The 510-horsepower, ultra-luxurious Range Rover is the proper vehicle to drive to High Tea at Claridge’s Hotel in London or slog through the bogs in Russia’s Western Siberian lowlands.
Range Rover Supercharged shares Jaguar XKR's boosted four-cam V8.
Decades before “SUV” became part of our lexicon, there was Land Rover, the second oldest builder of four-wheel-drive production vehicles. The legendary UK brand has been building four-wheel-drive vehicles in a variety of consumer, commercial and military models since 1948. That’s when they prototyped the first Land Rover using a chassis rumored to have come from the oldest FWD off-road vehicle - Jeep.
When I was growing up in 1950s New York City, I never saw a Land Rover in person. Everything I learned about Land Rovers came from African adventure/safari films. It was impossible not to see Land Rovers as the vehicles of choice of “great white hunters” venturing into the bush in search of trophies. While not sure if they could actually withstand charges of pissed-off water buffalos and rhinos that had been shot at, they appeared to be indestructible. Regardless of terrain, they went everywhere and did everything, usually quite slowly. And they never rusted.
In the late-1960s I discovered that Land Rover bodies were made of aluminum alloy, explaining the lack of rust on those well-worn safari vehicles. Early Land Rovers were slow because power choices were small-displacement 1.6 and 2.0-Litre four and six cylinder gas (Petrol) and diesel motors. They were engineered for maximum low-rpm torque and reliability, certainly not high performance. Those Land Rovers were slow and sure and geared to climb mountains or remove tree stumps. Or pull an off-road poseur out of a ravine!
The 2011 Range Rover Supercharged, above, powered by the same boosted 510 horsepower four-cam, four-valve aluminum 5.0-Litre V8 fitted in the Jaguar XKR, represents a gigantic leap for the brand that started out building slow, boxy all-purpose utility vehicles. It has the refined road manners of a competent sports-tuned station wagon, the performance of a GT, and is outfitted with luxury and high-tech appointments found only in ultra-luxe sedans. And it has the ability to safely handle serious off-road situations, regardless of weather. It is the pearl-handled, Platinum Edition Swiss Army Knife of SUVs!
Prior to spending a week falling in love with our Nara Bronze road warrior, above, I hadn’t driven a Land Rover since 1968 in the UK. We had visited my brother Alan and his wife Debra at Oxford and his daily driver was a long-wheelbase (109-inch) 1954 Series I with an open pickup-like bed and 2.0-Litre Six power. It was a long-wheelbase version of '54 model, below.
“I think we paid around $200 for it and we have fond memories of driving it daily and going anywhere, on or off-road, regardless of weather,” recalls Alan who lives in Juneau, AK. “I wish I still had it.”
I don’t ever think I’ll forget driving it both on and off road and just how noisy and scary slow it was. It was a bare-bones vehicle with all the amenities of a 1950s farm tractor. Maybe fewer!
However, after years of heavy usage and no protection from the elements, my brother’s Rover was rust free. That’s when I discovered they had aluminum alloy bodies.
Land Rover has come a long way since 1948. Its multi-national legacy includes British (Rover Company-1948, Leyland Motors-1967, British Leyland-1968, Rover Group-1986, British Aerospace- 1988), German (BMW-1994); American (Ford-2000); Indian (Tata Motors-2008) owners.
Long gone are the vintage boxy aluminum bodies, plain-pipe-rack interiors and anemic powerplants. What remains is an ultra functional on and off-road cruiser with traditional styling cues, luxurious interior appointments, killer-app on and off-road technology and, in Supercharged trim, the power to spank performance cars. In keeping with its heritage, as well as the need to keep weight down, its monocoque platform with three steel sub-frames and steel body does have aluminum doors, fenders and hood.
Besides the obvious fun factor of having a boosted 510 horsepower V8 under the hood, right, there’s also the safety and security knowing that you can quickly change lanes, merge with fast moving highway traffic and get out of trouble quickly. The horsepower comes with copious amounts of torque – 461 foot pounds – helping this heavyweight quickly go wherever you want to. If your choice is standing start acceleration from 0 to 60 mph, you can expect sub-six-second times. Top end is 140 mph. Unquestionably impressive for an almost three-ton SUV!
For more on-road performance, the six-speed electronically controlled ZF CommandShift automatic offers Sport and Manual shift modes, above. When we found ourselves playing with the Manual do-it-yourself mode and taking full advantage of the free-revving V8 (redlined at 6,000-6,500 rpm) for any length of time, the (Premium) gas gauge needle sunk as quickly as revs climbed!
Its EPA rating is 12 City MPG and 18 Highway MPG, but we never saw much more than 10 mpg around town and averaged 17-19 on the road. Putting the Adaptive Cruise Control on at 70 mph (approximately 2,000 rpm) on the highway netted us a solid 19 mpg. When engaged, the $2,000 option, which essentially slows your vehicle down if you get too close to the vehicle in front of you, is well worth it.
While I personally don’t think that many Supercharged Range Rovers with the level of equipment in our tester (MSRP: $104, 915) will end up in serious off-road situations, rock crawling or yanking Redwood tree stumps out of the ground, it’s nice to know that it’s up to the challenge, above. Riding on 20-inch alloy wheels, neatly framing impressive (15-inch F & 14.4-inch R) disc brakes, the multi-adjustable, air-suspended Range Rover offers up to 11 inches of ground clearance. That means you can easily ford two feet of standing water that would immobilize typical family vehicles.
In addition to the RR’s performance, ride and handling and off-road capability, its cabin, above, is one of the best laid-out and luxuriously appointed in the field. Our “tester” had the optional Walnut Wood Trim, Wood/Leather Steering Wheel and Climate Glass and Four-Zone AC packages ($2,000). The full-powered contoured, multi-adjustable front buckets, below, with individually controlled AC and heating make the hours go by quickly on long hauls. Satellite Navigation is standard. Optional Reclining Rear Seats ($1,250) with optional Rear Seat Entertainment (DVD player, screens in back of front headrests and headphones and control panel ($2,500) and 1,200-watt Audio System Upgrade ($1,700) can keep two or three passengers comfortably entertained for hours.
I can’t say enough about the quad-zone AC system (with Climate Glass), the finest I’ve ever experienced on any vehicle. Even when parked outside in the 90-95-degree Florida sun all day, the AC brought temps down in record time. Priceless!
All it took was a one-week road trip – on-road-only - in a 510-horsepower Range Rover, for me to fall in love. The Supercharged model does everything it’s supposed to do and does it with style and grace befitting its decades-old association with Britain’s Royal Family. The Range Rover Supercharged can be whatever you want it to be plus handle whatever Mother Nature throws in its way. It may be priced like a condo, but it’s worth it.
For more information about the latest models from Land Rover and Range Rover, please visit, http://www.landrover.com/us/en/lr/
History buffs should check out, http://www.landrover.com/us/en/lr/about-land-rover/heritage/heritage/