Range Rover | The Explorers Club | Auto Class Magazine

Range Rover | The Explorers Club

23 May 2024 Redazione News, Stories, Tested

It’s like a sort of magnet that attracts me towards the center of an unexplored world, as bewitching as it is harsh on human beings. Crossing the threshold of your comfort zone is something that makes you feel alive. Imagine an autumn day and the first episode of a new series that pays homage and admires the feats of the great explorers. Then add a Range Rover. Nothing else is needed.

Words Alessandro Marrone / Photos Alessio Becker

Human nature is such a strange thing. It is complex because of a multitude of biological and psychological factors, but it is equally true that over time we learn to distinguish which situations are capable of reawakening a primordial need often held back by common sense and our self-preservation instinct. How many times do we see images of extreme situations and imagine ourselves there, at least for a moment? The following second we come back down to earth and remember that we are in the 21st century, we have a job, a family and duties to be accountable to. In short, it is always too early to bring the probability of leaving above 30%, let alone get so close to the maximum limit. Not that the explorations necessarily have to be at the threshold of the very end, but the spirit of adventure of the great pioneers of history has accustomed us to stories where the ending is often written posthumously, diaries of never-finished journeys which for better or for worse have changed mankind and its awareness of the planet. Now it’s not that I’m getting my hands full towards a series of missions bordering on madness, but with due proportions this is what bounces in my mind every time we talk about expeditions on roads that are anything but beaten.

Imagine an autumn day and the first episode of a new series that pays homage and admires the feats of the great explorers. Then add a Range Rover. Nothing else is needed, because the road in front of me is already giving way to mother nature’s epic design. Over time and thanks to some experiences that went off-script, I learned that preparation is of fundamental importance sometimes. From a meticulous check of the weather conditions, through an analysis of the itinerary and possible alternatives in case the severity of the elements appears earlier than expected. Everything has been prepared down to the smallest detail and nothing and no one will be able to stop us from witnessing one of the last bovine transhumances of the season. In fact, in the area where I am going there are several herds still intent on chewing the cud on the pristine grass at high altitude, but the imminent arrival of cold and snow will mean a lot of work for farmers and their faithful sheepdogs ready to guide the large and docile mammals towards the valley and their welcoming stables.

I find myself behind the wheel of the new Range Rover, the fifth generation incarnation of one of the most prolific and exceptional vehicles, which has managed to maintain and evolve over the decades an innate ability to combine luxury, comfort and off-road skills. It is precisely on this occasion that I want to underline the difference with the Sport version, the greater propensity for rough terrain of a car which, seeing it still without the slightest speck of dust, you would never imagine where the road becomes rough and where the hairpin bends hide treacherous depressions a few centimeters from the ravine. The model I am taking with me is the result of a configuration that ticks pretty much all the boxes: in fact we have a generous 3-liter unit combined with a Plug-In type electric unit – and therefore rechargeable from chargers – for a total power of 510 horses and 700 Nm of torque. I assume it is logical not to have to mention the fact that we have all-wheel drive, while the 8-speed automatic transmission has been further updated and refined for an ideal use even on paved road, where the quintessential Range is able to increase driving comfort thanks suspension with pneumatic springs. For the record, this is a particular system that allows them to vary based on the type of surface, also thanks to precise information transmitted by its satellite navigator. Then there are active anti-roll bars, which thanks to electric motors reduce the lateral inclination of the body during corners, especially when taken using the generous power reserve available. Traction is managed by electronics and is equipped with the latest generation Terrain Response+, with a plethora of modes that also vary the height from the ground, fundamental on the most difficult sections. Finally, we find a steering rear axle which improves stability at higher speeds and virtually shortens the car’s wheelbase, a fundamental aspect when you find yourself squeezed between a rock wall and the void.

In the blink of an eye, without even realizing it, the narrow road that climbs beyond the village of Ormea takes me along a path that seems too isolated to be the right one. I check the sat-nav and let myself be helped by the paper maps I brought with me, ascertaining that the road is not only the right one, but the only possible for both the ascent and descent. There is not a soul around, the air is thin and a shy sun plays hide and seek with the thick blanket of clouds that covers the area. It doesn’t seem like rainy weather and aware that off-road skills are not evenly divided into 0% driver and 100% Range Rover, I don’t delay any longer and leave the asphalt for some dirt. The noise of the tires on the gravel thus becomes the soundtrack of the next few hours and, not having tires specifically suitable for heavy off-road, I advance slowly. The absolute comfort and isolation over the external environment appreciated in the city and on the motorway is still here, with the difference that in some points I am thrown around in the cockpit due to a path that is not designed for an SUV worth almost two hundred thousand Euros.

The kilometers pass slowly and in the meantime I enjoy a landscape that changes with every bend in the same way as the outside temperature. The RR, as soon as it is set to Gravel mode, does not show the slightest indecision and bites the ground even when it is completely covered with stones, making everything seem too easy where over 95% of the current price list would have already given up. There are cameras scattered everywhere, the same ones that are indispensable for managing the mammoth dimensions of the Autobiography when parking: 5 meters long, 2 meters wide and 187 centimeters high with standard travel suspension. I haven’t touched the gear shift paddles since I left home, demonstrating that the electronic brain is not only better than me in maintaining the ideal gear ratio (low, off-road), but perfectly capable of managing everything on its own, leaving me to take care of aiming the wheels for the right spot, sometimes too small to avoid sweating despite the 0 degrees outside.

