2005 Land Rover Range Rover Test Drive

The King of SUVs

Off-Road

We know too well that very few of the 10,000 American buyers per year will want to get their Range Rovers dirty, let alone plunge their trucks headfirst into four feet of standing water down a 45-degree mud slope the way we did in Scotland. And yes, we did this repeatedly because it was so much fun — and the Range Rover just drove out the steep embankment on the other side without incident.

But then it's not our job to tell buyers how to drive — just to tell them where they could go if they wanted. And, of course, why it's possible to abuse a Range Rover this way without worry.

Suffice it to say, it would take a small book to explain how the Range Rover really works in an off-road situation, but here's a quick synopsis.

First, the Range Rover rides on an air-adaptive suspension linked to road-sensing software. Once the software calculates that the vehicle is being driven off-road, the ride softens to allow maximum wheel travel and suspension articulation. Also, the air suspension lets the driver raise the car for off-road use and lower it considerably (about six inches) for highway travel.

Off-road driving is further enhanced by "hill descent control." When we launched into our big puddle, we let go of the brakes and just steered. HDC operated the brakes at each wheel to slow the truck, and we literally crawled down to the water's edge despite being on a slope that, were we on foot, we'd slip and slide down in a millisecond. But the brakes in HDC mode are much smarter than mere feet, and respond to available grip and our steering inputs to walk the car at about 2 mph. You can also use this system in reverse in this truck, so in case you actually find a hill the Range Rover cannot climb, you can easily back your way down without danger.

Still, you need to maintain forward momentum to drive off-road, and thanks to a special increased-torque output position (at low speeds) when the transmission is shifted into low range, the Range Rover has no trouble achieving plenty of muscle even with modest use of the gas. Plus there's a manu-matic electronic transmission that lets you easily select gears (in low or high range), and an electronic differential can split power front or back as needed to offset wheel slip.

In all, even wheel-arc deep in muck, there was never a risk of getting stuck. And by the way, this was with standard road tires on the truck, not big-lugged mud-chewing rubber.

So please, if you do get a Range Rover, go exercise it in some dirt, snow, gravel or just plunge headlong into the nearest stream. We did — with water right up to the tops of the wheels — and came out both dry and grinning ear to ear. (We thought of stopping right there and catching a few salmon, but alas, we had more mud to chew up).