Were it a person, the Range Rover would be the Most Interesting Man from
those cerveza commercials, as at home wearing a suit in a swanky bar as
rock-climbing on the weekend.
When Land Rover says this 2013
Range Rover is "all-new," it really means all-new. The latest model to
wear the Range Rover badge returns to showrooms with an updated look
that stretches elements inspired by the pint-size Evoque over
proportions that still read classic Range Rover. The SUV also features a
host of new dashboard and safety technologies, but perhaps the biggest
change is beneath the sheet metal with the move to a more carlike,
unibody construction.
It goes pretty much anywhere...
Interestingly, all 2013 Range Rovers are supercharged, so the difference
between our "Range Rover Supercharged" and the entry models is that our
example is powered by a 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 rather than the
automaker's 3.0-liter V-6. Output is estimated at 510 horsepower and 461
pound-feet of torque. The noise that this aluminum block engine makes
at full bore is akin to the world's angriest, largest vacuum cleaner
being unleashed -- but that just means that Land Rover didn't waste a
lot of time making things sound pretty.
Torque exiting the
engine must first pass through the Range's single-option, eight-speed
automatic transmission. Drive direction is controlled via a motorized
shift knob that rises out of the center console when the engine is
started. You've got your standard PRND selection of drive directions and
an S for "sport" mode that adjusts the transmission's shift points for
more responsive acceleration. The driver can also manually select gears
with steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters. I especially like that the
paddle shifters can be set to respond only when the gearbox is in its
Sport mode via a menu option, preventing accidental shifts when you're
merely tooling around in the standard Drive mode.
The Range Rover
is equipped with a two-speed transfer gearbox that defaults to the
standard high-range gearing for daily driving, but also features a
low-range setting that is good for low-speed, high-torque applications
such as rock crawling or scaling extreme grades. The low-range gearing
has a maximum recommended speed of about 10 mph, as indicated on the
digital instrument cluster when activated.
Land Rover's Web site
states that the 2013 Range Rover is able to make use of stop-start
anti-idling technology to increase fuel efficiency, but our model never
did such a thing. According to the EPA's estimates, the Rover will
average 15 mpg over a combined driving cycle. According to my
observations, it averaged a pretty spot-on 15.1 mpg over a 600-mile mix
of relaxed highway cruising and city driving, with a dash of off-road
crawling and climbing for flavor.
While we're on the subject of
off-road capability, the Range Rover has it in spades. The SUV is
equipped with Land Rover's Terrain Response 2, a sophisticated permanent
four-wheel-drive system that is capable of automatically sensing the
characteristics of the terrain and adapting the drive and suspension
systems to provide the best grip and drive characteristics for the
situation at hand. There are manual settings for rock crawling, sand,
deep ruts, and gravel or snow. Chose any of these modes and the Rover
will handle all of the differential locking or unlocking, suspension
adjustment, and driver-aid selections for you. In rare cases, it may
prompt you to make manual changes that it can't, such as putting the
gearbox into neutral and selecting the low-range gearing when the Rock
Climbing mode is activated. However, the automatic setting would
probably work best for most drivers in most situations.
Standard
on the 2013 Range Rover is a hill descent control (HDC) system that
automatically restricts downhill speed using the brakes.
Also
standard is an air suspension with four levels of ride height
adjustment. The normal ride height is fairly tall. Press a button and
the Rover lowers to its access height, which lowers the vehicle
significantly to aid entry and exiting and to help the tall SUV clear
low garage ceilings. For when you need a bit more ground clearance,
there are two off-road heights that raise the vehicle. The off-road and
access heights are speed-limited and will revert back to the normal mode
at about 50 mph and 10 mph, respectively. The access height can be
locked to prevent automatically raising the Rover into harm's way in
cramped parking decks, but even locked it will revert back to normal
ride height at about 15 mph after warning the driver to slow down.
But
no one reading this review is interested in hearing about driving the
2013 Range Rover around a smoothly paved parking deck; you want to hear
about driving beyond paved roads.
I took the new Range Rover for
a spin and was first surprised by the feats this vehicle was able to
achieve on its standard street tires and 21-inch wheels. The Rover
descended steep hills that, were it not for the seatbelt across my lap,
would have sent me sliding into the footwells, and climbed inclines
steeper and more slippery than I could on foot. It effortlessly flew
down rutted and washboard dirt roads and clawed its way around gravel
corners, and it did most of this in its automatic mode. Every once and
again, I'd try to push the SUV up a hill too tall, too steep, and too
slick with gravel, but it wouldn't complain. Instead, the digital
instrument cluster would just display a message, "Low Range
recommended." A few button taps later and I'd be at the summit of the
ascent, the nearly $100,000 SUV a lot dustier, but no worse for wear.
As
my day of off-roading and trail riding progressed, I was left with the
feeling that I wasn't really able to explore the full extent of what
this vehicle is capable of (and wasn't comfortable doing so). It had
scaled and descended hills that would have left most SUVs calling for a
tow, and it had done so on street tires. Toss some knobbies into the
Range Rover's wheel wells and there probably aren't many places that
this go-anywhere couldn't get you.
...But it does it with style
Though outside of the Range Rover, the air was dry and hot and
clouded with dust kicked up from climbing gravel trails, I was seated in
relative comfort. My rear end could be heated or cooled at the touch of
a button, thanks to the leather seats, which were also massaging my
back. A massive, panoramic sunroof let the sunshine in, but not too
much. A refrigerated cool box in the center console kept bottles of
water chilled, and the premium audio system played back my favorite
podcasts with crystal clarity. Were it not for an occasional shrub
sliding across the $1,800 Barolo Black paint, I could close my eyes and
image that I was in First Class on a flight that was experiencing mild
turbulence. (Don't keep those eyes closed too long, though.)
Courtesy of CNET.