Here I come across the first cows, some comfortably spread out in the meadow, others in the middle of the road. I stop the car and wait patiently for them to let me pass their open-air restaurant. This is one of the many occasions in which I take the time to savor an incredible landscape, where now bare mountains tickle a livid and threatening sky. That thin strip of land runs alongside one cheeck of the mountain, hiding behind a curve that will surely leave me breathless once again. I take advantage of the time Alessio needs to take other photographs to put my feet on the still damp grass and walk away where I hear nothing but the cow bells and the strong wind beating against my face. On one side you can look at indistinct clusters of houses down in the valley and on the opposite side you are literally dominated by a rocky giant that seems to be observing those who will probably be among the last to see it bare before the upcoming snowfalls.

It’s like a sort of magnet that attracts me towards the center of an unexplored world, as bewitching as it is harsh on human beings. Crossing the threshold of your comfort zone is something that makes you feel alive and these places are what come closest to an exploration at the edge of the world that we usually define as civilized. In total nothingness, where we are guests, it is important to savor every moment. And so I stop to look and scrutinize the horizon to check on every detail of the terrain, of the mountain and of those rodents that stealthily escape from a burrow to run into the nearest one. Hawks fly above our heads and suddenly dive at a speed unthinkable for a living being. In that moment you feel so small and insignificant, as if an alarm clock had suddenly opened your eyes and explained that you are here for a new awareness, something to jealously keep inside and carry with you, at least until the next adventure.

Back at the Range Rover, the cockpit exudes class and elegance thanks to soft surfaces, improved technology and space on board for five people and an infinite amount of luggage. With our look constantly halfway between the hood of the car and the narrow dimensions of the trail, we pass the crossroads with the “Alpine Path” and bring silence into the cabin. The reason? The road narrows to the point of requiring maximum attention, with the wheels two millimeters from the drop below and if we were to encounter a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, it would be one of those classic moments in which we’d exclaim “Who made me do this?!”. Ahead, slowly, aware that at every blind turn I could find myself facing an unexpected obstacle: not just an off-road vehicle, but a cow, a landslide – in short – anything. There is no time to stop at this point and holding our breath for like 3 or 4 kilometers with my eyes constantly wide open, I keep looking at the cameras on the right corner as well as the narrow serpentine that doesn’t seem to widen in front of us.

When the road finally reopens enough to breathe a sigh of relief, another obstacle appears in this day at the office less boring than usual. The heavy rainfall of the previous days gave rise to a landslide and also due to a lateral inclination which leans towards what is the worst of the two possible directions – the abyss – one of those channels usually dug to facilitate the passage of water towards valley seems too deep even for our Range Rover. A twist a little too extreme for my tastes, but having got this far I couldn’t give up, not at the wheel of Her Majesty after all. With the excuse of immortalizing the moment, Alessio goes down and leaves me alone to deal with such a thankless fate. I set the maximum height for the suspension (28 centimeters) and put a wheel on a wooden board that I had specially placed shortly before, in order to avoid an excessive imbalance of the weight and find myself in full twist with a possible movement of the masses towards the void.

Let’s be clear, I want to get to the valley calmly and not on the roof. These are the fateful instants that seem to last forever. At this precise moment, with the awareness that I asked for it, however, I feel like an explorer who for the love of adventure and in the name of the great pioneers puts everything at risk to plant the flag on the top of a mountain that you could actually reach by foot without any difficulty. But then what is it about? It’s more a question of attitude, of emotions experienced and felt in the gut and butterflies that flutter in your stomach. Yes, because out there in the wild everything is different from how you would have imagined it. Everything is accentuated by unpredictability and a path that isn’t too challenging on paper can really transform into a situation poised between life and death, also to be read triumph or defeat.

All four wheels have passed and it doesn’t matter if in a few hours I will have to tackle again this insidious passage. Our climb continues and as we get closer to the summit the cows confirm that the transhumance has probably already been done. There is no one on top, only a strong wind that makes it difficult to stay upright. Like a brave warrior who has won the greatest of his battles, the Range Rover is covered in gravel and mud and gloriously shows off its iconic image now made even sharper by those thin light clusters which in my opinion make it even more aesthetically pleasant than the Sport. It’s not just the perfect car for an adventure of this type or even more extreme, it’s the perfect car. With a price that increases significantly compared to the previous generation and starts at around €133,000, the model being tested brings with it a 510 horsepower engine and enormous torque available from just 1,500 rpm. You need to share at least €175,000, but you know what it is capable of and I’m not just talking about accompanying you in full comfort from one place to another – with discreet panache – or tackling the most unthinkable climbs. I’m talking about a different universal awareness. It’s about experience, those fateful moments when you feel more alive than usual. And lately, at least for me, this is worth more than what many latest generation sports cars are able to convey.