Land Rover, Land
Rover Range Rover, Land Rover Range Rover Sport, Land Rover
Reviews, Buy Land Rover
Land Rover Range Rover
Sport
Land Rover chose its company name to highlight
its mission: Build vehicles capable of roving anywhere there's
land. It has perhaps succeeded too well, as car shoppers in
the increasingly urbanized parts of the world have tended to
look for vehicles intended more for paved roads than unpaved
tracks.
Those shoppers have found some competent vehicles,
some of which are actually fun to drive. The BMW X5, the
Cadillac SRX, the Infiniti FX, the Mercedes-Benz M-Class, and
the Porsche Cayenne created a new market: SUV-proportion
vehicles that are also sporty, with ride and handling
abilities previously unheard of in off-road capable vehicles,
and luxurious in trim and features, to boot.
Land
Rover has hit this highly competitive, high-price market
with two new products for 2006: The Range Rover Supercharged
is a full-size Range Rover with the most powerful
engine ever in a Land Rover. But it isn't really intended for
flicking through a set of esses on a favorite two-lane
road.
The 2006 Range Rover Sport has a similar
name, but it's a different vehicle. Built on a smaller
platform derived from the Land Rover LR3 but with a
thoroughly reworked suspension and a unique but instantly
recognizable body, the Sport is everything, well almost
everything, the Range Rover Supercharged wants to be but
isn't. Spirited, sporty, agile, with a snazzy look; OK, maybe
not all that snazzy, but for a Range Rover, it's snazzy. It's
also something the LR3 doesn't want to be: a Range
Rover that's more comfortable on road than off.
Not
only does it fit between the LR3 and the full-size Range Rover
in terms of form and function, but it also nicely splits the
different in price. It's priced about $20,000 under the top Range Rovers and $10,000-$20,000 over comparable LR3s.
Land Rover Range
Rover
The best gets better.
The Range
Rover gets new engines and transmissions for 2006,
improving on what remains the ultimate luxury sport-utility.
This top-of-the-line Land Rover offers authentic
all-terrain capability combined with a beautiful
European-flavor cabin and the latest in safety features.
Driving it makes you feel good. It's smooth and poised on the
road and makes its occupants feel classy and sophisticated.
It's one of the best luxury vehicles available,
counting cars. Land Rover doesn't sell vast quantities
of them, ensuring the Range Rover remains an exclusive
vehicle, and further adding to its class and panache.
Having been
completely redesigned for 2003, the 2006 models are more
evolutionary than new. The 2006 Range Rover is quicker
and more agile than last year's model, while retaining its
Land Rover pedigree for traversing the backcountry, featuring
the latest in off-road technology and luxury appointments.
Land Rover has moved beyond its brief ownership
by BMW and is now firmly ensconced in Ford's family of premium
vehicles, along with Aston Martin and Jaguar. BMW's heavy
involvement in the design and engineering of the previous
model is still evident and much appreciated for its legacy of
exemplary road manners. No longer, however, does Land
Rover use BMW engines. For reasons beyond cost savings,
which company officials admit was a persuasive factor, the
2006 Range Rover is powered by V8 engines developed by Jaguar.
The new engines are lighter, cleaner, more powerful, more
efficient and overall more tractable than their BMW-sourced
predecessors. One is naturally aspirated, the other
supercharged. And they now drive the Range Rover's signature four-wheel-drive system through a new, six-speed
automatic nicely adapted for driving all kinds of roads and
terrain, from smooth interstates to rocky tracks to snowbound
byways.
Exemplary
service is also part of the Range Rover heritage.
Surveys indicate customers are highly satisfied with their Land Rover retailers who pride themselves with taking
care of their customers. Our anecdotal evidence backs that up.
The Land Rover Centres go beyond those of the typical
car dealership, acting as off-road outfitters. They carry
accessories and apparel and organize outings. Land Rover's
four-year/50,000 mile warranty includes roadside assistance
(even where there's no road) and free scheduled maintenance.
