The Land Rover Range Rover is a four-wheel drive luxury SUV produced by the luxury SUV company Land Rover
in the United Kingdom.
It was first introduced in 1970.
The Range Rover was built on a box section ladder type chassis, much like the contemporary Series Land Rover, but utilized coil springs as opposed to leaf springs, permanent four-wheel drive, disc brakes all round.
It was originally powered by the lightweight Rover V8 engine of 3528 cc (3947 cc in later variants, and also available with a diesel engine).
Current models are now powered
by a Jaguar V8 of 4.4 litres.
The vehicle is currently one of the most expensive vehicles of its type on the market.
Among enthusiasts, the original model is known as the Classic, the second generation is known as the P38A
and the latest generation is known as the L322 or just "new Range Rover".
Although it had many features not found on most other SUVs at the time, it is debatable whether or not the Range
Rover was the first luxury SUV, as many people claim. Other SUV vehicles, such as Chevrolet's Suburban and the Jeep Wagoneer (1963) were produced before the Range Rover.
These American vehicles were the first four-wheel drive vehicles that were not designed as strictly commercial utility vehicles, but to be versatile and off-road capable family vehicles. However, the Range Rover introduced features such as all-coil spring suspension, permanent four-wheel drive and disc brakes on all wheels whereas the American vehicles retained leaf springs and drum brakes (but also had automatic transmissions and power steering).
Although Jeep and Chevrolet may have
been the first to introduce luxurious off-road vehicles to the general public, the Range Rover was the first to add
advanced suspension and braking technology to the mix.