The Range Rover has set a high bar for luxury SUVs. It was one of the first of its kind and few can compete with its ability to go anywhere, any time, in any weather in a leather-lined interior. Introduced for the 2013 model year, the current Range Rover has aged with grace, but it is aging as new competition arrives in the form of Bentayga and Cullinan. For 2018, Land Rover has given the Range Rover a tech overhaul with a handful of screens inside the cabin, a few updates on the exterior, and more luxury options than ever before. I spent a long weekend with the updated luxury liner to see if those changes spoiled the serene mood鈥攊f they were more tech overload than tech overhaul. The Range Rover has elegant, even minimalist style, compared to the Bentley and Rolls SUVs, but it鈥檚 a look that has needed almost no updates.

For 2018, the front fascia has been smoothed out and features new LED headlights. Like the Porsche 911, its design language has evolved over time, but the Range Rover still can be instantly recognized around the globe. Its squared body, rounded corners and upright traditional SUV stance have a timeless air. It鈥檚 far from flashy, but it has understated presence and class few vehicles can match. Inside the Range Rover is where most of the upgrades took place for 2018. Fire it up inside a dark parking garage, and the glow of 32 inches of digital displays can be overwhelming. The 12-inch digital gauge cluster was familiar enough. It does have odd touch-sensitive and clickable steering wheel buttons to control it but they鈥檙e not hard to figure out. For true confusion, just look down at the twin 10-inch touchscreens mounted on the center of the dashboard. They control nearly every function in the Range Rover, and can be very confusing to navigate quickly without any previous exposure. It took about a day to become familiar with the setup, but making changes on the fly while driving down a highway never became easier.

The Td6 badge means a turbodiesel 3.0-liter inline-6 with 254 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque sits under hood; it sends power to all four wheels via an 8-speed automatic transmission. Push the start button and the turbodiesel clatters to life with far more noise, and less bark, than one expects from a Range Rover. It鈥檚 like a silky-smooth pickup truck for the well-heeled individual without the associated vibrations in the steering wheel. Mat the accelerator and the turbodiesel forgets any notion of turbo lag. It just grinds out a wave of low-end torque, one that feels pretty close to the Range Rover plug-in edition. Range Rover states 0 to 60 mph happens in 7.5 seconds, and that seemed about right. The thin-rimmed steering wheel points the Range Rover whichever way I want with slightly less weight than I would like, but it鈥檚 accurate and tracks down the highway well. On the highway the Range Rover鈥檚 active lane control wasn鈥檛 as accurate or as active as Volvo鈥檚 ProPilot Assist, and doesn鈥檛 even come close to Tesla鈥檚 AutoPilot or Cadillac鈥檚 Super Cruise systems. The Range Rover鈥檚 sensors read the markings accurately, but didn鈥檛 provide any correction or steering input until the luxury barge started to veer out of the current lane. 108,040, my tester was far from cheap and the competition at that price is fierce. 325,000 base Cullinan price tag. But nothing鈥攁nd I mean nothing鈥攃arries the understated presence that the Range Rover does. For 2018, the Range Rover raises the bar for luxury SUVs with a healthy dose of modern, if not a bit overwhelming, technology.

A Porsche Cayenne Turbo is rated 15/19/17 mpg (not much better than the G-Wagen), and a Maserati Levante GTS with its smaller, twin-turbo 3.8-liter V-8 gets a similarly awful 14/18/15 mpg. Compare them all here. Inside is where Mercedes-Benz made most of its more dramatic changes. The interior is completely new, taking a page out of the S-Class鈥?style book to create one of the most attractive, luxurious, sumptuous cabins I鈥檝e ever seen in a luxury vehicle. It鈥檚 a hike up into the cabin, as it sits quite high off the ground, but once you鈥檙e there the view is commanding. The boxy front end and fender-topping marker lights are extraordinary to behold, and they combine with the close, flat windshield to highlight the G-Wagen鈥檚 military roots. That鈥檚 exactly where the military tie-in ends, however; the dashboard has two 12.3-inch flat panel displays for the multimedia and gauge cluster, just like much of the rest of Mercedes鈥?lineup (see the interiors of the S-Class, E-Class, A-Class, etc.). A multicolor ambient lighting setup allows you to customize the look of your G-Wagen鈥檚 interior considerably, though some of the lighting options didn鈥檛 really work with my test vehicle鈥檚 bright-red designo Nappa leather interior.