Remaking a Revolutionary

The fifth-generation Range Rover, the original prestige SUV, doubles down on the art of subtle luxury

- KEVIN SINTUMUANG

IT WAS AS BOXY AS A METAL TOOLBOX, YET INSIDE IT SMELLED LIKE leather and thick carpet. I didn't know it then as a second grader, but I was experiencing a revolution in America. The SUV as status symbol had arrived in the form of the British-made Range Rover. One of my dad's closest friends had purchased one when it first became available in the States, in 1987. It reminded me a bit of a Grand Wagoneer but sturdier, posher. Range Rover families still went camping, but you imagined that they cut the crusts off their sandwiches. You could get used to that kind of life.