- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
4.0i, 8 cyl.
- Engine Power
132kW, 320Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (91) 14.1L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4XC
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
NA
- Ancap Safety
NA
1999 Range Rover 4.0 review: Quick drive
LEANER, BUT STILL MUSCULAR
FOR: Vastly increased affordability, ride comfort, prestige and equipment levels as well as true off-road ability.
AGAINST: Lacking in ultimate refinement, especially from engine, and performance won't match any equally priced conventional car.
VERDICT: Built to keep you and your bank manager happy.
RATING: 4 (out of 5)
ROYAL families of bygone centuries were never noted for a willingness to roll over and let usurpers steal their crowns. Tread on the toes of a monarch, threaten them with extinction and they will retaliate with all available weaponry.
Land Rover has held the 4WD crown since the 1970s with its V8-powered Range Rover flagship, as much at home doing duty as a luxury car as pounding up and down hills and across deserts. It's a crown other manufacturers have coveted and at last a couple of likely contenders have emerged in the 100-series Toyota LandCruiser V8 and soon-to-be-launched Mercedes Benz M-series.
Range Rover's response has been two-fold. The British-based (but BMW-owned) company has released a fully loaded Rangie called the Autobiography, which at about $150,000 takes care of the luxury side of the equation. But its main weapon has been to offer a Range Rover variant at a much lower price than before, the idea being to woo back previous buyers for whom the rest of the range is now out of reach and also to tempt others away from the opposition.
It's called the Range Rover 4.0 because of its engine capacity - less than the HSE and Autobiography models' 4.6-litre V8. It costs $79,950, which is a whacking $35,000 less than the HSE. You'd expect the 4.0 therefore, to be stripped of equipment to bring the price down. But it isn't necessarily the case. Far from being a stripped-down version of the original Rangie, this one is just plain good value. For Land Rover, it also plugs a gap between the HSE and the most expensive Discovery model.
The basics are certainly there, including an aluminium body on a ladder-frame chassis, air suspension with variable ride heights, permanent four-wheel drive with automatic transmission and a pushrod V8 engine. The lower capacity means less power and torque, the former down by 25 kW to 132 kW, the latter by 54 Nm to 304 Nm.
On paper it looks like a marginal prospect to move a vehicle which, unladen, weighs 2100 kg, but in practice it works pretty well. Granted, this is no rocketship, but neither is it a slug - a hearty prod on the throttle pedal will get it up an moving at the same pace or better than other traffic. On the highway it will cruise comfortably at the legal limit with plenty left in reserve for overtaking.
It isn't a sophisticated power unit however, being able to trace its origins back many decades, so there's plenty of induction noise to accompany acceleration. In true V8 tradition it is quite smooth and unlike the 4.6 version doesn't seem to mind operating at higher revs. The penalty for the Range Rover's weight is paid at the petrol pump, with around-town usage of about 17 litres/100 km and a single, 100-litre tank to fill.
But back to equipment levels. Some of the plushness of a wood grain and leather interior is missing, but what's left is a combination of useful gear such as anti-lock brakes, cruise control, remote central locking and twin airbags plus nice touches such as a leather-wrapped steering wheel, alloy wheels, and height adjustment for both front and rear seatbelts.
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There's plenty to remind the driver that Range Rover has been in the luxury off-road market for a long time and benefited from the experience. The seats are high, comfortable and have fold-down armrests which double as grab handles for passengers. The automatic shift selector has a separate gate for low-range 4WD ratios rather than the usual extra knob.
The Range Rover isn't as large as a Lexus LX470 (nee Toyota LandCruiser) or Nissan Patrol, but large glass areas allow better vision than either of the two, and combined with the high seating affords an excellent view of the road. It isn't cramped inside, and anyone intimidated by larger, more truck-like off-roaders will appreciate its slightly smaller feel. Bigger families however, should note it is a five-seater with no provision for a third row in the luggage area.
But that means plenty of room for whatever needs to be carried: the horizontally split tailgate has a single button that releases first the top glass section, then the lower half of the gate. The spare wheel is under the floor, which seems to affect neither the Rangie's departure angle nor ground clearance, both of which can be extended using the adjustable suspension.
A dash-mounted button raises or lowers suspension for off-road use, but most owners will be content to leave it in tautomatic mode most of the time. There, it provides a formidably good ride, given it has to cope with the subtleties of about-town use as well as washaways on dirt roads - and does both equally well.
The 4.0 attacks the Range Rover's biggest drawback - its high price - while minimising any step downmarket. Certainly, if it's the image a buyer is after, then apart from different alloy wheels it can hardly be separated visually from more expensive models. It isn't as quiet, refined or even as fast as its main rival, the Toyota LandCruiser GXV, but in all areas the Range Rover is still close to best in class. Including, for the first time, value for money.
THE DETAILS
Engine: 4.0-litre, OHV V8
Power: 132 kW at 4750 rpm
Performance: 0-100 km/h in 12.1 sec
Fuel economy: 15.8 L/100 km (average)
Price: $79,950
Rivals: Toyota LandCruiser GXV, $89,900 / Holden Suburban LT, $78,990 / Nissan Patrol Ti, $64,790