2010 Land Rover Range Rover HSE San Diego CA
2010 Land Rover Range Rover HSE
October 26, 2009 By Brian Alexander, Road Test Editor
2010 Land Rover Range Rover 
2010 Land Rover Range
Rover
DriverSide Overview
Few brands in the modern carscape enjoy the dichotomous image that Land Rover’s Range Rover so expertly exudes. At its core a go anywhere, climb anything, traverse all conceivable topographies utility vehicle, somehow the Range Rover manages to look as at home dropping celebrities onto red carpets as it does traversing the Kalahari with weeks worth of consumables strapped to the roof. How they have managed to pull off such a feat largely remains a mystery that has driven marketing professors mad for years and kept the competition guessing for equally long, but it does ensure one thing – each successive Range Rover design is more impressive than the last, both in staggering off-road confidence and opulent luxury. So why should the 2010 Range Rover HSE be any different? Aside from a few subtle exterior changes – including easily identifiable LED headlight surrounds – most of the differences in the new Rangey’s design lie under its skin. A new 5.0-liter direct injection V-8 engine provides performance virtually indistinguishable from that of the old supercharged unit, while the suspension measures road response 500 times per second and has the ability to adjust up to 100 times per second. Interior refinements include a simplified dash layout and a highly impressive 12-inch TFT all-digital dash that can provide drivers with a multitude of information. Plus, you can still drive it up (and down) just about anything. Of course, if that’s not enough, there’s always the 510 hp supercharged model.
2010 Range Rover HSE
2010 Range Rover HSE
2010 Range Rover HSE
What's to Like
Range Rover’s new 12-inch TFT screen is the largest in the industry and can provide drivers with useful off-road information such as differential lockup and vertical wheel travel. The increased low-end torque of the new engine fits the chassis and its off-road demeanor well. There are only ten options offered for the vehicle, which really simplifies the buying process and doesn’t make the consumer feel as if they’re pricing themselves out of the vehicle.
What's Not to Like
It’s difficult not to laugh at fuel economy consumption numbers that never escape the high teens, in this case 12 mpg city, 18 mpg highway. Blame the bulbous 5,697 lb curb weight. Cargo capacity is also down on some of its larger competitors.
The Drive:
DriverSide Driving Impressions
Luxurious and massive, the Range Rover is like a limousine jacked up on stilts. The steering is quite light and not very feelsome – perhaps hinting at its disposition for off-road antics – but is accurate, making the massive Range Rover easily placeable on roads.