2008 Land Rover LR2 (continued)
Walkaround
There's no mistaking the LR2 for anything but a Land Rover. Its design director says the LR2 has "chiseled lines, chunky good looks and sporty energy." We'll go along with that, as well as with his other adjectives: "simple, uncluttered, sculptured, sophisticated, dynamic, refined."
Your neighbors might think it's a Range Rover, although it's 18.6 inches shorter overall and 6.5 inches less high. But its wheelbase is only 6.5 inches less, giving it a total of one less foot of overhangs, which makes it more modern and compact. It also has a cool trapezoidal engine vent on each front fender just under the sideview mirror, a wider body-colored C-panel, black door handles, and outstanding 12-spoke spidery 18-inch wheels in silver alloy. Sleeker horizontal rectangular headlamps. As a package, it's the best looking and best proportioned Land Rover out there, although the LR3 (bigger than an LR2 and smaller than a Range Rover) is also very tidy. We just wish the LR2's silver plastic grille were black, and didn't look like its pattern was designed in about 10 minutes. The LR3 has by far the best grille, with body-colored slats.
Safety is enhanced by the LR2's monocoque structure, which uses crumple zones and ultra high strength steel to create what Land Rover calls a safety cell.
Interior Features
Sitting in the slightly elevated driver's seat, which Land Rover calls Command View, you feel satisfied by knowing that your SUV was designed by the best. It's a very professional layout, all black and thick and having no-nonsense gauges, instruments and controls. The smooth and meaty four-spoke, leather-wrapped steering wheel, with two horizontal and two vertical spokes coming straight down from the hub, adds to the solid overall feel of the vehicle; the buttons for cruise control and the sound system are on those vertical spokes. The gauges couldn't be cleaner, a big speedo and tach split by one smaller circle with fuel and water temperature, with neat small white numbers on a black background. They're shaded from the sun's glare by an extension from the dashboard like a visor. The rest of the dash is sloped, providing more of that Command View. A thick strip of stylish wood splits the dash panel.
The center stack is wide and full of black rectangular buttons that make you feel like a pilot when you press them; a few of the icons are arcane, but they're not as baffling as German ones. The vents are long and rectangular, on each side of the navigation screen having displays for other information such as climate control and the sound system.
The center stack doesn't flow into the console like some vehicles. Forward of the shift lever and at the bottom of the center stack, there's a big round knob for the Terrain Response System. It controls engine and traction settings for four different driving conditions: general; grass, gravel and snow; mud and ruts; and sand. The lever and knob are nicely rimmed and trimmed by aluminum-look plastic.
The standard seats are good Land Rover leather; they're roomy and supportive, not always an easy combination. Ours were black and looked terrific. They were so good that after one day and 400 hard miles, including hundreds of hard curves and some time off-road, we weren't a bit sore. You can't say much more about a seat than that.
There are sufficient storage spaces all over, with good legroom in front, 41.9 inches, but less good in the rear, 36.4 inches; that's still nearly an inch more than the larger Range Rover, although it's 1.2 inches less than the LR3 (it's longer by 14 inches) and a huge 3.2 inches less than the new Ford Edge crossover. Our back-seat passenger said he didn't feel cramped, maybe thanks to the Stadium Seating, elevated a bit for better visibility out the windshield, while still allowing 39.4 inches of headroom.
The 60/40 rear seat folds flat, yielding 58.9 cubic feet of storage space, and there's 26.7 cubic feet with the rear seat raised; those are pretty good numbers but not as much as a Toyota RAV4, for example. There would be more cargo space if if the loading floor were lower; but if it were, you'd have to bend down to load things through the liftgate. The floor has a unique reversible cover: one side is carpeted, the other a washable surface.
The standard 40-watt sound system with eight speakers has an automatic volume control; the faster you drive, the louder it gets.
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