LANDY TAKE RANGE ROVERS TO THE MOUNTAINS

+ Click to Enlarge DESTINY'S CHILD: Well, sort of... the 2009 Range Rovers were launched at Destiny Castle in the eastern Free Stage - after all, not many larney hotels are perched on a cliff with a rugged off-road track in the back garden. Image: LES STEPHENSON

September 15, 2009
By Les Stephenson

If Hannibal were alive today you can bet he'd have chosen a Range Rover to cross the Alps while the rest of the top guys rode elephants – he was, after all, a politician as well as a soldier and politicians are never averse to life's little comforts.

Hey, Blade…?

And believe me, if comfort and continent-crossing mean more to you than just a bit of alliteration, then there just isn't another all-terrain vehicle in the world that can match the latest super-luxury products from the House of Land Rover.

They do come ruggeder – think Land Cruiser Station Wagon and Jeep Wrangler – but they don't come prettier and they don't come faster and they sure as hell don't come classier. I mean, the Queen of England drives one (rather well, apparently), so what's your problem?

The latest models have just been launched in South Africa – one with a familiar V8 diesel now displacing 3.6 litres and capable of 200kW and 640Nm which means that in low range it would pretty much idle over Hannibal's Alps, and the other with a supercharged V8 petrol engine up for 375kW and 625Nm.

The diesel returned 9.4 litres/100km in actual use, the petrol about 14.6.

The five-litre engine was developed – the first to be so created – in conjunction with sister brand Jaguar with the shared primary objective of the highest possible torque and fast response from low engine speeds.

Although the basic architecture of the engines is the same for each brand, some changes were needed for the Land Rover engines to satisfy demanding all-terrain requirements, such as a deeper sump to counter the extreme tilt experienced off-road, and to accommodate the front differential attached to it.

Belt drives were waterproofed, as were the alternator, aircon compressor, power-steering pump and starter motor.

Apart from the engines and some trim detail (the diesel tries to be more macho by dropping some bling and exchanging it for darker finishes) the two models – 3.6 TD V8 diesel at R 1 164 000 and 5.0 V8 Supercharged petrol at R 1 204 000 - are pretty much identical in terms of gearboxes, drive trains and electronic driving aids and no other product on the road comes closes to matching them there either.

The petrol engine now delivers 29 percent more power and 12 percent more torque than the previous 4.2-litre unit; it and the turbodiesel send their torque through an auto/manual sequential gearbox and Land Rover's now established Terrain Response, an electronic engine, gearbox and suspension control system operated by the driver through a multi-position rotary switch on the transmission tunnel.

The system has undergone a series of improvements for 2010, including enhanced capabilities when tackling challenging terrain such as sand or large rocks. For soft sand – one of the most power-hungry surfaces, Land Rover says – there's now "sand launch control" which, apparently, hugely reduces the chances of bogging down thanks to wheelspin being damped.

AMAZING TECH

Revisions to the rock crawl program have, Land Rover says, improved brake and traction control response times to give "a more composed drive through rocky terrain". Automatic braking during low-range descents has been improved with smoother, less jerky, responses.

All this, or course, is just part of the Ranger Rovers' amazing tech (not all of it new); their awesome off-road capability and superb on-road ride have been carried over and, really, no other car comes close to the overall, all-round, decathlon-covering grit of these vehicles.

And there's still the Range Rover Sport to come in October – but we'll tell you more about that when it happens in the Western Cape.

Land Rover SA chose the eastern Free State on the Lesotho border for the exclusive media launch – only four journalists at a time with overnight accommodation at the amazing Destiny Castle perched on a high mountain top overlooking the Caledon River.

LOOK FORWARDS, GO BACKWARDS

Cattle-rustlin' country – and not only in days of old – with steep gradients and cambered, naked rock to be climbed. There's also a grass airstrip which, of course, was no challenge to driving but did provide an opportunity for the Range Rovers to show off their (standard) reversing cameras.

The system uses the two rear cameras (there are six altogether for 360-degree coverage, with obvious benefits in city traffic, off-road and even in domestic driveways with children and pets around), steering-angle input and enhanced image correction to help guide driver/car or driver/car/ trailer (of any size) partnerships through tricky situations without the driver's eyes ever leaving a screen on the fascia.

And yes, it’s standard equipment, along with satnav and other equipment which includes a "dual view" infotainment touchscreen that allows the passenger to watch TV or a video while the driver keeps tabs on navigation.

The principle is simple: each alternate pixel in each row and column faces left and right, effectively giving two screens in one. There's a second, 30cm screen, ahead of the driver, that uses thin-film transistors (TFT's, the same as on high-end laptop computers) to create a virtual instrument display that changes according to the driving requirements – and which Land Rover claims is a world first.

EXTERNAL CHANGES

It will show a conventional speedo, rev counter and fuel gauge, for instance, but as various functions of the Terrain Response and other systems are invoked will add differential lock settings, wheel articulation and other traction guides to the display. The three-dimensional effect is startling in its clarity.

Changes to the external appearance of the new Range Rover are minimal and involve only the headlights, grille and bumper. This, I was told, was because Range Rover customers were not really interested in changing the car's looks.

On-the-move safety equipment includes stability control, adaptive cruise-control, emergency braking assistance and – using the two front cameras – the ability to see traffic or pedestrians from the nose of the car when, for instance, emerging from a parking garage or side alley or from between parked vehicles.

Blind-spot monitoring and auto-dipping headlights are also standard – the latter able to distinguish between static and mobile light sources – as well as regenerative battery-charging, a sort of KERS system.

SPECIAL SHOCKS

The 2010 Range Rover also has an advanced suspension that further improves its ride quality. Its predictive technology continuously optimises shock-absorber settings using DampTronic Valve Technology units.

The settings on each shock are continuously refined to anywhere from 'soft' to 'hard' at up to 500 times a second, on or off-road. The system also plays its part when towing – up to 3.5 tons braked – by monitoring trailer sway and correcting it instantly through computer-controlled braking of various wheels.

All of which, of course, complements the cabin's passenger comfort: deep, power-adjustable leather seats, comprehensively variable aircon, secondary video screens in the front-seat head restraints (four channels can be used, two in the rear and two on the already mentioned front screen.

Finally, there's Land Rover's Autobiography programme which, rather like Rolls-Royce, can equip your new Range Rover, ex-factory, with a huge range of luxury features way too long to go into here.

Go check the Land Rover SA website or pop in to chat with a dealer (you'll find them on the website too).

It's what Hannibal would have done…