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Getting the fireplace going and making a cup of tea, I reflect on the fifth-gen drive experience while prepping some pre-dinner questions for McGovern. With darkening skies and heavy rain now falling while he departs for the spa, I’m happy to hand over the keys and head to my room.
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En route, my partner discovers the First Edition also has a superb turning radius, which he happily demonstrates by making a series of consecutively tighter and faster circles on Montage Way. Causing a slight ripple of envy among the group, my partner had scored the only spa appointment at Montage Healdsburg, and we had to make haste to the resort, which was just under an hour away. For a rolling luxury behemoth, the ride is silky smooth.Īfter a fantastic lunch (the chef had connections to Meadowood, the food was straight from the farm and delicious), we set off again along Highway 128. There’s no time for sightseeing, but I do start to get a feel for the car, which positively floats along in Comfort mode. It’s also dotted for several miles with big-name wineries and smaller boutique tasting rooms. This primarily two-lane stretch of country road is all bucolic vineyards, gentle curves and bright red barns. “Whoa, okay there, Driving Miss Daisy!” he laughs as I make an inelegant left onto Highway 128 somewhere between Jimtown and Kellogg. I press start, the engine comes to life (although it’s so whisper quiet in the cabin you can barely hear it), then lead-foot the accelerator. He kindly and patiently points out the Start/Stop button from the passenger seat and explains the rear-view mirror is in ClearSight, a mode using a rear-facing camera. I press something hopefully on the steering column and realize I wasn’t paying proper attention to anything my partner had done earlier. There’s a digital instrument cluster and floating central touchscreen infotainment system. Which means by the time it’s my turn to get behind the wheel of this car, I’m at a bit of a loss. It’s got over 280,00 miles on the clock, the side-view mirrors don’t stay up, and there’s some play in the steering, but driving it (and the retro ’80s TRD-inspired paint job) always puts a smile on my face.
#Landrover incontrol driver#
My only prior Range Rover experience was being chauffeured to and from SFO airport in the SV model in the last 24 hours (I played with the executive-class seats and looked for but failed to locate the fridge or Dartington crystal glasses) so everything feels new, sophisticated and exciting.īack home in the real world (the one where I’m not being flown around wine country in a helicopter), my daily driver around San Diego is a 1988 Toyota 4Runner. Modern-looking and gorgeous, the First Edition we’re driving is all Sunset Gold Satin on the outside and Perlino leather and natural ecru walnut veneer on the inside. It looks like the Queen drives it, because she does, so it’s got the royal seal approval too.” “It’s got the floating roof, the continuous beltline and formality at the front. There’s nowhere to hide.” Some details are still celebrated, though. Paring things back exposes any imperfections. “Before, we didn’t have the capability to produce vehicles with this amount of reduction. “When you look at this car compared to the previous model, it’s still clearly a Range Rover, it’s got that DNA, but it’s defined by the technology that enabled us to achieve it,” he says. With a more diverse client base than ever, McGovern says that Range Rover today is about creating something new while keeping true to the brand’s ethos. Because of that, you can see what it is - it’s a Range Rover.” Everything is pared back and beautifully surfaced.
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It’s clean and free from over ornamentation,” McGovern says in response to my probably predictable question. “The driver for all our designs is a modest approach that some interpret as minimalism.
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But where to begin with the man whose dramatic update of the esteemed British carmaker’s flagship model (only its fifth, in 50 years) has turned heads and got everyone talking? The design, obviously.
Sweeping into the Montage Healdsburg lobby bar with a just-back-from-Miami suntan, he’s in Napa for the final wave of the new Range Rover’s global launch.
I was in Northern California to test drive three new Range Rovers (the V8 First Edition, a long-wheelbase version and top-of-the-line SV model), and the chief creative officer for Jaguar Land Rover, Gerry McGovern OBE, had a few minutes to spare. It’s not every day you find yourself chatting with one of the world’s leading automotive designers before dinner.
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