Range Rover

The original luxury off-roader was launched in 1970 to massive acclaim from the world's press. Not only did it have more agility off road than the Land Rover, thanks to long-travel coil springs instead of leaf springs front and rear, it had much better road manners than anything else in its class, plus it looked and felt almost limo-like inside. At first it was only available as a two-door, but the impracticalities of this soon showed, and by 1981 all models had four doors.

The underside was brutally strong, using a separate ladder-style chassis which protected all the major components. Telescopic shocks sat up front while the rear had self-levelling Boge units, and disc brakes were used all around. The engine was the all-aluminium Buick V8, for which Rover had bought the rights back in the 1960s, and it offered the perfect combination of lightweight and plenty of torque.