2013 Land Rover LR2 Review
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Over the weekend I got a chance to drive the 2013 Land Rover LR2 and took it to the wonderful city of Ras Al Khaimah. At first glance when I saw the car it looked very good. It had beautiful styling, for a compact SUV, the lights were styled in a typical Land Rover fashion. The first impression when entering the car was surprise! It was a top of the line model of the LR2 and it had everything that a person can expect in a top of the line model. The color coordination of the interior can be thought of as the typical after-market interior upholstery which is the black and red combination. Nevertheless, the quality was top class, as expected of the English manufacturer.
Drive
The car is powered by a four cylinder 2.0 liter turbo charged engine which spews out 240 horses at 5500 RPM and 339 Nm torque at 3200 RPM. The power is available when needed but only after a short delay due to the turbo lag. After the turbo kicks in the car can really take off and show its true potential. The 2.0 T is an update from the previous 3.2 liter naturally aspirated engine that was fitted to the previous LR2 also known as the Freelander. The car handles like a charm! This was proved when I had to dodge one of the many goats that wonder around the streets of RAK, the car responded perfectly, given the fact that it is an SUV, the body roll is as much as a person would expect. When it came to the ride the 18 inch wheels and the suspension system provided a very smooth ride, the rugged and pothole-filled of RAK really gave the English car a test for its suspension, the LR2 casually shrugged off any road damage in its path. I wondered off into the mountains of RAK to test out the special terrain program system that is fitted into the land rover, the gravel and grass setting was selected when I had to drive on a gravel and pebble road, the system can be felt trying to catch traction on the rocks below in order to keep moving forward, and the least to say is that I was impressed by the difference that can be felt when the system is on or off. When there is no preset selected, the car struggles to move and crawls up the slopes. The best feature about this system is that on the dashboard screen, you get an indicator of the direction that the wheels are pointing in order to coordinate how you will move.
Interior
Regardless of having amazing interior color scheme, for a guy my size (1.85M) there is not enough legroom in the driver’s seat, the seat was all the way back as far as it could go and my knees were still touching the side of the steering column. Getting to the inside equipment of the car, the car has the equipment that you would expect to be in a British car. The car sports everything from keyless start to a dual zone moon roof. The Bluetooth connectivity is very simple and user friendly, you can connect your Bluetooth enabled phone to the car and have it up and running within 10 seconds.
The dual zone air conditioning system is very cold which is good for this part of the world but the drawback is that you cannot have it on a simple constant setting as it will get colder and you will have to turn it off and then it will get hot and you will have to turn it on. The navigation system is rather complicated to use, you cannot search within a list for a certain location in a specific city, you will have to browse through the entire list for all the locations with the same name in the entire country, which is time consuming and very inconvenient. The on board computer system had another issue, I looked at the fuel gauge and it was in the red zone, the trip computer said I had 26 KM before empty, so I naturally pulled into a gas station and asked for a full tank. The fuel gauge level increased but the trip computer still read I had 26 KM till empty and it kept giving off warning signs both audio and visual. It could be a rare glitch, but potential computer related issues might arise down the line.
The fuel economy on this car was not the best, on the highway going to and from RAK at a speed of 120KM/H the instant fuel consumption averaged from both ways at 13.7 L/100KM. inside the city, the average consumption as calculated by the trip computer was at 21.4 L/100KM. On top of that the petrol tank of the LR2 is significantly smaller than other similar cars where it has the capacity of 70 liters.
Verdict
At a price of 169,000 AED, the LR2 is a bit on the pricy side when compared to other compact SUVs. Nevertheless it does have the semi-luxury advantage over the competitors. The LR2 is not a rugged hardcore off-road car and it will not survive hard off-road conditions, but it will hold up in muddy areas and gravel after a rainy day very well. Bottom line, the LR2 is suitable for suburban folk who need the space for the kids and groceries, and the off-road capabilities will help when needed.
