Through raging flash-floods and soaked rural roads, the 2013 Range Rover revealed its strengths. The 2012 Range Rover
was swell — beautiful interior, powerful engines and styling that
earned icon status about five years ago. Designed and introduced back
when BMW owned Rover, the Range Rover was the rare design that survived a
full decade without seeming dated. But ten years equals an eternity in
the car business, and 2013 heralds a new Range Rover era.
The new SUV
looks much like the old one, embracing the Porsche 911
strategy of not messing with a good thing, but making it just different
enough to tip off the neighbors. The real action lies under the skin,
where Land Rover tackled the old machine's biggest problem: its weight.
Thanks to an all-aluminum chassis (the only one in an
SUV), the new Range Rover is about 700 pounds lighter than the old one.
The bare body is in fact 50 pounds lighter than that of a BMW 3-series,
and the base V-8 model weighs 4,850 lbs. Subtracting weight, rather than
adding power, confers all sorts of advantages — handling, fuel economy
and off-the-line quickness all improved.
So, is this the best SUV in the world? Well, I don't know what really competes with it. The Toyota Land Cruiser might be the most relevant competitor off-road, but the Range Rover leaves it for dead on the pavement.
The new Mercedes GL
is a fine hunk of metal, but it's more of a three-row people-mover that
happens to have some off-road ability — the Range Rover is like an
amalgamation of G-Class off-road chops with GL on-road modernity. The only major weak point is fuel economy, which will likely improve
from the old model's 14 mpg EPA combined rating—but then only to perhaps
16 or 17 mpg. However, there's a diesel hybrid in the works that would
address that concern, presuming Land Rover decides to ship it stateside.
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