And the tall stance and taller driving position come with little of the so-called tippiness some SUV hopefuls dread. Two factors at play here: first, the latest Range Rover extensively employs aluminum to reduce weight, which improves handling and effectively lowers the centre of gravity. Second, the air suspension adapts in real time to steering inputs, road surfaces and your Range Rover’s current velocity, making subtle adjustments to keep the body flat on the wheels and enhance stability. Usually, driving spiritedly through some winding backroads in a machine like this is about as much fun as eating a large family of fire ants, but the engineering and tech at work make the big, tall Range Rover handle like it is smaller and lighter than it is. It’s almost sporty.

That air suspension also enables a simply creamy highway and around-town ride, with body motions over the wheels feeling less springy and more floaty. Even uneven roads see body movements that are subtle and smooth, with the airbag dampers providing an extra layer of softness between the road and the occupants. The tester’s 22-inch wheels and low-profile rubber didn’t back this up, and the thin tires saw ride quality deteriorate with some jagged and abrupt sensations on nasty trail surfaces with washboards, potholes and the like. If you’ll be driving on surfaces like these in your Range Rover, consider skipping the huge wheels.

Traction for getting moving over a variety of early-spring, flooded-out backroads conditions proved plentiful. With all chassis and traction systems left in their default modes, drivers get a just-right amount of wheel spin to fling slippery slush or mud from the tire treads, enhancing grip, and only powering the wheels that will help get things moving on anything from snow to slush to ice to yucky, muddy slop.

Doing the moving in the case of this tester was the Range Rover’s entry engine: a staple 3.0L supercharged V6 with 340 horsepower. Most of these wake up only after a very healthy stomp on the throttle, as the programming puts the emphasis on lazy throttle response to enhance fuel economy and smoothness. At times, your writer found the throttle frustrating, even requiring an inch or more of pedal action before the Range Rover began to move.

The smoothed-out throttle contributed to a not-so-bad 13.2 L/100 km overall test mileage average, running premium grade gas and measuring by hand. I’ve put that much fuel through any number of smaller and less-powerful sports utes. If you trust the driver computer readout more than your writer’s math using litres burned and miles driven, it offered an even thriftier figure of 12 L/100 km overall.

When drivers do smash the throttle enough to get a downshift, performance should prove adequate, even generous, for most. The engine makes itself heard but sounds lovely, there’s plenty of jam for passing and merging, and discreet whine from the blower never gets tiring as the revs get into the upper half of the digital tachometer.

Light-footed drivers concerned primarily with fuel efficiency and a powerplant that fully supports laid-back driving will find the supercharged six should do the trick very nicely. Should you require more power, an available supercharged V8 pushes output past 500 horses.

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