Hopping into any new Range Rover is an enlightening, sensual experience but despite this being our fifth round with the fifth-generation Range Rover, the sense of occasion it provides is peerless. Walk up to the Range with the massive lozenge they call a keyfob in your pocket, and the door handles automatically pop open, beckoning you to enter. Puddle lights shine down to illuminate your path as you climb into the sanctuary and nestle into the plush sofa seats, all while the dominant scent of leather hits your olfactory lobes. It’s like someone shot you with a shrink-ray gun and stuffed you inside an oversized Birkin. 

Every leather surface in sight and even the ones out of view are meticulously dyed and stitched and are softer than any LMVH designer handbag we’ve felt in recent years. The scent is wonderfully aromatic too but any stronger and your nose would geolocate you to a Moroccan leather tannery. That natural fragrance is further refined by the cabin air ionizer, which prevents harmful particles from entering your chamber.

Bolt down the doors, raise the power sunshades, and close the sunroof cover, and the cabin becomes wonderfully isolated, detaching you from the pandemonium of the outside world. Turn on the hot stone massage seats, lean back on the winged headrests with their built-in speakers, and rest your arms comfortably on the wide window sill and adjustable armrests. You sit high up above most other SUVs in an upright seating position, so you physically and psychologically stand over them, towering above like Sauron’s eye, ready to police any traffic infractions. 

It’s unnervingly quiet inside, almost too quiet, like you’ve slipped a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. And it’s not just the noise that’s insulated out but the cold too. It was negative 5 degrees Celsius in Toronto last night and we parked the car outside, ran some errands for an hour, and came back to a cabin that felt almost as warm as when we left it. No, the car wasn’t running, but all the residual heat kept the cabin incredibly insulated – we never noticed that before. 

All that warmth made us crave a cold drink, so we reached down to the built-in cooler box and popped open a cold soda. But we weren’t the only thirsty ones. The Range Rover’s 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine chugs fuel at a considerable rate too, but this one prefers 91-octane rather than Coca-Cola. Too bad they discontinued the diesel flavour. It’s a unit sourced from BMW and while you won’t pick up that signature Bavarian cacophony from the inside, you will from the outside. Paired with an armoury of engineering tools like an adaptive air suspension and an electronic rear locking differential, the Range Rover rides like a waterfall cascading seamlessly down a mountain.

Speed, comfort, it’s all here. You drive it differently than a smaller BMW X3 but its army of cameras ensures the satin Obsidian Black paint stays fresh and scratch-free. Rear-wheel steer ensures navigating underground parking lots is a breeze, and despite its long wheelbase proportions, it remains nimble, boasting the same turning circle as the aforementioned X3. You can see the rear wheels rotate on the parking camera display too. Lateral roll is unavoidable but amicable and reassuringly stable. The Range leans into corners as flat as it can, keeping occupants level, but a slow-in and fast-out approach is always the most ideal. In this LWB form, especially, there is more forward pitch under moderate to strong braking than we noticed before, which can throw your occupants forward if someone decides to brake-check you. Drive sensibly so that the decadent dark cherry leather interior stays stain-free. We call this the Black Forest cake spec, but maybe we’re just hungry.

Converting senses and smells into an on-road zen experience, piloting the hugely charismatic Range Rover is more about choosing your spa program than it is about choosing a GPS route. It’s a wonderfully snobby problem to have, and the Range willingly adopts the supporting role that knocks the stress and dulls the sharp edges out of a commute. It incorporates all the hardware and software that you’d expect from a luxury spa, with every audio and massage feature in perfect harmony. The entrance fee? Just a shade under $200,000 before options, and get this – that’s not even the top-tier SV trim. You can read about that derivation here. But regardless of specification, the Range Rover remains the connoisseur’s choice of transport that drips with presence, regal status, and an interior worthy of your five senses.

Specifications:

Model: 2025 Range Rover P530 LWB Autobiography
Paint Type: Obsidian Black in Satin Finish
Base Price: $194,250
Price as Tested: $212,860
Wheelbase(mm): 3,197
Length/Width/Height (mm): 5,252 / 2,047 / 1,870
Curb weight (kg): 2,588
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8
Horsepower: 523 hp @ 5,500 – 6,000 rpm
Torque: 553 lb-ft @ 1,800 – 4,600 rpm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Engine & Drive Configuration: Front engine, AWD
Observed Fuel Consumption (L/100km): 14.9
Tires: Pirelli Scorpion MS; 23-inch