2023 Land Rover Range Rover SUVOTY Review: A Fine and Fancy SUV

The 2023 Land Rover Range Rover is a feast for the senses. Words like "looks," "feels," "sounds," and even "smells" were common in our SUV of the Year judges' notes. Land Rover's attempts to bring the Range Rover into the über-luxe stratosphere looks to have paid off in a big way.

It's tempting to dismiss the new Range Rover as a subtle redesign of a well-worn classic, but the new range-topping Land Rover is an extensive rework of the time-tested formula. There's a new modular architecture (a derivative of the platform underpinning the 2021 SUV of the Year-winning Land Rover Defender), which in turn allows for more powertrain options, wheelbase lengths, and seating configurations than any Range Rover in the previous 54 years. The 2023 Range Rover is offered in standard- and long-wheelbase forms, with two or three rows, in four-, five-, and seven-seat configurations, with two powertrain options at launch (and a plug-in hybrid on the way), and featuring more interior colors, materials, and trim options than we can count.

Although the Range Rover looks stately but reserved from the sidewalk, the inside is a revelation. "This interior is incredible," associate editor Alex Leanse said. "Gorgeous materials are everywhere; this door panel is sculptural, looking more like an art piece crafted from metal and leather. Even minor touchpoints are finished superbly."

Land Rover focused on simplifying the Range Rover's interior, reducing hard buttons and moving many functions to its 13.1-inch curved infotainment display. Such a change usually gives us pause, but even this one feels considered. All of the basic functions are on the display's left side, so drivers must position their right hand just inches off the wheel to tap the screen, while the display's haptic feedback and subtle convex glass replicate the positive feedback of real buttons.

"It even smells expensive in here," associate editor Duncan Brady said. That's because it is. Range Rover prices start at $105,975 and can top off at nearly $220,000, making it less of a value for most buyers but attractive for those who cross-shop the new Rangie with Bentleys, Maybachs, and Rolls-Royces.

The two powertrains available at launch and made available for our SUV of the Year testing—Land Rover's 395-hp 3.0-liter turbo- and electrically supercharged I-6 and BMW's 523-hp twin-turbo V-8—largely feel worth the money. Our SWB V-8-powered test vehicle is well worth the upcharge over the I-6, with a broad torque curve and a refined purr as it works through the standard eight-speed automatic's well-spaced gears. That's not to say the I-6 is a slouch, but judges missed the V-8's extra low-end torque and smooth top end in our LWB three-row test vehicle.

No matter the engine, the 2023 Range Rover goes down the road as you expect it to. "Just a lovely-driving vehicle," digital director Erik Johnson said. "It has the traditional Range Rover chassis feel, from the plush ride to the squishy but well-controlled body motions. You can tell it was tuned on some awful British B-roads." The Range Rover is excellent off-road, too. Detroit editor Alisa Priddle noted that it "really loves to play and drift in the sand," after toying with the Sand mode revised for Middle Eastern markets. "Sand was flying up the sides and raining down on the windshield. Pure joy!" Drive (or ride in) one and you'll feel joy, too.