Land Rover

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Tuesday – Light Fantastic

IMG_1685The Range Rover has an intelligent key. By that I mean you just walk up to the car with the key in your pocket and the doors open automatically. Further to that, you can push button start and an array of interior lights gently lighten the cabin too.

It’s something of a masterclass inside, taking ambient lighting to a new level. Slick blue lights adorn the doors and the map reading spots are activated by gently brushing a finger over them.

That’s all well and good but if you forget where you parked your car, it has another neat trick up its sleeve. Press the key fob, the door mirrors fold out and a circular beam is flashed onto the tarmac.

Nothing new in that, you might think. Except Land Rover has gone the extra mile and the words ‘Range Rover’ are projected onto the ground! I thought I’d seen everything in a car but even I giggled. Totally unnecessary but very cool all the same…

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Monday – Armchairs on Wheels

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If you want a quick resume of why I like the Range Rover, this is what I told my neighbour this morning at the roadside…

The heated steering wheel and front screen – just what you want on a cold and frosty morning. It’s one step further than heated seats and will surely filter down the food chain to all cars one day.

The rear seats which automatically fold forward, or recline. Yes, it might sound lazy but how many times have you caught your finger in a seat mechanism?

Power in a straight line. Slip the gearchange dial into sport and the Rangey becomes the fastest set of luxury armchairs you will ever sit in. It still wallows on a corner though.

The electric tailgates. Everybody knows the back of a Range Rover is the best place to change muddy wellies. Now the lower section of the tailgate opens electronically too. It’s smart and still very comfortable.

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Sunday – A Range Rover Or A Bigger W*lly?

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Not sure I’ve ever been heckled in a four-wheel drive before… I mean, there have been a few abusive gestures aimed at me over the years but a heckle, well, that’s a new one.

So the little chap in the Vauxhall Astra estate following me out of the multi-storey car park seemed quite upset when the Range Rover clipped the curb. Mutli-storey’s just aren’t designed for anything bigger than a Fiat 500 these days.

So as I approached the exit barrier and wound down the window, a voice piped up: “Get a smaller car!’ Naturally, I responded politely and told him to get a bigger willy, or a better car.

Sure the Range Rover is large but it has emissions of just 196g/km, which is a bloody sight better than his smokey old chugger. Not only that but it averages almost 38mpg too…. Grrr

 

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Saturday – Hosing Out A Range Rover

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The very first Range Rovers featured just three doors and were fitted with a vinyl floor so that the interior could be hosed out! I have considered slipping a hose pipe into the Vogue SE but don’t fancy the bill.

Forty four years later and it’s something of a credit to the marque that there have only been four models. Each one has been groundbreaking in one way or another – the one parked on my driveway is already famed for using lightweight materials to reduce the Range Rover’s inherent weight problem.

It’s still a very heavy car but Jaguar Land Rover’s incredible TDV6 diesel engine is mustard. Just how a 3.0-litre 255bhp unit manages to propel a vehicle this size at such great speed is remarkable. The SDV8 is even faster, of course…

I’m happy with the TDV6. It’s responsible, quiet and copes with the Range Rover’s bulk with ease. Still think you should be able to hose out the interior though…

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Friday – Range Rover Vogue SE

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You might think that after a week in a Jaguar F-Type driving anything else would be a disappointment. Not if it’s the latest Range Rover Vogue.

If the F-Type is the ultimate grand design, the Range Rover is the height of automotive luxury.

For example, I had to slam to boot lid on the Jaguar. In the Range Rover the powered tailgate refuses and automatically takes the strain. Two cupholders in the Jag rather spoil the centre console – in the Range Rover they are hidden away discreetly under a self-closing cover that glides into place.

Both vehicles are roughly the same price but you have to say the Range Rover looks more worthy of the £77,000 price tag. It’s just loaded with equipment.

This is the mid-range Vogue SE model and not an Autobiography but I’m finding new buttons to play with all the time. It’s going to take a week and more to discover everything.

For now my favourite is the heated steering wheel. Cold mornings will never be quite so bad again…

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Thursday – A Big Discovery

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Jessica This car is a big step up from the Discovery of old. It feels solid, sorted and safe. The box shape does not work for me, utilitarian yes, aesthetic  no. Even though the bonnet is chunky and reflects the same look as a Range Rover, it definitely lacks a sense of style at the rear.

It’s easy to fall down when designing a dashboard. However, the retro wood finish ties neatly in with current online graphic trends (examples can be seen on Issuu.com) and will appeal to 70’s furniture enthusiasts. Combine this with lozenges of brushed chrome and you have a potential design classic interior.

