Car Enthusiast - click here to access the home page


 



2004 Range Rover Td6 review. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.

2004 Range Rover Td6 review
Though the modern-day Range Rover competes with cars such as the S-class Mercedes and the Jaguar XJR, there remains a large market for diesel versions. Land Rover's parent company, Ford has a couple of state-of-the-art diesel engines in the pipeline for the Range Rover, but until then it is making do with a BMW-derived 3.0-litre straight-six. We had the opportunity to spend a week with a top-of-the-range Vogue version.

   



<< earlier review     later review >>

Reviews homepage -> Land Rover reviews

Though the modern-day Range Rover competes with cars such as the S-class Mercedes and the Jaguar XJR, there remains a large market for diesel versions. Land Rover's parent company, Ford has a couple of state-of-the-art diesel engines in the pipeline for the Range Rover, but until then it is making do with a BMW-derived 3.0-litre straight-six. We had the opportunity to spend a week with a top-of-the-range Vogue version powered by this engine, including a four-up trip to France for the Le Mans race. Are the new powerplants much needed, or could Land Rover hold onto the BMW-sourced unit?

Time spent driving a Range Rover Vogue is no hardship, but when it turns up in 'Alveston Red Micatallic' (which hints at the fabulous Range Stormer concept car) I can't help but smile broadly. This is going to be a good week. The Range Rover has received few changes since we drove the V8 Vogue in 2002, so I am expecting to familiarise myself with the car quickly and concentrate on the influence of the diesel engine. The lofty driving position is a good place to be in a Range Rover, enabling significant forward vision. This is especially useful on narrow roads where the sheer size of the car impedes swift progress. Overtaking slower traffic is also made easier by being able to see over them. I am not normally a fan of wood in cars, but Land Rover has managed to make its use thoroughly contemporary in the Range Rover. Unfortunately, our test car made do with 'Foundry' trim, which is a sort of silver/grey textured material. There is no price difference between the two wood trims available and this option, so it really is down to personal choice.

Elsewhere, the interior is very well appointed. The cream leather is one of seven different leather colour options and is of very high standard. Grip the chunky steering wheel and you will notice how tactile that is too. All switches are damped to perfection; with perhaps a little over-engineering gone into items such as the gas struts for the central console. Attention to detail is impressive though - take a close look at the exquisite stainless steel air vents for instance, and the double sun visor, which allows simultaneous shading of the front and side windows. We did notice, and made full use of, the generous sprinkling of 12-volt power outlets. It is not a perfect interior: I would not be doing my job if I didn't point out the lack of sufficient storage space for odds and ends. In such a large car, Land Rover could have spent a little more brainpower on clever versatility. Range Rover owners may not need to squeeze a throng of kids in very often, but four adults driving across Europe need cubby holes too. Otherwise, long journeys are a joy in the cocoon that is the Range Rover interior. The seats are exceedingly comfortable; though I did notice in a rare stint in the rear seats that passengers in the back are subjected to the occasional vertical 'jiggle' from the movement of the rear suspension. This cannot be felt in the front at all and must be a consequence of sitting right over the rear axle.

Back in the driver's seat, I was impressed with how well insulated the passengers are from the outside world and the diesel engine in particular - certainly at idle. Only when pushing on does the characteristic diesel noise become an intrusion. Though it is a six-cylinder unit, it sounds quite raucous, certainly in comparison to the sportier note of the 3.0-litre diesel fitted in the BMW 330d. Indeed, comparing the outputs of these engines suggests that perhaps the Range Rover unit is a much earlier development. Indeed, the Range Rover unit is shorter in stroke to that fitted to the BMW. Its 174bhp looks quite impotent next to the healthy 204bhp of the BMW (that car is now available with even more power), and pales when compared with the 282bhp of the petrol V8 Range Rover. Horsebox pulling torque should be the forte of the diesel Range Rover though, and the straight-six produces a sound 287lb.ft at a mere 2000rpm. This proved to be ample for loping along the French autoroutes at high speed, though we could have done with a little more top-end urge for overtaking on the fabulously straight N138 into Le Mans itself. Though we may have longed for the aural delight of a petrol V8, and its significant power advantage, we certainly wouldn't have welcomed the extra fuel stops, even at French prices. The diesel Range Rover manages 25mpg on the combined economy cycle to the V8's 17.4mpg. Over 1,000 miles of high-speed driving, that adds up to a significant saving, never mind a year in the life of the car's ownership.

The dynamics of the diesel Range Rover are no different to the petrol version. It feels as if you could never break it. Most Range Rover owners may never test the extreme off-road behaviour of the car, but they like to know that it is one of the more capable SUVs on the market. Its natural habitat is a wide road though, where it does a good job of imitating a luxury saloon. Wind and road noise are impressively contained, especially when you take into consideration the brick-like profile and the large rubber. You probably won't seek out twisty roads, but dry weather grip usually outguns the engine's torque in any case, though there is little communication through the helm. Saying that, the Range Rover doesn't roll as much as you might expect. The automatic transmission is one of the best tested, slurring shifts effortlessly, and keeping the engine on the boil. It also features a manual mode should you want to, for example, prepare for overtaking. The brakes work well to haul such a heavy vehicle down from speed, but repeat this feat a few times and they wave the white flag of surrender that is brake fade. I know that the Range Rover is not for the track, but surely the brakes should be capable of more than this, considering it will often be used for towing heavy loads.

I was sad to hand the keys back to Land Rover. The Range Rover has a lot of character and endears itself to its passengers. It effortlessly coped with the demands of a trip to Le Mans and back, stuffed to the gills with luggage and people, driven at sustained high speed through the night and then subjected to the searing heat and dust of the campsite, before doing it all again on the way back to Blighty. The petrol version would not have done the job any better, and the Td6 is a useful £6,000 less than the V8 in Vogue trim. Sadly, with the rapid development of the diesel engine we are seeing right now, I feel that the Range Rover unit is badly in need of an update. Thankfully, Jaguar now has a powerful twin turbo V6 diesel in its range, which should slip under the square bonnet of the Range Rover nicely. Perhaps of more interest is the development of a new V8 diesel. We expect to see it launched sometime in 2005. In fact, if it were not for the introduction of an all-new (Jaguar-sourced) petrol V8, there would soon be no reason to buy a petrol Range Rover.

Shane O' Donoghue - 20 Sep 2004



  www.landrover.co.uk    - Land Rover road tests
- Land Rover news
- Range Rover images

2004 Land Rover Range Rover specifications: (Td6 3.0 diesel)
Price: £54,995 on-the-road.
0-62mph: 13.6 seconds
Top speed: 111mph
Combined economy: 25.0mpg
Emissions: 299g/km
Kerb weight: 2435kg

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.



2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2004 Range Rover TD Vogue. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 






 

Internal links:   | Home | Privacy | Contact us | Archives | Old motor show reports | Follow Car Enthusiast on Twitter | Copyright 1999-2024 ©