Land Rover LR2

The Land Rover LR2 is a luxurious, built-like-a-brick-wall, smooth traveler--a vehicle for someone who wants the best of everything.  “I’m not that girl,” as Elphaba, the green-skinned girl in Wicked, sings.

 I haven’t driven Land Rovers in a while—maybe in over a year.  I don’t know if the company has improved the suspension, but it was one of the things that impressed me most.  It was like spreading butter on bread rolling over potholes.

The LR2 has a 3.2-liter aluminum alloy inline 6-cylinder engine coupled with permanent intelligent all-wheel drive with traction control.  Its six-speed electronically controlled automatic with command shift can be driven in normal, sport and manual shift modes.  The front to rear torque split varies continuously.

The interior is big enough for a couple of friends and two large dogs from the estate. It’s got the works: dual climate control, leather seating surfaces, leather wrapped tilt and telescopic steering wheel, dark chestnut trim, adjustable seats, sunroof and split folding rear seats.  What it did not have—shockingly—were blind spot detection and rear back-up camera.

And while people in this demographic don’t worry that much about money, the vehicle gets only 15/22 city/highway. 

I like the Land Rover, but I just kept feeling that find-a-trail impulse.  I was in the country, but I never actually did take the vehicle off road.  One kind of has to plan for that activity and I just ran out of time.

Still on the 125-mile trip home, I felt the comfort and spaciousness of the vehicle.  Do not talk to me about the entertainment system because I will froth at the mouth.  There was no manual in the car and it took me about 80 miles to figure out how to find a radio station.  I never could tune into the Broadway channel on Sirius.

I had dinner with Land Rover owners and the husband said, “every thing in the car is overbuilt.  If you need 230 horsepower, it has 275.  If you want three-way adjustable anything, it has ten.   That’s my impression.”  The wife agreed with my take on the radio.  Radios should be simple and intuitive to operate.  The Land Rover system is anything but.

My LR2 as equipped was $44,150.