Range Rover Ultimate Edition

With just over a year left to ending production of the current Range Rover, Land Rover have decided to put on sale the most expensive Range Rover ever – the Autobiography Ultimate Edition.

The Range Rover truly is a benchmark for 4x4s, blending luxury, comfort, and ruggedness like no other.  However, the Ultimate Edition focuses more on luxury; now with two individual rear seats (electrically adjustable) replacing the bench seat and a handcrafted interior that makes use of soft-feeling leather.  

The interior also has a rear console extension featuring a machined aluminium laptop table, a drinks chiller, and comes with two iPads.  The boot space gets the luxury touch as well, with the load space having a yacht-inspired teak floor with metal and leather detailing.  

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The Ultimate Edition will be available in two colours, Roussillon Red or Otago Stone (Santorini Black will also be available in some markets) while multi-spoke diamond-turned 20 inch wheels will give it a more distinctive look.

Power comes from the same engines found in standard Range Rovers, either a 4.4 litre twin-turbo V8 diesel producing 313 hp and 700 nm (516 lb ft) of torque, or a 5 litre supercharged petrol V8 with 510 hp and 625 nm of torque (460 lb ft).  

The diesel engine is connected to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission, allowing an acceleration of 7.5 sec from 0-60mph.  Land Rover is claiming a fuel economy figure of 30.1mpg on the combined cycle.  The petrol engine still features a six-speed automatic transmission, but reaches 60 mph from a standstill in 5.9 sec.

Land Rover haven’t announced prices for some markets, but Autocar is claiming £130,000 for UK buyers.  While Range Rovers have never been known to be cheap buys, even that price seems steep for a Range Rover (nearly £50000 more than a normal Rangie).  Only 500 Ultimate Editions will be made though, so exclusivity will make the sting a little less painful.

Alex Kisiri