Internally, the Discovery is very comfortable. The stitching is not overdone and it’s a pleasure to drive on either long or short journeys. Responsive, powerful with the all-important, armchair-style comfortable seats. It feels a little like sitting in a large comfortable office ( which rarely exist now, perhaps we do more work on the move these days, so it is appropriate!)

I know it has already been mentioned in terms of the current Jaguar range but the automatic  transmission dial is tactile, smoothly glides up when the car starts and feels thoroughly modern. It works just as well  in the Land Rover.

The Discovery is still ideal for pony clubbers and sport lovers alike, even campers – just make sure you do not have long nails as there is no chance of using the touch screen sat nav if you are fond of a well turned out hand!

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Wednesday – Taking The Strain

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Jeremy Just arrived in Southampton for a night at the Pig In The Wall. It’s a hotel that deserves a wacky name because is it so stunningly different. Tomorrow I’m leaving the Discovery at the quayside to catch the ferry to Cowes for a sailing masterclass, with double Olympic gold medalist, Shirley Robertson, for the FT Magazine. Forecast is sunny but I know I’m going to get soaked, one way or the other…

Being down by the coast reminded me that the Land Rover is a brilliant towing machine – something Jessica and I have not had time to put to the test. While she would have pulled a horse box, I definitely would have hitched up to a boat!

The Discovery won its class in the 2012 Towcar of the Year Awards for the third year in a row, beating the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Volvo XC60 and Ford Ranger, to name but a few.

I used a Discovery 3 to pull a small yacht across Ireland in 2008. There was hardly any impact on performance and the Land Rover proved steady at motorway speeds. The Discovery 4 has an eight-speed automatic gearbox instead of a six which I imagine would make it an even better workhorse.

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Tuesday – Fairy Lights

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Jeremy One of the reasons I like our silver HSE Discovery is that Land Rover has resisted the temptation to turn this particular vehicle into a bling thing.

You know the sort of 4x4s I’m talking about – the ones that never get muddy tyres and have been loaded with chrome wheels, blacked out privacy glass and side steps (if you can’t step up into a 4×4 what are you doing driving it?).

So today I was slightly taken aback to find that I was driving around conservative north Yorkshire sporting fairy lights on the front of the Discovery. That’s right – the Disco has sidelights that look like something you would drape over a council house at Christmas.

No privacy glass, no chrome wheels but headlights that are quite shocking to behold in the Dales or elsewhere. Fortunately, it’s possible to turn them off and still be seen in the daytime…

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Monday – Camera Capers

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Jeremy – It’s Monday and it’s Yorkshire. A wet 190 miles up the M1 to Knaresborough, a pretty town with a wonderful railway viaduct that towers ominously above our guest house. The Discovery is parked underneath the bridge. Any more rain and I will be looking for the button on the dashboard that operates a propeller.

It wouldn’t surprise me if there is one – the HSE has just about everything else. Included in this is  the ‘4×4 info page’ on the sat nav screen. No idea what purpose it really serves, apart from impressing friends who don’t own a Discovery every once in a while.

And have I mentioned the cameras? The Land Rover is a moving CCTV station, with six of them dotted around the car in strategic places. Again, just what they do is baffling. One screen allows all the camera images to be displayed on screen at once. It’s like a scene from a drug induced nightmare. You can see this screen while the car is on the move, yet you cannot operate the TV (for good reason – but why then the six camera images!?).

Jessica is still struggling with the rather harsh blower on the air con. Is there a secret setting we don’t know about? 

 

 

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Sunday – Nitpicking

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Jeremy It’s not easy picking holes in an off-roader as good as the Discovery. Some UK car magazines now say the Hyundai Santa Fe (tested on Car Couture earlier this year) is the better machine – it’s certainly more affordable. But when it comes to grunt, secondhand value and all round ability, the Land Rover has the edge.

So what’s not to like about the Discovery? Well, styling is probably the most obvious. I actually think the shape is uncluttered and sharp but parked next to a Hyundai or a BMW X5, it has already started to look a little dated.

Then there is the fuel consumption. The V6 engine produces 255bhp and really gives the Discovery plenty of shove but it also soaks up the diesel. Officially, the Discovery returns 32mpg in the combined cycle but you will have to tread very lightly on the accelerator to get above 30mpg in the real world.

Other faults? Well, both Jessica and I constantly bash the paddle gearshifters on the steering column with our knuckles, which instantly puts the Discovery into manual mode when it is not required. The air con fan is rather harsh for a luxury vehicle and flattening the centre row of seats can be awkward.

Then I start to struggle!  This is a great machine – you pay a lot for the pleasure of owning one but the Discovery is still the one to beat for my money.