The latest Range Rover has competition from all quarters... we take two from the wide selection and see how they stack up against the new original

WORDS TOM FORD

PHOTOGRAPHY JONNY FLEETWOOD

RANGEROVER AUTOBIOGRAPHY D350

£120,900/£123,715 as tested

BMW iX 50 xDRIVE M SPORT

£93,905/£115,670 as tested

ESBENTLEY

BENTAYGA S

£182,300/£207,620 as tested

Starting with the glaringly obvious; this test doesn’t make sense. There’s a new super-sporty Bentley Bentayga S with a walloping 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 petrol engine and a price tag over £200k that makes you suck air through your teeth, a new Range Rover with a six-cylinder diesel that’s over £60k cheaper in basic trims, and a battery powered BMW iX that’s nearly as fast as the Bentley but ‘only’ £94k basic. There are different models from all three manufacturers that can – or will – match up more precisely (you could save money by having a standard Bentayga, for instance, or up the iX’s game with the iX M60), but these three throw up some interesting questions about what it means to be a luxury SUV. So what’s the deal here?

Well, apart from the fact that rich people live in a rarefied atmosphere where list prices are just the fuzzy strings of numbers underneath all the nice pictures, what we’re trying to do is frame the new Range Rover, rather than the traditional first, second and third podium positioning. We’re putting arguably the best current representations of each model against each other, to see if the RR has got the aspiration and class to stand up to the old school, big ticket, gentrified Bentley, and the tech and intelligence to hold firm against new wave electric luxury predators like the BMW. A Rangie has always been a luxury jack of all trades, so has the new one managed that same trick in the face of diversified competition, or is it now master of none?