Range Rover SE: A six-figure SUV that still lacks some refinement.

The glove box is sublime.

Two of them, in fact: upper and lower.

Both open–gracefully, even majestically–with the touch of a button.

Inside both glove boxes, deep felt lines every surface, including the hinges.

Total luxury.

Black like the cosmos, soft like puppy dog ears.

And toward the end of our week with the Range Rover SE, the top glove …

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Don't get me wrong, I definitely prefer physical knobs and buttons, but I don't totally hate using a screen to adjust things like the A/C–so long as it's intuitive and I don't have to go digging through menus.

I should be able to tap at the screen without looking and not have the seat fold on me because I was a few centimeters off the mark.

I have a 2006 Land Rover lr3. It is still remarkably comfortable and quiet. On a par with my 2024 Cadillac lyric in fact. The Cadillac has an electric glove box release as well and you need to navigate through touch screens to find it which is incomprehensibly pointless.

I didn’t hate the screen here, either, but I know it’s polarizing. 

For the record, though, give me a volume knob and physical controls for fan speed and temperature. 

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

Yes, having to use the menu to open the glove box is a bit extreme. I had that experience with our test car. 

David S. Wallens said:

I didn’t hate the screen here, either, but I know it’s polarizing. 

For the record, though, give me a volume knob and physical controls for fan speed and temperature. 

Honestly, I think we're much better off bypassing the whole touchscreen thing and going right to whatever magic they're baking into Mercedes cars these days.  Still blows my mind that I can adjust the fan speed and who knows what else just by saying "Mercedes, please increase fan speed" and she makes the adjustment and obediently tells me she's done it.  Eminently civilized.  

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

True but I do miss the physical buttons that Mercedes used up until recently. Each one had a jewel-like feel. Maybe it’s like a Rolex vs. an Apple Watch. 

TLDR: So much heritage, it's like BL and Lucas never left.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I agree, but it's probably more likely that we'll see 99 cents per gallon gasoline before we see a return to high-quality switchgear in a new automobile.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

True. Well, at least we have the memories. 

Imagine the joy of owning this ten years from now. <sarcasm>

Fancy stuff that doesn't even make it through the press demo to break.

And somehow this seems to be not uncommon now, no?

I'm sad and angry and feeling good about giving new cars a hiatus. What if that half that much engineering went into simple things that worked well.

I think the touch screen for radios can be tolerable if there are buttons for volume and changing station/track on the steering wheel. 

HVAC should at least have a knob for temp, if not fan speed. I find that I rarely change the fan in our Sportage, since I just adjust the temp knob and let the automatic setting take care of the fan 

I am old and cranky.  I like doing things myself.  I don't trust automatic things until they are proven. I may not agree with the programmers idea of ideal fan speed vs air temperature.  I tease Lexus owners for paying ten grand more to get leather seats in their Camry.  I won't allow British or German cars inside my shop.  I absolutely detest touch screens in cars.  I drove a Land Rover Discovery a decade or so ago, and felt its ideal place was pulling several sections of harrows across the back 40, and I find it hard to imagine Rover has strayed too far from their roots.

I think it may be that I am decidedly NOT their target audience.

But how did it handle Florida mud bogging?

Think of what 100k spent on one of these would get you?

Jesse Ransom said:

Fancy stuff that doesn't even make it through the press demo to break.

And somehow this seems to be not uncommon now, no?

I'm sad and angry and feeling good about giving new cars a hiatus. What if that half that much engineering went into simple things that worked well.

It’s rare that things break on our demo cars. It happens, but rarely. This one, though, might have set a record. 

Wasn't it a Land Rover that kind of "broke" CarMax's extended warranty? Or am I thinking of something else?

The "infotainment" thing as a whole is annoying and relying on one screen to control a ton of functions is equally as annoying. 

I turned off all automatic updates on my 23 F-150 and you know what it still does every time I start the car up? "Do you want to turn on automatic updates?" Allow or Don't Allow.....oh okay "Do you want to let this update install" Allow or Don't Allow" 

Then i can access the rest of the radio functions. 

Colin Wood said:

Wasn't it a Land Rover that kind of "broke" CarMax's extended warranty? Or am I thinking of something else?

Yeah, I think Doug Demuro paid like $3000 for the warranty and CarMax paid out like $22,000 in claims. They stopped offering the warranty on Range Rovers after that.

Another reason that I want to keep my 2011 AMG as long as I can. 

Appleseed said:

Think of what 100k spent on one of these would get you?

It doesn't make any sense but this spare tire is the first option in my $100,000 build.

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

Really, the hood-mounted spare should come standard.