2013 Range Rover gets its first Award

The 2013 Range Rover – which has just arrived at the 2012 Paris Motor Show – has garnered its first award as the top 4×4 by the Sunday Times.

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We have no doubt that the 2013 Range Rover – Land Rover’s first new Range Rover in a decade – will be mopping up the award gongs for years to come as the most able and appealing SUV money can buy. But we do find it odd that it’s already got its first such award.

It seems that the Sunday Times felt able to judge all that mattered about the new Range Rover from a ride in the passenger seat of a new Range Rover being driven by Land Rover’s Chief Engineer, Mike Cross. Very odd.

We have little doubt the new Range Rover is sensational, but judging it the best 4×4 on the planet on the basis of a passenger ride?

You can’t really judge a car – other than superficially – unless you live with it first. We turn down most ‘Driving Day’ invites from car makers as all they are is a half hour blat in a range of cars which tends to do nothing more than reinforce pre-conceived notions about whatever you’re driving.

You need to live with a car – for at least a week and preferably a few months or more – before you can really judge its strengths and weaknesses  To declare the new Range Rover the best SUV on the planet – even if that judgement is likely to be borne out by a long term test – is superficial at best.

Still, it’s no doubt  the first of many gongs to come for Land Rover’s 2013 Range Rover.

2013 Range Rover Photos >>