Land Rover's newest and best goes on sale here in March - Andrew Hamilton got behind the wheel and took to the Scottish highlands
If you were the owner of a luxury saloon costing nearly €80,000, would you want to plunge the vehicle into muddy streams, climb seemingly impossible gradients coated with wet mud, gravel and boulders, and generally make a mess of its pristine appearance?
The answer is probably a resounding "No", but that's what Land Rover had us doing last week in the Scottish Highlands. We were testing their latest and best, the new Range Rover.
Everybody knows by now that the owners of luxury off-road vehicles mostly don't go off-road and certainly not to the extremes that Land Rover's flagship was subjected to by us. With most owners not bothering, why bother giving them all the state-of-the-art paraphernalia for off-road prowess?
Bob Dover, who is Land Rover's chairman, insists that the Range Rover's outstanding 4x4 credentials are absolutely integral to its appeal: "This is the most capable luxury off-road vehicle in the world, and people expect that off-road status to be maintained, just as they expect refinement on the road - the comfort of a limousine."
New Range Rover goes on sale here in early March, although Irish prices haven't been fixed yet. Just two engine options are available, BMW's thoroughly modern 4.4 litre V8 petrol unit developing 282bhp and a 3.0 litre six-cylinder turbodiesel with 174bhp. Both come with a five-speed automatic transmission with manual override. The diesel option will account for the majority of Irish sales and in major markets in Europe the diesel will also be the most sought-after version.
There's much more BMW to the new Range Rover than just its engines: in fact it's BMW through and through. The Bavarians in Munich started developing it after the take-over of Rover in 1994, a deal that went sour six years on. Land Rover was sold off to Ford and is now a member of Ford's Premier Automotive Group. Other PAG members are Volvo, Jaguar and Aston-Martin.
BMW has its own luxury off-road vehicle, the American-built X5 that's already on sale here. Viewed against the new Range Rover it looks distinctly compact, even a tad small, sitting 156mm lower and 96mm narrower than the British vehicle. That's one of the machine's outstanding impressions - at first sight it seems almost gargantuan in appearance. The Range Rover is, in fact, eight inches longer and three inches wider than its predecessor.
Range Rover is an eye-catching hunk externally, all two-and-a-half tonnes of it, and internally it's appealing too. Our test vehicles had cream leather seats and a dark cherry wood trim that hugely enhanced the notion of opulence. The commanding driving position and the flexibility of the big electric seats, are among the many plus points we recall. Getting comfortable is easy: for instance, the upper portion of the backrest can be tilted independently to fit the curvature of the spine.
Giving the new Range Rover better on-road manners was a priority. Thus it's the first of the ilk to have a unitary body/chassis and independent suspension on all four wheels. On the winding roads that prevail in the Scottish Highlands, the independent suspension maintained tight discipline and undulations and irregularities were smartly absorbed. There was little sway or roll either, a trait of less refined off-roaders.
We found both petrol and diesel versions light and easy to drive, and that despite their size and weight. Back on the tarmacadam, with the vehicles washed and showered after nearly three hours of mud and mountain off-road torture, there were no squeaks or rattles to be heard.
The diesel engine is the same as the BMW 330d. It's very quiet and even diesel clatter on tickover is almost imperceptible. Top speed for the diesel car is 111mph with a 0-62mph time of 13.6 seconds. For the petrol car the corresponding figures are 130mph and 9.2 seconds.
There are other figures that are less flattering, and for some of us they might just be the downside to Range Rover ownership. The official urban fuel consumption for the petrol model is given as 12.7 mpg while it is 19.6 mpg for the diesel. But then owners of a luxury product like the Range Rover have deep pockets, and they aren't likely to worry about a few extra gallons when there's so much status and image around.