Name: Range Rover (2013 to 2021) | Expert Rating | The Car Expert
Item: Range Rover
Rating: 41.0

Summary

The Range Rover is the flagship SUV model from Land Rover, and is separate to smaller models that share its name (Range Rover Sport, Velar and Evoque). This model here is the fourth-generation Range Rover, which was built from 2012 until 2021.

Although an SUV and very capable off-road, this Range Rover was the first to be genuinely viewed as a luxury car alongside traditional prestige saloons from the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW. And as the luxury SUV market has boomed in recent years, it also faced challenges from more expensive luxury brands like Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

The Range Rover received almost universally positive scores from the UK automotive media across its nine-year lifespan. It was particularly praised for its ability to combine off-road ability, practicality and opulence into a single package.

However, like most Land Rover models, it has repeatedly been criticised for numerous reliability and quality faults that buyers should not expect to have to put up with. In fact, as of October 2022 it has the worst reliability score of any car we currently track, with a shockingly bad score. Similarly, in August 2022 it was branded as the least reliable used car on sale in the UK by car warranty provider Warrantywise, and in September 2022 it was ranked second-least reliable luxury SUV by What Car? – only ahead of the Land Rover Discovery and just behind the Range Rover Sport… Full details in our ‘Reliability rating’ section below.

This model ended production in late 2021, replaced by an all-new model that arrived in UK showrooms in Spring 2022.

As of May 2024, the Range Rover holds a Used Car Expert Rating of E, with a score of just 41%. Despite its desirability and good review scores from the media, the Range Rover is let down by its abysmal reliability rating and high running costs. Its safety rating is also long out of date, which is not surprising due to its age.

The Car Expert Best of British horizontal banner

Key specifications

Body style: Large SUV
Engines: petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid
Price: From £83,655 on-road

Launched: Winter 2012/13
Last updated: Spring 2018
Production ended: 2021

Image gallery

Media reviews

Reviews, road tests and comparisons from across the UK automotive media. Click any of the boxes to view.

The Car Expert+

Model reviewed: SDV8 4.4-litre V8 diesel automatic Autobiography
“The Range Rover SDV8 is truly superb for crossing vast distances in comfort – when it’s working – while effortlessly dealing with any terrain.”
Read review

Model reviewed: Plug-in hybrid
“Whichever form you buy it in, the Range Rover is a serious rival to the best luxury cars out there – and one that makes you feel like a king every time you drive it.”
Read review

Auto Express+

Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 9 / 10
“Excellent off-road ability, big power and unprecedented luxury make the Range Rover a worthy rival to any luxury saloon.”
Read review

Model reviewed: 3.0-litre diesel (mild hybrid) D350 Autobiography
Score: 8 / 10
“The Range Rover swaps its old V8 diesel for a straight-six with mild hybrid assistance, and feels none the worse for it.”
Read review

Score: 8 / 10
“While it’s not our pick of the range, the Range Rover SDV8 offers a fantastic combination of luxury, performance, economy and space.”
Read review

Auto Trader+

Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 8 / 10
“The Range Rover invented the luxury 4×4 sector, and this latest version promises to be just as opulent as its forebears with a welcome slug of tech thrown in for good measure.”
Read review

Autocar+

Model reviewed: D300 Vogue 2021
Score: 9 / 10
“Even in its dotage, the entry-level Land Rover Range Rover might still be all the luxury car you ever wanted. Refined, genteel, capable and a pleasure to drive.”
Read review

Model reviewed: 3.0-litre diesel (mild hybrid) automatic D350 MHEV Autobiography
Score: 8 / 10
“With its new D350 powertrain, the Range Rover’s performance and efficiency are both entirely in character. Mind you, we suspect they also would be for the cheaper D300, which still packs 480lb ft to direct through the eight-speed transmission.”
Read review

Score: 9 / 10
“The more time you spend with the Range Rover, the more you live with it, being eased around the world in what is, without question, one of the finest and most impressive cars we’ve driven in a decade, the easier it becomes to justify.”
Read review

Car+

Model reviewed: P400e PHEV
Score: 8 / 10
“The new P400e PHEV powertrain is harder to wholeheartedly recommend in the grand scheme of the whole range. Still, the P400e’s combination of relatively low running costs and potential for near-silent progress in traffic will make it the Range Rover to go for.”
Read review

Carbuyer+

Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 8 / 10
“The Range Rover is an SUV icon, built to be one of the most upmarket and comfortable ways to travel, whatever terrain you need to cross.”
Read review

Model reviewed: P400e PHEV
Score: 8 / 10
“The scope for all-electric travel makes the Range Rover PHEV even more relaxing to drive than conventionally powered models.”
Read review

