Integrity, At A Price
by Mike Grundon (02 May 02)

If it wasn't for the price the new Range Rover could be all things to all people. It's a respectably performing road car, an exceptionally capable mud-plugger, a cavernous cargo carrier, and a safe and comfortable basket in which to carry all your most important eggs.
It may not look like it at first glance but the Range Rover hasn't just been upgraded for 2002, it's been rebuilt from the ground up. The designers were given a clean sheet of paper and told to come back with some ideas, and having seen pictures of some of the considered options, we're lucky to have got such a good looking motorcar.

To my eye it's the best looking version yet with a solid, purposeful look to it inside and out. It's still very obviously a Range Rover but it has elegant modern touches that lift it into the new century; the scowling split xenon headlamps at the front, the gill-like louvres in the flanks and the distinctive fruit-slice lamps either side of the split tailgate.

It has to look good too. In its 31 year history this is only the third generation of the countryman's icon, which probably means it'll still have to look good ten years from now. Range Rover comes with just two choices of engine this time, both built by BMW.

My test vehicle was the three-litre TD6 turbo diesel which, at around £46,000, is the one you could afford to run even if you couldn't afford to buy. Climbing up into the electrically adjustable leather seat the car at first seems massive, but once you've pushed the key down into the ignition near the hand-brake, slotted the stubby gearstick into "Drive" and pulled out onto the road, it seems to shrink. The engine surges forward with restrained enthusiasm and the air suspension with its dynamic stability control system keeps the 1.8-metre tall truck surprisingly stiff round the bends.

The rather light but very accurate steering puts you exactly where you want to be on the road and the electronically controlled brake distribution system slows you to a halt without drama from any speed . . . the laws of physics allowing of course.

While you cruise out among the glens and hills you may amuse yourself with the gadgets and gizmos at your fingertips. Best of all is the semi-automatic Steptronic gear change. Just slot the stick across to the left from "Drive" and use it as a sequential changer - push it forward to change up a gear, pull it back to change down.

For the more leisurely driver you can listen to your CDs, open the sunroof, phone a chum on the integrated mobile, toast your buns in the heated seats, the list goes on. Upgrade to a Vogue and you can play with the satellite navigation system or even pull over and watch telly.

This might be where it ends for most owners and that's a shame because the Range Rover is a serious off-road tool as well. I know because I've taken one into the mud and rubble of rural Shetland.

It was half way up a very steep, loose stone and rock track some miles south east of Scalloway that it struck me how wonderful it really was. I'd come across a peaty field, down onto the pebbly shore, driven along the beach-head, plunged down into a burn and sloshed up into the track without the slightest hesitation. The traction control was now working hard to put the maximum drive to any wheels that had grip and the axles were twisting in and out of rain gulleys but I was still calm enough to be enjoying the warm spring sun and the stunning, island-dotted panorama.

If I needed any more evidence of its off-road credentials, the list of standard features would have provided it. There's pump up ride height to boost approach, step over and departure angles, a transfer box to give you low-range gears and Land Rover's hallmark Hill Descent Control system. On the way back down the fearsome hill the HDC did a very good job of intelligently distributing the brake pressure on all four corners to ease my progress to a leisurely 5mph.

The new Range Rover is costly to buy, even compared to BMW's X5 and the Mercedes M-Class, but it does have something the others don't, and that's integrity. It looks like an off-roader because it simply is one. It's a luxury car that will cope with the worst weather Europe can throw at it and take five people safely to almost anywhere in the world. To me that's important.

Price: £45,995
Capacity: 2926cc
Power: 174bhp
Torque: 288lb/ft
0-62: 13.4 seconds
Top speed: 111mph
Economy: 30.1mpg extra urban, 25mpg combined
CO2 emissions: 299g/km
Land Rover figures.

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