2011 Land Rover LR4 Review

That Land Rover is a bit of a stepchild when compared to the tonier Range Rovers is relativity writ large, because the LR4, albeit less patrician, is  doggone swell in its own right.

Although about the same as the last model year, save for some rock climbing and road-surface touches, the 2011 LR4 remains your ideal boyfriend: mannerable, looks good, and can kick tail (not mine) if the situation warrants. You know that, at the asking, it could break out the burly, big time.

Alas, I did not get a chance to accompany it up a mound, employing Hill Start Assist, but I did propel it over a goodly amount of rocks and uneven terrain (I once owned a Jeep, so a part of me loves this stuff). I tell you, it was nearly abominable to so tease this beast. I can still hear it irritably yawning. Sorry pal, perhaps the manufacturer will permit another, more abusive crack at it. As it was, I experienced a wonderfully sturdy frame construction; not once did I fear panel loss (have experienced such fear in lesser creations).

Also at the ready is Gradient Acceleration Control, which basically helps to prevent nose diving when you're heading steeply downward, and is in effect, using braking, even when regular Hill Descent Control isn't.

But really, everyday tooling was just as nice, if not exhilarating. Unlike some SUVs with this kind of capability and attendant machinery - i.e. the Terrain Response System - the LR4 did not feel lumbery-heavy or particularly cumbersome, although it's a big boy (close to 6,000 pounds). Guess it helps to have a whee-doggie 5.0-liter V-8, new last year, that produces 375 pound-feet of torque, plus four-corner electronic air suspension that can do multiple modes - including, natch, various off-road ones - helped by indie front and rear buffers. The full-time four-wheel-drive system is fed by a six-speed automatic transmission.

Of course, the mid-sized luxury SUV keeps its elegantly boxy exterior looks, complete with an asymmetrically split tailgate, and a whole gamut of interior niceties befitting the regal marque, including ample roominess. Standard are leather seats, Bluetooth capability, leather-wrapped tilt and telescopic steering wheel, electronic cruise control, power-adjustable driver's and front-passenger seats with armrests, power tilt-and-slide sunroof, 19-inch wheels, and a nine-speaker sound system.

For an extra $3,000, you get heated seats and steering wheel, heated front windshield and washer jets, third-row seat and curtain airbags, a split-folding second-row and rear climate control, along with an accessory socket and map lamps, bringing the sticker on my loaner to $51,150. Other a'la carte options are available, including a rear-seat entertainment system, a Harman Kardon audio system, and parking cameras.

BTW, the mid-sized guy only gets 12/17 mileage - so you will pay at the pump - but for the utility and sheer joy of handling, it's tough to compete against.

{Editor's Note: Shortly after Ms. Chapman spent time with the Land Rover, I too, experienced the charms of the LR4 on a day trip to the snow covered Sierra Nevada from my home in the San Francisco Bay Area. And while Ms. Chapman's card-carrying membership among the full-time denizens of Michigan's winters gives her absolute jeering rights when it comes to the fact I have to drive nearly 200 miles to find an accumulation of frozen precipitation, the trip revealed much about the Land Rover LR4's character.

For long highway runs, the LR4 amounts to a raised grand tourer, as its powerful engine, supple suspension, responsive steering, and comfortable interior endow it with an appetite for miles similar to a high school football player's affinity for the contents of the family refrigerator. The trip across California's Central Valley revealed the Land Rover goes through them just as quickly and effortlessly as a teen-aged middle linebacker does gallons of milk. Once we started our climb into the mountains, and the roads turned twisty, the LR4 barely broke its stride, employing a predictable dollop of understeer to help me keep the asphalt strip precisely where it belongs—tucked safely underneath the handsome ride.

When we got to the snow, the stateliness of the Land Rover drew open admiration from other day trippers who'd also decided that day was a good one to shoot hooky and go play in the snow. With its Terrain Response System set to snow and its suspension duly raised to provide maximum ground clearance, I could judiciously apportion the V8's generous torque output for plowing long furrows into the white stuff with outstanding stability,  traction and control. The Land Rover LR4 is one of but few automobiles in which I'd go out of my way specifically to experience inclement conditons—secure in the knowledge it'd bring my backside home again, regardless of what it encountered along the way. -LCb.}