Range Rover D350 HSE: long-term test review

First report: before driving the newest arrival on our fleet, we tasted the buying experience

Verdict 

Land Rover has proven that luxury starts with the retailer and we were hugely impressed by the facilities and service at Stratstone Mayfair. It provided a seamless transition into the luxury of the Range Rover, a hugely impressive car that combines all the qualities you expect from luxury driving with a few you wouldn’t.

• Mileage: 10,114
• Economy: 38.2mpg

I’ve always thought there’s been something missing from the luxury car experience. There’s no doubting the quality of materials, the wealth of technology and the sublime drive offered by the finest the automotive world has to offer, but in most cases you still have to go and buy them from a traditional car dealer. And visiting a car dealer is rarely a luxury experience.

Land Rover, though, has decided to do things differently, and when we were asked if we wanted to run our current favourite luxury car – the new Range Rover – it came with an invitation to go through the same luxury experience available to owners.

That meant a trip into Central London to Stratstone of Mayfair, a Land Rover dealer with a bit of a difference. The site has just had a complete overhaul, the result of a radical rethink of the retail experience – and focusing on what buyers of Land Rover’s most premium model really want, under the watchful style guidance of Land Rover’s chief creative officer, Gerry McGovern.

The result is more akin to buying art than a car. The door to Stratstone swings itself open to reveal a cool, minimalist interior with plenty of stylish accoutrements and hi-tech screens adorning the showroom’s curved, whitewashed walls. Where four cars used to sit, now there are just two; when we visited, a Range Rover and Range Rover Sport sat, displayed as perfectly lit works of art.

Head of sales Julie Fearnley met us and ensured our refreshment needs were met before explaining more about the new facility, the result of plenty of time, and even more cash, no doubt.

Under the skin (well, downstairs in the office) this is a busy, fully functioning retailer with a large team of salespeople dealing with their well heeled customers. Test cars and a selection of used models are kept in a close-by car park. In fact, everything – like the ‘hidden-until-lit’ tail-lights on the new Range Rover – is kept out of sight until the customer needs it.

We were introduced to sales specialist Clive Newell who, just like Fearnley, was impeccably dressed in a black suit and black T-shirt. Newell invited us downstairs into an equally upmarket studio dominated by a huge TV screen flanked by leather samples and blocks of colour to help us choose the perfect Range Rover for us.

If you’ve already started the ordering process online, Newell can bring up your chosen specification on his touchscreen, which is mirrored on the giant screen on the wall. We decided to start from scratch, looking at the various colour samples, blocks of wood and material swatches, while Newell also took us through the various choices from engines to option packs.

Needless to say, the team at Stratstone is there to sell Range Rover cars, but in this case it felt like friendly advice rather than pushing us in any particular direction during the decision-making process.

And in most cases, it’s the start of a lengthy relationship, not only because many customers come back time and again, but in this day and age, one thing that might not be deemed luxurious is the wait you have to endure for your car to be delivered. That’s something Newell and his colleagues have had to become rather deft in handling.

When it comes to delivery, there’s an added twist to the luxury experience, too. You can have the car delivered to your home by a specialist, as we did, or you can collect your car with a motorshow-style reveal from the Range Rover studio at the factory in Solihull.

Perhaps most luxurious of all is the option to have your car presented at London’s prestige Grosvenor House hotel after breakfast or afternoon tea.

So the buying process lives up to the luxury lifestyle, but what about the car?

We knew the new Range Rover was good – which is why we’ve already given it an award – but I’ll be living with the car for the next nine months to see if it truly is the best luxury car money can buy.

So far, my D350 HSE model is living up to its promise. The Range Rover is full of stunning design features inside and out, drives sublimely, comes with nicely integrated technology and is proving to be pleasingly frugal so far.

And it’s so quiet, my daughter thought the model was electric. The genuine electric Range Rover arrives next year, which might well add a further touch of opulence to this hugely impressive piece of automotive design and engineering.

Now find out what happened when the Range Rover and Bentley Bentayga went head-to-head…

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