The thing about the Range Rover, and this one in particular, is just the way it wafts along
the road. You can actually feel your heart rate going down and just your mood lifting.
As a result, you don't really want to pile down the road in this car fast; you just want
to bumble about a bit.
I don't know how they've done it; they defied the laws of physics at Porsche. They have
managed to give this thing body control, handling composure, and grip that would allow you to
drop most well-driven sports cars. It actually does your brain in when you start to drive
this car fast.
Conclusion: having driven them on-road for most of the day, is that the Range Rover is
massively more comfortable, much more chilled, much more refined, much more accomplished
overall. But the Porsche undeniably is quicker and it's just more hooked into
the road.
If you want to drive an SUV like a sports car, buy a Cayenne. But I think we need to go
off-road to draw the full picture and the full conclusion, because I suspect that the
Range Rover might well get its own back when there's a bit of mud involved.
So let's see.
That slope up there might look incredibly innocuous, in fact, it looks like it actually
breathes from there. The bloke that's just let us into this off-road facility has just
said that he took a full on Land Rover with nobblies on it up yesterday and got stuck.
He thinks that we are absolutely crackers to be trying this in what he calls our Chelsea
Tractors. However, we're going to give it a whirl, we're going to see how far the Range
Rover can get into the field and up that slope, and then I'm going to do exactly the same
thing in the Cayenne. We shall see which one wins.
Before we set off, I need to put it in low range, which I have done. You've got a choice
between rock crawl, sand, mud ruts, grass, gravel and snow, or special programs. I'm
going for mud ruts. No, I'm not. I'm going for mud ruts. Low range, drive and traction
control on, because that's what you should do apparently.
Here goes, what I'm not sure. Oh, my word. No, that's alright. A Range Rover is a Range
Rover. He reckoned we'd get stuck straight away. I thank you - straight up to the top of
the field, absolutely no problem. Thank you Range Rover. Thank you for producing such
a fantastic car.
I'm going to try exactly the same thing in the Porsche. I've got off-road mode on, I've
got the centre def lock on, and I've also got the rear def lock on, and it's at its
highest ride height and here we go. I'm a bit scared. I don't think it's going to do
anything at all.
Come on, car. It has, it's done it. It's gone onto the better bit. Wow, okay. It was definitely
more of a problem in the Porsche than it was in the Range Rover. The Range Rover just struggled
for about half a second and then just went straight up the hill. Whereas I have to say,
just for 2 or 3 seconds, I thought we were going nowhere and I would have to get my wellies
out.
Give it its due, the Porsche has just gone up that hill that the off-roading expert thought
that we would be absolutely crackers to even attempt. Well done Porsche.
What we're now going to have to do to settle it once and for all is actually have a race
to the top of the hill.
3-2-1, go.
Come on, Range Rover. No. Yes, the Porsche is stuck and the Range Rover is still going.
He's totally stuck; he's up to his axles. Yes, Range Rover won, Porsche nil. He's just
sitting there going nowhere. Point proved.
The conclusion is the Range Rover is more comfortable, more relaxed, more chilled - just
nicer car to drive on the road - and it murders, of course, off-road. I think that means the
Range Rover wins quite easily. What a thing. What a fantastic vehicle this is. The end.