2023 Range Rover SV



PHOENIX — Facing an ever-increasing fierce competition among other ultra-luxe SUV competitors, a new fifth-generation Range Rover has been entirely designed taking luxury, design, poshness and performance to even loftier new heights. 


With intoxicating luxury, peerless design sophistication, a near-perfect blend of off-road bona fide performance with cosseting luxury and comfort, Range Rover was once a class of one in the luxe SUV market. No longer, as nearly every luxury brand from Lamborghini to Bentley and even Rolls Royce obsessing over SUVs, Range Rover is working even harder to reassure discriminating six-figure bespoke-level buyers are indeed choosing the very best.

What’s new about Range Rover is really new and big, really big. With at least 40 percent of buyers choosing the LWB (long wheelbase) models that’s nearly a foot longer overall than before, and an eight-inch wheelbase stretch that shows up with third-row seating that comfortably accommodates a pair of six-foot adults and a middle row where even Sun’s 7 ft center Deandre Ayton can stretch out.

While the Rover is among the world’s most cosseting SUVs, it also earns its chops on or off-road. Although seemingly a luxury vehicle with this status would only leave the pavement if the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

Two engine options are available, a 3.0-liter turbocharged-supercharged inline six with a mild-hybrid assist that delivers 395 horsepower and 406 lb.-ft of torque, or a twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter 523 horsepower V8 with 553 lb.-ft of torque. Either engine easily powers the Rover with imperturbable ease and assurance that’s delivered through an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The Rover’s body is silky smooth and gorgeous but the biggest attention getter is the ridiculously opulent cabin finished with the finest of leather hides, metals and wood veneers. The extravagance peaks with the $19,740 Signature Suite option that adds airline-style reclining massaging rear seats, a motorized club table, hidden refrigerator, crystal champagne flutes and more.

Ranger Rover starts at $106,000 and climbs beyond $250,000 for an SV Signature Suite with a list of amenities that’s long and dizzying.

My conclusion after a week of testing this enormously comfortable, expensive, commanding vehicle is a must-have status vehicle of celebrity existential otherness, the best sky-box seat in the house for the well-heeled. That’s life behind the wheel of the Range Rover. Ms. Swift your car is ready.

Vital stats

2023 Land Rover Range Rover SV

Base Price: $226,500
Price as Tested: $260,170
Engine: 4.4-liter twin turbo V-8 paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission
Horsepower: 523
Fuel Economy: 18 MPG combined city/highway
Seating: 4

Fab features:
Stunning design and styling
Amangiri suite-like interior
Creamy ride with world-class off-road capabilities

— Jim Prueter