'The ultimate high-end SUV', 'Sporty luxury redefined'... The new Range Rover is widely praised. MASTERS wanted to experience the car for themselves and chose the beautiful island of Texel as their 'training ground', stopping off at a few craft businesses run by passionate island entrepreneurs.
It's early morning, about six o'clock. Code red dominates the news: slides on the asphalt, "don't go on the road if you don't have to. But the ferry to Texel is waiting for a road trip with the new Range Rover. The fattest model in that class: the P530 with a twin-turbo V8 gasoline engine. Scarf on, gloves on, let's roll! The road surface looks smooth. But in this fat body (5.05 meters long, 2.21 meters wide, 1.82 meters high) with its already large tires (23 inches), I immediately feel safe, elevated above other traffic, resistant to storms, sleet and snow. I glide across the road, but figuratively: whooshing, noiseless, in a mobile trance. Active Road Noise Cancellation attenuates driving noise by three to four decibels, which is equivalent to turning back the volume of the audio system in the car by four steps. So zen! There are cars that are comfortable, but the new Range Rover sets a new standard in this: it immediately feels like home, like never wanting to get out. The comfort! Of course the seat and steering wheel heating are a welcome luxury in this harsh weather, but the technical highlights also contribute to the blissful feeling. For example, the car is equipped with a handy little fridge, head-up display, soft-close doors, you can charge your cell phone wirelessly, and in the back passengers have an 8-inch controller to manage their environment (seats, climate, light) and their own screen for media. Up front, the superior toy is the Pivi Pro infotainment system, which is another step up from previous systems. As I steer toward Den Helder on the A7, I explore the 13.1-inch floating glass touchscreen. On the other side of the road, drivers gloat in the endlessness of their traffic jam; I, meanwhile, enjoy a hot stones massage of the lower back in an ambience defined by Sunset Orange interior lighting and the crisp, clear playback by the Meridian Signature sound system (1,600 watts) of Steven Wilson's Spotify song Drive Home. Drive home? Not for a long time yet!
At a quarter past seven, I arrive at the home of photographer John van Helvert. Quite tight, because at half past seven the ferry leaves. With a push of a button I open the trunk so John can load his equipment. And then off quickly, crisscrossing the built-up area. The navigation indicates that we arrive at 7:29. Very tight. Corners we take sharply like sprint skaters going for gold. The car equipped with all-wheel steering has a turning radius like a MINI, because the rear wheels steer with it. It doesn't get any easier to take a turn. We fix a wrong turn at the entrance to the ferry port by getting back on the right track, offroad, over a bike path and sidewalk. At 07.27 we drive onto the ferry. In the rearview mirror I see that the loading ramp is closing. Whew, just in time! As we drive out of the belly of the ferry a moment later, it seems like we arrive in another country. With no traffic jams, no rush, no code red. Yes, the sky turns red, due to the slowly rising sun. We steer the Range Rover to the lighthouse of Texel and drive it into the dunes there. For loose sand this car does not turn its handbrake: thanks to Terrain Response 2 it knows by itself what kind of surface it is driving on and adapts itself accordingly. A few early hikers are disturbed by this strange apparition on their route. One even takes a picture of the license plate. But it could also be that he is so impressed by this miracle in the dunes that he wants to share it with his friends. This version stands out not only for its unusual color, Sunset Satin Gold, but also for its reductive design. Superfluous lines and frills have been omitted, making the exterior look very clean and calm. The front is still most in line with the previous model, except for the new jewel-like "Pixel-LED" headlights. The rear really has a completely different look, with a black bar incorporating the taillights. In addition, the floating roof catches the eye: the windows are almost flush with the D-pillars and sills, giving the impression that the roof is floating. And because it overhangs slightly at the rear, it is as if the car is equipped with a subtly sporty roof wing. Of course, this is not just about aesthetics, but also functionality: this construction makes this model the most aerodynamically efficient luxury SUV in the world.
From the lighthouse, we set sail via the IJzeren Zeekaap on the Wadden dyke to Oosterend, where Texel gin is distilled. We are here not only for dunes and beautiful vistas, but also for the local initiatives of island entrepreneurs. Brewery TX is named after the designation of Texel boats. "Since we have TX as our brand, we see more and more companies in other industries also using TX," laughs founder Kees Groenewoud. He once started making vodka from potato skins. When the gin hype emerged, he started focusing on that. "We have been world-famous on Texel with our gin for about seven years," he says. Especially the Ocean Age TX Gin is world-famous. "Some guys from Den Helder have the ideal of transporting products across the ocean in an old-fashioned sustainable way, with sailing power. They take a barrel of ours with them when they sail up and down to the Caribbean to get coffee and rum. That barrel shakes on the waves and is exposed to a higher temperature. Therefore, the gin ages faster and you get an aged gin sooner than if you let it age in a cold cellar." Beer is also brewed here. When in 2020 the Texel Brewery, known for Texels Skuumkoppe, was taken over by Heineken, a number of local entrepreneurs were a bit done with that big, bigger, biggest. "They then asked us to make a local beer again. By chance we came across a brewmaster who lives here on the island and felt like it. We started brewing beer for one of the largest catering establishments on the island, Paal 17. First dark blonde, then several other varieties, including the world's first Steambock. By now our beer is sold all over the island. Especially our barrel aged beers are very much sought after by beer lovers. They are like birdwatchers: as soon as we put a new beer on our site, they dive for it. Sometimes you can find our beers on Marketplace for three, four times the price. Here, take a bottle." We are handed a TX Tawny Porter, brewed with lightly roasted malts and aged in old port barrels.
We continue our way to the port of Oudeschild, where TX is well represented - on the back of the ships, that is. We stop along the wharf. Handy: when you turn the car off, it lowers to the boarding position so you can get out easily. Also handy: the electric tailgate consists of two parts, the lower of which you can use as a seating area, for example to look out over the harbor. Optionally, you can buy leather seats for that, which you can lean against comfortably. You can even opt for lighting and speakers on the inside of the tailgate. Trunk party! We drive on, passing the beautiful maritime museum Kaap Skil and a little further on Fort De Schans. This was built in 1574 by order of William of Orange to control ships entering the Marsdiep. Today there is no control: we slide open the gate and ride the bluff of city folk into the fort, which in the Golden Age was also used as a prison and court for mutinous ships. John mutinies too and forces his way behind the wheel for a bit. What I haven't done yet, he does: step on the gas pedal through the bottom. The twin-turbo V8 gasoline engine, good for 530 hp and a maximum torque of 750 Nm, launches the Rover just about. We are pressed into the soft leather, rows of trees shoot past us. Fast & furious: we are the fastest on the Wadden Sea. Gas is reduced as we approach the old land of Texel, a rolling strip from east to west whose history goes back much further than William of Orange. This moraine was created by cresting ice in the penultimate Ice Age, 140,000 years ago. This is not only the oldest part of Texel, but also the highest at fifteen meters above sea level. De Hoge Berg, as the area is called, is an iconic landscape that was laid out by sheep farmers in the second half of the sixteenth century with small garden walls of sod, separating one land from another. Typical Texel. Just like the sheep sheds, small sheds with a striking construction and the butt in the wind. And just like the kolken: pools with fresh rainwater that does not sink because the subsoil consists of boulder clay. In this primal-Texel area you will find many local products, ranging from sweet potatoes and rose hip jam to eggs and hand-felted wool products. And sheep's cheese and lamb from sheep farm De Waddel.
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