The new model offered more equipment and premium trims, positioning the vehicle above the Land Rover Discovery to face the increased competition in the SUV marketplace.

Motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson has on record called the P38A Range Rover the "London Taxi" in a jocular/derogatory sense owing to its perceived styling similarity to the Metrocab.

In 1999, the Range Rover V8 received a new Bosch Motronic engine management system from the BMW 7 Series (E38).

[3] Gems " Lucas " (pre 1999) Bosch "Motronic" (post 1999) Early cars (1994–1997) used an aluminium inlet manifold.

The "Off-Road Extended" setting was only accessible automatically by the EAS ECU in the event of the chassis getting beached.

The 4.0 L V8 petrol and the 2.5 L I6 diesel engine were mated to either the R380 manual gearbox or the ZF 4HP22 transmission, as used in the late classic Range Rover, 300 TDi, TD5 or V8 Discoverys.

The BorgWarner 4462 transfer box on the P38 unlike the classic has no direct control of High/Low range gears meaning that the vehicle has to nearly stop before shifting from high to low range and the lever from the classic model was replaced by an electric control on the dashboard for the manual and an H-pattern gate on the automatic gear lever High/Low is selected by an electronic actuator on the TB.