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The 2022 Range Rover achieves decadence and confidence, without the running costs long considered necessary for Britain’s best 4×4. In a tough category, it excels – but it also offers good value, challenging the highest echelons of luxury SUVs for considerably less investment.
In its fifth generation, the Range Rover’s confident, imposing profile, cosseting air-sprung ride and talented all-wheel drive have gained agility and, remarkably, economy. Four-wheel steering means the Range Rover can now move around obstacles, rather than expecting them to move for it, and for long distance comfort the entry-level straight-six diesel delivers ample performance and refinement. Yet in our extended test, it also returned 42mpg, at average motorway speeds.
This is a luxury car that spoils the driver, too, when many emphasise passenger comfort. Intuitive controls, unparalleled visibility and plenty of high-tech gadgets make it easier to live with in busy towns and small villages, as well as on the motorway. Off-road the only limit is how prepared you are to risk the bodywork. It can even tow the full 3,500kg. Yet in today’s climate of rising costs the range still starts below £100,000 with no reasonable luxury omitted. Still want that Bentley Bentayga?
RUNNERS UP
Click to read the full Mercedes-Benz S-Class review
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There’s a theme developing in luxury cars, as the Mercedes S-Class also shows a newfound willingness to change direction and feel less unwieldy in towns. Combined with a high-fashion approach to interior design that naturally integrates technology and warm, welcoming materials, it’s a more approachable and likeable car from the driver’s seat. As befits any S-Class, the assistants and gadgets are cutting edge, but it’s got a softer side reflecting its role as a Maybach successor as well.
Feeling more like an E-Class to drive than ever, it’s surprisingly easy to enjoy fast A and B-roads as well as motorways. Passengers still get the best seats, though, with reclining, soft-pillow comfort just a control panel away. Thanks to exceptional body control the S-Class is a serene and relaxing car to be chauffeured in, even on country roads.
Click to read the full BMW iX review
BMW’s distinctive iX is by far the most cohesive, and individual, electric luxury car you can buy now. It’s not as wild as the first i-cars, the i3 and i8, but it retains the advanced construction and high-tech, designed-as-EV ethos rather than simply modifying existing platforms for battery and motor.
Original solutions highlight the depth of thought that has gone into the iX, such as self-healing plastics on the ‘grille’ concealing cameras and sensors, or touch-sensitive controls embedded in the trim that can be found by feel, and respond naturally. BMW’s luxury EV feels futuristic, but with substance, and drives with the same consistent, predictable response you would expect from any BMW. It’s the first electric car to successfully deliver a new paradigm of luxury.
