I had a short road trip planned to test a new Mustang — and I’d be heading there while driving the 2025 Range Rover SE SWB P530.
That’s a long name, so henceforth, I will just keep the model name to SE or SE SWB for this review.
The name is long, the wheelbase is short (relatively), and the luxury is maximized.
Say what you want about Range Rover/Land Rover quality — and I have and I will — but you can’t say this thing isn’t nice. Sumptuous? A cloud on wheels?
Unfortunately, while the SE might be luxurious, smooth, and powerful, it’s still a Range Rover, which means that overdesigned annoyances are part of the package.
Driving The 2025 Range Rover SE SWB
We’ll get there. First, let’s start with the basics. Under the hood sits a 4.4-liter turbocharged V8 making 523 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque. It mates to an eight-speed automatic and this Rover has all-wheel drive — and all-wheel steering.
It rides on 23-inch wheels, and it looks stylin’. It looks like it belongs in Beverly Hills, not my Chicago neighborhood full of regular white-collar folk
That style continues into the cabin — just about every touch surface feels the way it should and just about every surface pleases the eyes. It feels like the rolling embodiment of an old-school high-end department store.
All those ponies and all that twist gives you acceleration that’s just OK — this Rover is a big boy, and you can feel that. Weight remains an enemy of acceleration. The sun still rises in the east. Some things don’t change in our topsy-turvy world.
Don’t expect much from the handling department, either. The good news is that body roll is mostly well controlled, but the steering has the same sort of distance from the road that a snobby butler has from his clients. It’s about as artificial as half the faces in Hollywood.
Ride, however, is a star. Especially on a a long freeway haul. Even on rougher pavement, the Range Rover seems to keep any bumping at bay. There’s little that upsets the chassis. The executive you’re schlepping around will surely appreciate it.
Score one for the anti-screen crowd — the center-stack screen is easy to read, but even minor audio and climate controls require an Indiana Jones-level of menu digging. You often have to press the touchscreen two or three times to get the desired command to work. That’s too much distracting time with the driver’s eyes off the road.
Even changing drive modes requires more work than it should.
It’s one thing for form to lead function. But it’s another for form to annihilate function.
Features and Options
The 2025 Range Rover SE is not a cheap ride. Not with a base price starting around $134,100. Standard features included air suspension, adaptive dynamics, electronic differential, LED headlights, fog lamps, soft-close doors, power liftgate, deployable door handles, panoramic sunroof, rain-sensing wipers, heated rear window, leather seats, heated and cooled front seats, tri-zone climate control, heated steering wheel, keyless entry and starting, infotainment, Meridian audio, satellite radio, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, wireless charging, USB ports, and Bluetooth.
Available advanced driver-aid systems included a 3D surround camera, blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control, adaptive off-road cruise control, and driver-condition response. Also available are highs-speed emergency braking, lane-keep assist, park assist, rear-traffic monitoring, traffic-sign recognition, and adaptive speed limiter.
Options included the 23-inch wheels, laminated side glass, bespoke carpeted floor mats, massaging front seats, head-up display, pixel LED headlights, leather and wood steering wheel, heated windshield, and surround sound.
All told, the out the door price, with destination, was $155, 535.
That may seem like a stupid amount of money, but given what you get in terms of luxury features, it feels worth it. The SE isn’t terribly fun to drive, and it’s not really built for the trails, but for long road trips its a solid choice. If it weren’t for the infotainment system being too touch heavy, this could be a perfect road-trip SUV for the well-heeled.
And it still is, for those who aren’t driving. Give the driver some more reason to engage and some buttons and knobs, and this Range Rover would feel much more worth the money.
[Images: Tim Healey/The Author]
Follow Tim on X and Instagram at @tehealey
