When Jeep first admitted that its highest-trim Grand Wagoneer models would eclipse $100,000, some folks snickered. The Infiniti QX60 is an excellent family SUV with a strong dose of luxury, but we wish it were a touch smoother and more fun to drive. Just, yes.Īlas, we found the 3.5-liter V6 to be a bit coarse and underpowered. Additionally, this is still a family-sized crossover, with plenty of room for seven (as long as three of them are on the shorter side). Then there’s the Autograph trim’s gorgeous cabin, resplendent with semi-aniline quilted leather and open-pore wood. The old SUV’s jellybean-minivan proportions and droning CVT made it a poor fit for the stylish, avowedly Japanese luxury brand, but thanks to a crisp-shifting nine-speed automatic and trimmer, tauter sheetmetal, the QX60 is a genuine contender. If we handed out Star Awards for most improved, the Infiniti QX60 would win in a landslide. And these vehicles’ exterior designs should shout about their owners' taste and wealth through their sheetmetal.Īcura Integra | BMW iX | Genesis G90 | Genesis GV70 | Infiniti QX60 | Jeep Grand Wagoneer | Lucid Air | Land Rover Range Rover Automakers should outfit luxury products with their most advanced technology, including over-the-top speaker counts and expansive and attractive displays. The cabin should isolate its occupants from exterior noises or unpleasant vibrations with extreme prejudice. The ride quality should be unflappable on any surface, both in terms of what the passengers feel and what the driver experiences through the steering. The best luxury vehicles are faultlessly constructed with high-quality materials throughout the cabin. But before we could decisively name a winner, we had to suss out the praise and pain that each particular vehicle in our test brought with it, with a few surprises along the way. After a full week of testing, the Land Rover Range Rover set itself apart with a consistently enjoyable and comfortable driving experience in a variety of situations. At the air suspension’s full height, there’s 294mm of ground clearance and wading ability is rated at a mad 900mm.But in spite of the diverse crowd that contended for the 2022 Star Award for best luxury vehicle, our decision wasn’t particularly challenging. There’s Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 system that can automatically read conditions and prep the four-wheel drive, diffs, suspension, throttle responses and electronics for the environment. So, if just for academic interest, I’ll run through some of its highlights. 2022 Range Rover: off road abilityĪnd what of off-road ability? The question might be a bit redundant in the India scheme of things, but then again, this is a Range Rover, an SUV designed to the brief of taking you to the corners of the world in utmost luxury. We suspect smaller rims with chunkier rubber would be better suited to our conditions. Sure, the air suspension’s damping is well judged but the 285/45 section tyres on our test car’s 22-inch rims couldn’t completely soften the blow of the potholes beneath. Oddly, where we were left slightly wanting was in ride comfort, a traditional Range Rover strength. It balances familiar and fresh with masterful ease.Ģ2-inch wheels don't provide the best ride quality. There’s been an almost obsessive pursuit to tighten shut lines, hide what’s not needed to be seen (the door handles fold in and sit flush with the body), and keep surfacing flat (note, there’s no step in the glasshouse and pillars). There’s been no meddling with that iconic shape but a close look will tell you the devil is in the details. In fact, it’s only the distinctive and pretty rad vertical strip LED tail-lights that immediately give this one away as the latest of the kind. The other thing is, it doesn’t shout it’s the ‘new’ Range Rover. That the ordinarily massive 22-inch rims only look adequate on the Rangie will tell you that this is an SUV almost built to a different scale. At 5.2m+ long, the LWB dwarfs everything else on the road this side of a bus. It’s the Range Rover’s size that gets you first. With us is the Rs 3.16 crore D350 LWB Autobiography, which translates to a highly specced 3.0-litre diesel-powered long-wheelbase Range Rover. In all, there are 35 versions of the new Rangie on sale in India, split between three engine and two wheelbase options, with the larger of the kind further offered with the option of a third row for the very first time. The Range Rover’s ‘range’ starts at Rs 2.38 crore (ex-showroom), with the priciest of the lot, sans options, yours for Rs 3.51 crore. Of course, parting with big bucks for one is your part of the deal. There’s an all-new Range Rover in town and it’s here to win you over with more of everything – more style, more luxury, more tech, more ability, you name it. Captains of industry and film stars, take note.
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