Autocar.co.uk
by Steve Cropley
There’s never been any way of evaluating the performance, dynamics and comfort of an important car than driving a big mileage.
To discover the truth about the all-important new Range Rover an Autocar expedition comprising Stan Papior and I set off from the Land Rover’s Gaydon headquarters last week to deliver a silver Range Rover Autobiography SDV8 to its own press launch, 2000 miles to the south in Marrakesh, Morocco.
We drove 120 miles to Portsmouth, took the 24-hour, 650-mile journey across the Bay of Biscay to Santander in northern Spain, then drove the length of that country to Algiceras in a day to catch the ferry to Tangier.
From it was 350 miles on unfettered Moroccan roads to the destrination on the outskirts of Marrakesh.
The Range Rover was flawlessly quiet and comfortable, and impressively economical. Our crew drove reasonably briskly, but reached Marrakesh with the fuel computer reading 29.7mpg.
There wasn’t a single blemish on its flanks or wheels – until a chauffeur managed to collide with one of Marrakesh’s half million motorcyclists, thankfully doing no physical damage but scratching the front bumper. It polished out…
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