CARS OF THE WORLD

Range Rover SDV8 2021.

It’s no secret that most full-size SUVs are bought from us with heavy fuel engines. However, diesel is good, and diesel V8 is even better! At least the elegant SDV8 Range Rover demonstrates this perfectly.

CarsWeek and I have already driven a gasoline «compressor» V8, and now it’s time to test the diesel version of the British SUV.

And at the same time, admire his amazingly brutal matte black Ligurian Black.

Design

The stylish fourth-generation Range Rover was born in 2012, but it still seems to be completely outdated.

The three-year-old update slightly refreshed the SUV, but, fortunately, it turned out very laconic — by and large, there was nothing to change in it.

Monumental, but graceful, in matte black it looks great — the drivers of neighboring cars and passers-by literally fold their necks.

The only controversial point is the Black Exterior Pack, which paints gloss black letters on the hood and tailgate, radiator grille, mirrors, «gills» on the doors and door handles.

Gloss with obscenities looks well, ambiguous. Plus glossy wheels. Moreover, Range Rover’s option list includes the Shadow Exterior Pack, which paints the same parts in matte black. But this is a matter of taste.

What’s inside him

Interesting thing: Despite the abundance of touchscreens and other displays, the Range Rover’s interior looks and feels British old-fashioned and luxurious.

Excellent quality leather, massive wood panels, real metal, excellent plastic and cozy suede create an «expensive» impression, but without vulgarity and kitsch.

Probably, only the British can do this: you can only compare with Bentley and Rolls-Royce. The seating height is huge, but the front seats with adjustment buttons on the doors are a miracle: a lot of settings, and besides the usual heating and ventilation, there is a massage — up to 25 programs, including «hot stones».

As an alternative to the «breakable» backrest, there is an inflatable section at the top.
The test SUV is equipped with the Executive Class Comfort-Plus package — these are rear seats with separate adjustments and a footrest for the right passenger.

Also heated! It is incredibly cozy here, but the stock of legroom is not enough: to expand the chair horizontally and stretch your legs, the front right seat must be pushed forward almost to the glove box.

Or rather, by the way, there are two drawers, an upper and a lower one. But just for this case, there is an L modification in the Range Rover model line with a wheelbase extended by 200 millimeters.

But the third row of seats in an SUV does not exist, in principle, even in a long wheelbase.
The downside of such a luxurious second row is the trunk. 639 liters on paper, but in fact it is difficult to attach something to it. I needed to move four 16-inch wheels for a car, but they didn’t fit.

The height of the compartment is not enough, the width — even more so. In general, only two fit. The tailgate flap makes you reach for things, but overall it’s a more convenient solution.

Here in the cabin there is a lot of storage space: a giant, almost 8-liter box between the front seats, a secret 4.5-liter niche in the central tunnel, pockets and compartments with lids in the front doors.

After restyling, the center console turned into a pair of 10-inch touchscreens: a rotary upper and a stationary lower one with three «analog» knobs.

The disadvantages of this design are well known for a long time: both screens and the 12-inch display of the instrument panel have one common processor, which is rather weak in its duties.

The multimedia system is beautifully rendered and works without pretensions, the music plays perfectly, but the image from the circular view system, for example, lags terribly behind and generally moves in jerks. Not very safe.

What is it made of

The fourth generation Range Rover, internally indexed L405, is built on an aluminum platform with an aluminum double wishbone suspension on air bellows at the front and a steel multi-link at the rear.

Versions with a V8 engine are also equipped with active stabilizers. The SUV is notable for its all-aluminum body, which is 180 kilograms lighter than the previous steel body. Overall, the car dropped almost half a ton.

The body consists of 270 stamped, 14 cast parts and nine more extruded ones, which are fastened together with the help of almost four thousand rivets and a couple of hundred meters of adhesive joints.

The manufacturer generally calls the sidewall the largest stamped part in the automotive industry.

The powerful 4.4-liter V8 diesel engine with a pair of turbochargers develops 339 horsepower and 740 Newton-meters of torque, which is even more than the «compressor» 5.0-liter gasoline V8 extreme Range Rover Sport SVR.

The engine block is made of compacted graphite iron and the heads are made of aluminum alloy.

The turbo diesel G8 also boasts piezoelectric injectors and double camshafts.

Passability.

The eight-cylinder SDV8 bi-turbo diesel is simply a divine engine. Hurricane traction, elasticity, pleasant roar, surprisingly low consumption — only 11-13 liters in the combined cycle.

And 7.3 seconds acceleration from standstill to 100 km / h. This is by far the best possible unit under the Range Rover’s large, flat bonnet.

There is enough torque at any speed and in any gear — with a sharp acceleration, the «automatic» drops a couple of steps and the SUV, sitting a little on the stern, instantly rushes forward.

The pedal feedback is slightly damped at the beginning of the stroke — apparently, for greater smoothness of starting and braking.

In general, all the reactions of the car to the controls seem to be deliberately solid. What it looks like, so it goes. Harmoniously!

Take at least a long handlebar. It is light, a little empty in turns, but on the other hand, why make it heavier? And so everything is clear.

And this will definitely not make Range Rover more comfortable. The SUV slowly stands on the high-speed arc, it is important to sway, but on the road it stands unshakably and confidently keeps a straight line.

Smooth running? Expectedly good. But by no means perfect. Shakes!

When driving through large irregularities such as speed bumps, unsprung masses cannot be avoided. The wheels are heavy!

They fall with a crash into the pits and shake the body at the transverse joints of the flyovers. But Range Rover smoothes minor flaws like an asphalt roller.

And the averages hardly notice. And there is no buildup, which the rear passengers will appreciate. Due to the very high landing, the rolls seem even larger than they actually are, although they are not that small anyway. But this even has some kind of charm.

Moreover, it does not come to discomfort.
But let’s not forget that we are not talking about a sedan, but about a real SUV! So, Range Rover has a permanent four-wheel drive, a range-multiplier and even two locks: the basic center-to-center and optional on the rear axle.

At a speed of more than 105 km / h, the suspension can drop from 221 millimeters by another 15 millimeters, and with a button you can press the body to the ground by another 50 millimeters.

But the main thing is that it can be raised: by 40 millimeters from the standard position at speeds up to 80 km / h, or by 75 millimeters at speeds up to 50 km / h, resulting in a ground clearance of as much as 296 millimeters.

Outcome

Does anyone else know how to combine comfort and off-road performance as masterly as the Range Rover? Hardly, and in this sense it is a special product.

Luxurious interior, expensive materials, extremely elegant design. Pay attention to how many of these SUVs drive through the streets in rather intricate colors and combinations of shades — both the body and the interior?

At the same time, the car can, if necessary, be grabbed unchallenged and off-road — the potential allows. And a diesel engine with diesel torque and humane fuel consumption will be by far the best choice.

A big fly in the ointment — of course, prices. It is clear that this is a large and prestigious SUV, it cannot be cheap a priori.

But it’s hard to compete with the real competitors of Range Rover. The cost of the car starts at 7,552,000 rubles, and a thoroughly «packed» test SUV in the Autobiography configuration with a V8 biturbo diesel and a generous set of options comes out already at 11,280,600 rubles.

But in terms of the ratio of chic for every ruble spent, he is unlikely to be equal.