Carwow+

Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 8 / 10
“The Range Rover is luxurious, comfy and impressively capable off-road. It can’t carry as many passengers as some alternatives, though, and there are better infotainment systems.”
Read review

Daily Mail+

Model reviewed: P400e plug-in hybrid
“The car is helping the British luxury 4X4 brand shed the ‘gas-guzzler’ slur which environmentalists have thrown at it for years. What’s more, this beautifully appointed Range Rover P400e plug-in hybrid has a decidedly green tinge.”
Read review

Evo+

Score: 9 / 10
“Everything to everybody, everywhere – the Range Rover is unsurpassed.”
Read review

Heycar+

Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 8 / 10
“Huge luxury SUVs are everywhere these days, but this is a trick that the Range Rover has been pulling for decades.”
Read review

Honest John+

Score: 8 / 10
“No other car, 4×4 or otherwise, can do what the new Range Rover can do. Of course this doesn’t come cheap, with prices starting at more than £70,000. But this is the ultimate four-wheel drive vehicle and feels worth every penny.”
Read review

Parkers+

Model reviewed: Range review
Score: 9.2 / 10
“Promises the ultimate luxury on- and off-road, largely delivers”
Read review

The Sunday Times+

Model reviewed: P400e plug-in hybrid
Score: 8 / 10
“Loses some practicality and refinement, gains some eco-credentials.”
Read review

The Telegraph+

Model reviewed: SDV8 Autobiography
Score: 8 / 10
“The Range Rover is getting on a bit and it’s not without its faults. It’s expensive, it’s thirsty, and it isn’t quite as comfortable as it should be. But for all that, and despite an influx of pricier rivals, nothing quite combines old-money image, off-road ability and unfettered luxury like it.”
Read review

Model reviewed: P400e plug-in hybrid
Score: 8 / 10
“Range Rover needed a plug-in hybrid for lots of reasons, mainly environment and to avoid punitive taxation. This is a good solution with a powerful, if noisy, petrol engine and an in-transmission electric motor. It isn’t a match for a big diesel unit and there’s work still to do, but the P400e is recognisably a Range Rover both to look at and drive.”
Read review

Top Gear+

Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 9 / 10
“One of the best luxury cars money can buy: this really is a bit of an all-round superstar.”
Read review

Model reviewed: 3.0-litre diesel (mild hybrid) automatic D350 MHEV
“The Range Rover remains imperial. The smartly calm design, inside and out, is still a draw and hasn’t aged. But at times there’s a bit of secondary harshness in the suspension and a gentle whistle of the body rushing through the air. Those things remind you that this is its ninth autumn.”
Read review

What Car?+

Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 8 / 10
“The luxurious Range Rover provides a quiet and spacious way to transport up to five people and ‘tonnes’ of luggage. Performance is at the very least brisk although some may prefer the Audi Q7 or BMW X7 for their better body control, sharper handling and more refined engines.”
Read review

Safety rating

Independent crash test and safety ratings from Euro NCAP

Overall score: 5 stars
Date tested: November 2012
Date expired: January 2019
Read the full Euro NCAP review

Adult protection: 91%
Child protection: 84%
Vulnerable road users: 63%
Safety assist: 86%

Notes on safety rating

The Range Rover was originally crash tested by Euro NCAP back in 2012 and awarded a five-star rating. However, this rating expired in January 2019 and is no longer valid as the car no longer meets the standards required for such a rating. This is normal practice, as Euro NCAP reviews its ratings on most cars annually with most ratings expiring after about six or seven years.

Although the rating has now expired, the score is still useful if you are comparing a used Range Rover to vehicles of similar age – whose ratings will have probably also expired.

Eco rating

Independent economy and emissions ratings from Green NCAP

No eco rating

The Range Rover was not lab tested by Green NCAP during its production life.

Reliability rating

Reliability data provided exclusively for The Car Expert by MotorEasy

Total claims: 694
Average repair cost: £6111.50
Last updated: January 2024

Reliability score

All data based on MotorEasy average workshop costs for extended car warranty claims

Like most Land Rovers, the Range Rover has earned an abysmal reputation for reliability. As of January 2024, it has a shockingly bad reliability rating of 10% – one of the lowest of any car we currently track. This applies to both this generation of Range Rover and earlier generations.

However, it’s not just our data that paints the Range Rover in a bad light. In 2022, a reliability study from What Car? rated this generation of Range Rover (before it was replaced by the current model) as the tenth-worst new car on sale and second-worst luxury SUV (the only car worse was the sister Land Rover Discovery, while the Range Rover Sport was only fractionally better), while a report from Warrantywise found it to be the UK’s least reliable used car up to ten years old.

If you own or are considering buying a used Range Rover, we’d strongly recommend a used car warranty that covers all of the potential trouble spots shown in the charts above.