Range Rover Hybrid Review – Cruiser or Bruiser?

Aahh, the Range Rover, a rugged and capable automobile that has the ability to take on the toughest of mountains… Or is it?

It seems Range Rover has a new priority in mind, which is not to climb the tallest mountain in the world (although it jolly-well can), but to take the luxury car segment by storm.

The new 2013 Range Rover is up competing with the likes of the Bentley Flying Spur, Mercedes-Benz S Class and even the Rolls-Royce Ghost. It seems then, Range Rover have played their cards right.

We had the opportunity to test the Range Rover in its all-new Hybrid variant.

When someone mentions the word ‘Hybrid’, you never associate it with ‘Performance’ unless it’s an inter-galactic super-sonic missile like the McLaren P1 or the Porsche 918.

However, although the Range Rover is a big ol’ beast, it still packs a lovely torquey punch from its 3.0L SDV6 Diesel engine.

Combined, the Range Rover Hybrid produces a peak output of around 340hp and a torque figure of 700Nm allowing it to accelerate from 0-60 in just 6.5 seconds. That’s pretty impressive considering it’s 2394kg kerb weight.

On the note of weight, the entire hybrid system including the batteries adds less than 120kg to the cars’ weight. That is all irrelevant until you hear it only weighs 22kg more than the Range Rover Sport Hybrid.

The bottom line is, this car wasn’t made to do 0-60mph in 0.1 seconds, but engineered for inter-continent commutes. We think it’s the ultimate cruising machine.

Now we’re in the Range Rover Hybrid’s comfort zone.

The Range Rover Hybrid produces a combined figure of 44.1mpg and emits just 169g/km of CO2. Again, that’s all irrelevant till you start factoring the fact that the base engine (TDV6) produces a combined figure of 37.7mpg and emits 196g/km of CO2.

The car also comes with a button called ‘EV’ . This is where the magic begins as explained by our friends at speedmonkey.co.uk-

EV mode allows the RR Hybrid to be driven up to 30mph for about a mile on the electric 35kW battery, perfect for creeping up your driveway at 3am.

The Range Rover has been labeled a luxury vehicle over the years, but this time, that understates this cars’ outright opulence.

There is lovely leather absolutely everywhere, on the dash, seats, center console, steering, door panels and even down below the seats. It’s not just any leather you find in Mercedes’ or BMW’s, this is sumptuously soft leather which oozes luxury.

The seats are supportive, the steering is lovely to hold and the center console is full of rich veneer.

You could spend hours in the Range Rover and never get tired or bored.

The exterior is typical Range Rover, mahusive where it matters yet retaining elegance and finesse in its design.

JLR has done a fantastic job on making the new Range Rover look modern and elegant as it had some big boots to fill with the old Rangie’.

It really does succeed on being a successful Range Rover, it’s great off road, yet great on road. It’s definitely one of our all time SUV favourites.