Luxury mule - the Range Rover in the test (from 1973)

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Created on July 1, 1973

Text:

Herbert Völker

Photos:

Land Rover Jaguar

Archiv

Land Rover Jaguar

Archiv

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Range Rover (1971) - the use as a leisure vehicle is emphasized here

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Range Rover (1971) - Pioneer for a new type of off-roader

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Range Rover (1971) - advertised as a family car

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Range Rover (1971) - virtually predestined for pulling heavy loads

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Rover Range Rover - Range Rover Chassis 4x4 - shown at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show

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Range Rover (1971) - the third differential in the middle of the car

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Range Rover (1971) - originally only available as a two-door model

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Range Rover (1971) - with bench seat folded down

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Range Rover (1973) - off-road use of a left-hand drive car

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Range Rover (1971) - Test car in off-road use

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Range Rover (1971) - nothing is given to the test car

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Range Rover (1974) - on the occasion of a press event

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Range Rover (1970) - at the London Motor Show 1970

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Range Rover (1982) - at the 1982 Geneva Motor Show - available as a four-door model since 1981 and a great success, 85% of buyers in Switzerland prefer it to the two-door model

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Range Rover (1970) - Interior of the early luxury off-roader, photographed in 2012

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Range Rover (1970) - the prototype in Africa, photographed in 2012

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Range Rover (1970) - the prototype in the desert, photographed in 2012

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Summary

In 1970, British Leyland presented the Range Rover, a luxury off-roader the likes of which had never been seen before, at least not in Europe. Herbert Völker sat in the luxury off-roader for Auto Revue in 1973 and was obviously impressed. This report reproduces the original wording of the 40-year test of the incomparable SUV trailblazer and is illustrated with many archive photos from the time.

This article contains the following chapters

Incomparable
Bull engine
Complete luxury equipment
Comfortable seats
Large load compartment, large payload
Good overview on the road
Above-average driving performance
Not silent
The joys of four-wheel drive
Impressive off-road capability
The price as an abstract magnitude

Estimated reading time: 10min

Preview (beginning of the article)

If you think the Range Rover is a more modern version of the Land Rover, you are wrong. It could probably only be built by a company that has both the warlike, rustic Land Rover and the gentle Rover 3500 in its range ... and the Range Rover actually lies somewhere between these two visual extremes. If you drive the Range Rover along the highway at just under 160 km/h, you will receive more admiration than with a Lamborghini at 200 km/h: the environment can hardly believe the sprint performance of this bull. The exploitation of the contradictory objectives of automobile construction - comfort/sportiness, technical sophistication/robustness, speed and off-road capability - has been pursued and achieved in this car to a degree not seen in any other series-produced automobile.

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