Range Rover Review | Part Two

The Range Rover's dimensions are 4999mm (length) x 1983mm (wide) x 1910mm (high) - it is obviously a big vehicle - which compares to the Range Rover Sport which is 4850mm (l) x 1983mm (w) x 1845mm (h).

Off road stats include obstacle clearance of up to 295.5mm - a wading depth of 900mm - an off road approach angle of 34.7 degrees and a departure angle of 29.6 degrees.

Getting in and out is a bit of a challenge if you have short legs, our car did not have side steps (a bit ugly in our opinion) but you can lower the suspension to aid entry/exit, if you remember to set it.

Getting into the ideal driving position is easy due in part to the powered seats and steering wheel (all with memory) and the commanding driving position. -Few people sit higher on the road bar lorries and the odd van and it feels reassuring but you do have to remember that some road users may be below your normal line of vision.

One thing that the Range Rover is exceptionally good at amongst other things is that it is particularly good at soaking up very long distances in comfort and without fuss. We completed a 300 mile journey through some dreadful stop/start motorway delays along the M5/M6 and felt completely relaxed when we arrived at our hotel - four hours later than we had expected.

Parking is not as difficult as some may perceive - although the 12.1 m turning circle and near two metre width might require some thought when manoeuvring into tight parking spaces. There are front and rear parking sensors backed up with a birds-eye 360 degree over view from the body mounted cameras (no excuse to kerb your wheels) - or you can just view the reversing perspective mode.� This system is excellent although you do have to keep the cameras lenses clean - it also has a forward side view for pulling out of road junctions with limited vision - you can see up and down the road without having to creep out too far.

The tailgate is split into the traditional Range Rover two elements of an upper and lower tailgate, both of which are electrically powered. Which means that you can load things into the boot whilst controlling dogs or making sure that your shopping does not fall out on a slope, plus it gives you something to sit on out in the field. It does have one disadvantage and that is you cannot easily access the whole length of the boot as you have to lean over the lower tailgate.

The boot will accommodate 909 litres of cargo with the seats in place which increases to 2030 litres with 60:40 seats folded down (they are electrically powered). Where the Range Rover Sport has a much smaller boot at 784/1761 litres, the Mercedes CLS is rated at 295/2300 litres, it should be noted that this model has three rows of seats and can accommodate seven people.

Even the Vogue SE that we were driving comes with a myriad of comfort features such as a heated steering wheel, auto on adaptive Bi-Xenon headlights, dual climate control, heated windscreen, auto dipping internal and external mirrors - the list goes on.

The Range Rover can tow up to 3,500 kg's braked, except for hybrid models which are rated to cope with up to 3,000 kg's.

Arguably the Range Rover is the most comfortable and accommodating of vehicles - it can pretty much do anything and if you do not feel it is luxurious enough you can hand it over to Land Rover's bespoke division and they will customize it to your every whim.