Range Rover Air Suspension Manual Override

Range Rover Air Suspension Override Drivers Who Must

Only Honda among the major carmakers seems to understand that simplicity is at the heart of high technology and that masses of complex controls do not necessarily justify a high sticker price.

A quick summary of the weird tale: BMW buys the venerable Rover Group in 1994 from British Aerospace for 1.3 billion.

BMWs No. 2 man, Wolfgang Reitzle, then unloads 1.4 billion to create a new world-class Range Rover, using the German firms 4.4-liter V-8, which is also headed for the Bimmers X5 sport-ute.

After Rover begins losing 2 million a day, Reitzle is shown the door, but he rejoins the project when hes hired by Ford in 1999 to head its Premier Automotive Group, which acquired the faltering Range Rover marque in July 2000 from a disillusioned BMW for 2.6 billion.

Ironically, once Reitzle finally got his baby back, he quit Ford and took a nonautomotive job with Linde AG in Germany.).

He may be right. Surely, this latest iteration of the Range Rover--with its all-new, ultra-stiff monocoque body (a torsional stiffness of 24,000 pound-feet per degree), independent four-wheel suspension, permanent four-wheel drive with a two-speed on-the-fly transfer case and a torque-sensing center differential--seems prepared to assault all manner of obstacles short of the north face of the Eiger.

The legendary Range Rover off-road capability is sheathed in a striking body that has an aluminum hood and doors, and theres increased interior space.

With a curb weight of 5666 pounds (about 800 heavier than the last Range Rover we tested) and an overall length of 194.9 inches, the Range Rover will never be confused with a Toyota Matrix.

But its boxy, traditional styling neatly retains familiar Range Rover contours while adding multiple xenon headlights and functional power vents on the front fenders.

The Rovers stance can be elevated via air springs at the touch of a button to offer 11 inches of ground clearance for work in the woods, yet its lowered highway stance (8.8 inches off the deck) tucks the body neatly around the wheel wells that house chunky Goodyear Wrangler 25555HR-19 radials.

Because it offers potentially impressive capabilities both on- and off-road, our first examination involved only its more civilized application on the highway.

Its estimated that no more than 15 percent of Range Rover owners ever seriously ramble through the boonies, so our test of the vehicles mettle in the mountains and muck will come later--although country clubbers can remain confident that if necessary the most difficult fairway sand traps can be navigated without difficulty.

In such situations owners will find salvation in the Bosch-developed dynamic stability control coupled with ABS, four-wheel traction control, and hill-descent control.

Thanks in part to its new rack-and-pinion steering and surprisingly modest levels of wind noise, the Range Rover is an effortless highway cruiser, although its substantial sail area can make it jittery in brisk crosswinds.

With its ZF 5HP24 automatic notched in fifth, the big machine will laze along the interstates at 75 to 80 mph with the tach needle hovering below 3000 rpm.

Higher revs under acceleration offer the bonus of a lusty V-8 exhaust note, and those seeking more performance can call on the BMW-developed Steptronic for manual override, gearchanging at the 6000-rpm redline.

Top speed is computer-controlled at 130 mph, although weight and frontal area retard its quarter-mile time to 17.0 seconds at a tepid 80 mph.

Like all vehicles that can top three tons with a pair of passengers onboard, the latest Range Rover will never be confused with a sports car.

Although the steering effort is firm and accurate on-center and turn-in is precise and predictable, ultimate grip is limited to 0.65 g by an overly vigilant stability-control system.

Body lean is minimal, but one is left with the impression that overzealousness will lead to terminal understeer and other handling unpleasantness, although 52.2 percent of the weight is on the rear wheels.

Although the Range Rovers distant cousin, the BMW X5, retains its title as the best handling of the big sport-utes, this Britishimagesmedia61assets-image-020503145410jpg-photo-8585-s-inline-image.jpgGermanimagesmedia61assets-image-020503145410jpg-photo-8585-s-inline-image.jpgAmerican hybrid is surprisingly civilized for a vehicle of its size, height, and bulk.

A close examination of the machine reveals radical improvements in fit and finish.

In the years prior to BMW and Fords influence, Range Rovers had a quaint, homemade quality that appealed to staunch Anglophiles but infuriated owners whose most frequent off road experiences came when their inoperative vehicles were hauled off to dealerships on flat-bed trucks.

Somehow the designers have managed to integrate two tones of leather, several sections of cherry, and panels of multihued stainless steel into a gorgeous interior.

Jammed into the front-seat compartment, however, are more than 100 hieroglyphically coded switches, knobs, buttons, and handles (11 alone on the heated steering wheel; 16 on each front seat) that add up to fussy, semidemented technological overkill.

Range Rover Air Suspension Override Drivers Who Must

Although the labeling and logic of these controls are more transparent than the Klingon switches in the old Range Rover, they can still pose a challenge to new drivers who must grope through the morass to even tune the radio.

This, by the way, can be accomplished only via the audio-and-navigation system, which has a 60-page instruction book accompanying the 253-page owners manual.

Range Rover Air Suspension Manual Override