2008 Land Rover Range Rover

Off-Road King Refined

Land Rover's flagship Range Rover is a plush and luxurious SUV that doesn't mind getting dirty.

The Range Rover blends conflicting functions by offering supreme luxury and extreme off-road ruggedness. Few other SUVs offer such high levels of both. The trade-off is a steep price.

Despite the considerable premium Land Rover charges for its vehicles, the company still struggles with quality control: Consumer Reports has consistently rated all Land Rover models as having reliability that is much worse than average. Land Rover ranks dead last in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2006 Initial Quality Study, which tracks the number of problems on vehicles within the first 90 days of ownership.

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The Land Rover Range Rover’s basic formula of classic, clean styling, old-school luxury appointments and superior off-road technology has been significantly revamped only three times in more than 30 years. The current, third-generation platform dates back to the 2003 model year. It received a number of updates last year, including an optional 400-hp supercharged engine.

The Range Rover includes Land Rover’s Terrain Response system, a sophisticated system that automatically adjusts the suspension, throttle, brakes and electronic traction aids according to five driver-selectable settings. These include three off-road modes for mud, sand and rocky trails. It makes navigating rough terrain as easy as steering around obstacles and all but drives the vehicle for you.

The base HSE version now gets the more-aggressive suspension setup first seen on last year’s Supercharged model — it’s meant to improve on-road agility. A new rear electronic differential that works with the standard electronic center locking differential to further improve the vehicle’s off-road prowess is standard on the Supercharged model and optional on the HSE.

Sitting inside a Land Rover Range Rover, the ostentation and sheer sense of luxury are palpable. Its plush interior benefits from a number of recent enhancements, including electronically released twin glove boxes, revised center console, electronic parking brake, new gauges, switches and trim, as well as improved climate-control and ventilation systems.

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The vehicle's various airbag were also revamped for the 2007 model year: Front side airbags were relocated from the doors to the seats; the passenger-side front airbag was redesigned and a driver's side inflatable knee bolster was added.

New acoustic windshield glass is triple-laminated for added sound insulation. Optional front seats are ventilated as well as heated.

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The top-of-the-line Range Rover Supercharged comes with a 4.2-liter supercharged V8 that generates an impressive 400 hp and 420 pound-feet of torque. This makes it as potent — at least on paper — as the Chevrolet Corvette and Maserati GranSport, though it trails the class-leading Porsche Cayenne Turbo by 50 hp.

The standard Range Rover HSE's 4.4-liter V8 generates 305 hp, which is more than enough for most drivers. Expect poor fuel economy from both engines — optimistically speaking, around 13 mpg city/18 mpg highway for the supercharged V8, and 14 mpg city/18 mpg highway for the base V8.

A six-speed automatic transmission is standard and automatically adapts its shifting patterns to driving style; it also includes a manual-shift mode.

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Standard equipment includes a tire-pressure monitoring system and a standard rearview video monitor, which can be especially handy for parallel parking. Sirius satellite radio ($400) and a rear-seat DVD entertainment system with dual screens ($2,500) — one mounted in the back of each front-seat headrest — are optional.

The Supercharged model adds premium leather upholstery, upgraded front brakes by brake experts Brembo, adaptive front headlights that swivel to illuminate the road around curves, heated front and rear seats, heated steering wheel and a ski sack integrated into the rear center seat back, behind the fold-down armrest.