The Land Rover Range Rover (P38A) is a 5-door SUV from Land Rover, built from 1994 to 2001, when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Under the bonnet: Petrol engine. George Thomson (1990) drew it.
The background
The Range Rover (P38A) is the second-generation Range Rover model from British car maker Land Rover. It was launched on 28 September 1994, 24 years after the introduction of the Range Rover Classic. It included an updated version of the Rover V8 engine, with the option of a 2.5-litre BMW six-cylinder turbo-diesel. The new model offered more equipment and premium trims, positioning the vehicle above the Land Rover Discovery to face the increased competition in the SUV marketplace.
It is usually known as the Range Rover P38 or P38A outside of Land Rover, after the office building in which the vehicle development team was based. During the early development stages, the Engineering team was based in the Engineering Block at Solihull, and the vehicle was known by the project designations of 'Pegasus' and 'Discovery,' changing to P38A when the team moved to Block 38A at Solihull. The name 'Discovery' was used temporarily as a cover to confuse journalists while the original Discovery vehicle was being developed. During production, Land Rover referred to it as either the 'New Range Rover' or by its model designation of 'LP'. Motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson has on record called the P38A Range Rover the "London Taxi" in a jocular/derogatory sense owing to its perceived styling similarity to the Metrocab.
The engineering
Power comes from Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It shifts through a 4-speed ZF automatic / 5-speed ZF manual. The layout matters: drive goes to all four wheels, which is what lets the power be used on a wet road. The wheelbase is 2746 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Range Rover "Classic"; its successor was the Range Rover (L322); assembly was at Solihull (Solihull plant), United Kingdom. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Subaru Outback, the Audi A4, the Toyota RAV4 — show what else the money bought that year. Its Land Rover stablemates include the Land Rover Defender L663 and the Land Rover Discovery Sport.
What it costs now
EPA combined economy is 24 mpg, about $5,550 a year in fuel at the EPA's assumptions. Condition, mileage and specification move any single car a long way from a headline figure.