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2003 Range Rover: Up to the challenge, off road and on
By Warren Brown
Washington Post

TAIN, Scotland -- It is the most beautiful Range Rover ever made. It's also the most capable. It had to be. Failure to make the 2003 Range Rover the best ever would have rendered the brand commercially moribund.

That would have been bad news for Land Rover, the Range Rover's maker, which is owned by Ford Motor Co.

Land Rover is fighting for its life in extremely hostile territory --the automotive segment occupied by premium sport-utility models such as the BMW X5, Cadillac Escalade, Lexus LX470, Lincoln Navigator and Mercedes-Benz G500.

Range Rover is Land Rover's leader in that war. But, until now, it has not fared well.

Quality, or the perceived lack of it in Land Rover products sold in North America, has been a problem.

For example, though Range Rover developed a reputation as "the world's most capable" off-road vehicle since its global introduction in 1970, it was a disappointment on the streets of the United States, where it went on sale in 1987.

This is Land Rover's single largest market. But American consumers have different expectations than those buying Range Rovers in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Buyers in those overseas markets often treat their Range Rovers to lots of harsh off-road driving. They are less concerned about squeaks, leaks and rattles than they are about traversing rocky mountain paths, crossing deserts, fording streams or crossing shallow riverbeds.

But U.S. consumers tend to buy Range Rovers for prestige more than purpose. Prestige pays attention to squeaks, leaks and rattles, and it becomes mightily upset over real problems, such as an electronic air suspension system that bottoms out. Prestige is impatient with imperfection, scornful of promises and dismissive of excuses.

Land Rover had too many excuses in the United States. But here in the Scottish Highlands, with the introduction of its 2003 Range Rover, the company served notice that excuses are history. That's good news for consumers. But it's very bad for at least one of the Range Rover's rivals, the recently introduced (for U.S. sales) Mercedes-Benz G500.

The Range Rover is an all-around better vehicle that will sell for several thousand dollars less than the G500, which is little more than a 23-year-old military truck with a Mercedes-Benz S-Class interior.

The new Range Rover is genuine automotive royalty. It handles on-road and off-road driving with remarkable aplomb. It neither squeaks nor rattles nor leaks in either environment. And it is as beautiful as the G500 is ugly.

But it's the changes beneath the skin that make the new model work. Credit goes to BMW, which owned Land Rover before selling it to Ford for $2.7 billion in 2000. BMW designed and developed the new Range Rover -- which is now a direct competitor to the BMW X5.

BMW wanted to get rid of the squeaks and rattles. So, it dumped Range Rover's traditional body-on-frame construction in favor of a steel monocoque structure outfitted with three steel subframes.

Monocoque bodies are tighter, more rigid than bodies-on-frame. That means they squeak and rattle less after suffering the rigors of off-road driving, as was done here over a demanding course that included steep, rocky ascents and descents, and lots of snow, water and mud.

That rigidity translated into crisp on-road handling, an area where previous Range Rovers failed to excel.

The new Range Rover also features a greatly improved electronic air suspension (EAS) system that automatically raises and lowers the vehicle, depending on terrain and vehicle speed. Previous Range Rover EAS systems had a knack for going flat and staying that way. The new one operated flawlessly, thanks to better engineering and electronics.

BMW also supplied the new Range Rover's 4.4-liter, 32-valve, 282-horsepower V-8 engine, the same engine found in some versions of the X5. But in the Range Rover, the engine has been modified to handle off-road challenges, such as wading through water without smothering the air intake.

The exterior is formidable without being aggressive. It's the velvet-gloved, iron-fisted approach to design-gentle curves, but not so gentle that they hide the vehicle's strength. The interior is breathtaking.

Who would have thought?

Here we have a clear winner in a high-stakes market, a premium "British" sport-utility vehicle designed and developed by Germans and owned and sold by Americans.
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