat, visually put a bottle of champagne plus two glasses at all. The disadvantage is that the use of space is not too high, but the people who can really buy this Range Rover are not expected to care much.
The new Range Rover also offers regular 5- or even 7-seater versions for customers. These include electrically adjustable First Class airline seats, power sun blinds, and a so-called hot stone massage function. In short, only you can't think of anything they can't do without them. Even if you're a staunch environmentalist, you can opt for Ultrafabirc eco-friendly materials. However, I personally prefer the semi-aniline leather interior, the texture of the leather and the unique fragrance it emits is not available in the so-called Nappa leather. Semi-aniline leather sounds like a synthetic leather, but in fact represents a dyeing method. Only the best-textured and flawless leather can use this technique in order to fully expose the leather's natural grain and folds to your eyes.
So how to tell if it is real leather? Teach everyone a small way to squeeze the skin in the middle with two thumbs to see if there are such natural irregular folds, if any, the top leather. Of course, with people becoming more and more concerned about environmental protection, only the flagship model of this luxury brand is now willing to spend a lot of money on this leather.
Eventually, we came to the front row. In addition to the 13-inch central control screen and 14-inch LCD instrument panel, the main changes are the layout of the central control panel, the return of the gear bar, and the classic custom driving mode buttons have also been moved from the left to the right. Behind it is a two-step adjustable refrigerator that can accommodate 4 water bottles, which is a higher level than the previous generation model, both in terms of the texture of the buttons and the ease of operation. However, the only thing that is lacking is that this British Treasure sound system did not meet my expectations in terms of sound quality, which is a bit of a pity.
Before talking about the dynamic feeling, let's take a look at the upgrade of the powertrain of the new model. Today's 530Ps version replaces the previous 5.0L supercharged machine with BMW's 4.4L twin-turbo engine, with a maximum power of 530Ps and a peak torque of 750N·m. It is even possible to push this 2.7-ton big guy, 0-100km/h to a terrifying 4.7 seconds. Matching it is the ZF 8AT transmission, which is still the same linear and smooth, with a wide torque range that makes the power on call, and does not drag mud and water at all. The feedback from the sense of the road is decent, and most of the vibration is filtered out because it compromises on comfort. Even if you cut to Sport mode, the car won't be aggressive, but the paddle shifters will respond quite quickly in Sport mode. In addition, like many models, you can also customize the electromagnetic suspension feedback, steering wheel feedback and so on through the central control.
Let's talk about the noise in the car, according to the official information of Land Rover, the noise in the car of the new Range Rover is 20% quieter than the previous generation, and sitting in the car can indeed feel much quieter than the previous generation. In addition to the quiet upgrade, thanks to the car's smooth façade design, its wind resistance coefficient has reached an incredible 0.30. Such data can already be on par with many cars, which is indeed beyond imagination. After turning on the active noise cancellation system, the noise in the car can be further reduced, because the noise reduction speaker is on the headrest, basically putting you in an environment completely isolated from the outside world. Overall, compared to the previous generation of Range Rover, it has reduced its sportiness and increased comfort and luxury, which may be what they officially advertise as "neo-modern luxury".
Luckily, we also experienced some simple off-road sections this time, and overall the new Range Rover's off-road capabilities are still very strong. But if you really need to play so-called hardcore off-road, or long-distance crossing, then you still have to choose land rover defenders. For Range Rover, it is enough to let the owner more gracefully and calmly cross some obstacles, so this time the official did not make the route so hardcore.
Fortunately, the new Range Rover should have a lot of things, such as Land Rover's proud adaptive feedback system, which has 8 different driving modes, which can be adjusted accordingly through the knob on the right hand side. At the same time, you can also observe the situation around the vehicle through the 360-degree panoramic camera of the screen, and it is very easy to encounter different road conditions. Secondly, although the car is very elegant and luxurious, its approach angle and departure angle are 25 ° and 27 ° respectively, according to the information provided by Land Rover can easily climb a steep slope of 45 °, its four-wheel drive torque distribution and electronic rear differential lock must have helped a lot, plus a wading depth of nearly 1m, it can be said that if you let this car do something out of the ordinary, it can be completely competent.
Editor's Note: Overall, the new Range Rover is somewhat stunning to me. This amazes me not only the appearance, the details of the interior have an almost perverted pursuit; not only the off-road shows the wind and calmness; more is to admire the design team willing to take risks, to try many car manufacturers dare not think of a way to replace, not big gold teeth but better than big gold teeth. And to do so, it is undoubtedly to raise the aesthetic threshold of the new Range Rover to a very high level, and the literary point is that it is anti-trend, to put it bluntly, it is to gamble on the fate of the Range Rover car.
Whether you like the change or not, I think today's car design needs such a sound too much. In recent years, due to the rise of new elements, everyone has begun to blindly pursue the "split headlights", "large grilles", "large front faces" this visual impact method to attract consumers, but the trend in the past everyone will fall into confusion. Only those designs that are truly called classics can survive in the long river of time, so the designed products must be diversified, so as to meet the needs of all classes and industries, and the automobile market can truly bloom.