[MUSIC]
Well this is it.
The last chunky square Land Rover sold in the North American market.
Everything else has gone kind of stitified.
Nice vehicles, but this had got the essence, the look.
Let's drive this LR4 and.
In the high [iii] trim [iii].
[MUSIC]
Now the LR4 has that kind of look where you'd expect the queen's security detail to come piling out at a stop sign with their MP5s barely hidden under their saddle road jackets.
It's got that sort of combination of British handsomeness and capability.
The signature design feature on the LR4 has to be those windows in between the C and D pillars on the side.
They look like kind of a different interpretation of what a Vista Cruiser wagon used to have, but unfortunately, that wrap over glass is just for looks.
There's basically body work up there at the top.
The lines are handsome and square and says, I know what I'm doing, off road and carrying up to seven people in the optional three row configuration.
The second and third rows fold more or less flat for the inevitable antiquing, but do it from the front, not the back or with power as some slick minivans do.
Batman would love this thing.
He could get his gobos in the puddle lamps.
The first thing you'll notice about an L.R.4.
Is that it feels inside as it looks outside.
Tall, angular and airy.
This is a really cool greenhouse to be in.
Which a lot of S.U.V.'s and Cross Overs are trending away from.
I wish this was a panoramic roof but it's not, it's in two pieces and this glass moving part up here doesn't really get out of the way very much so it's a little bit frustrating in that respect.
Now let's get to the main event, the head unit with all of our infotainment functions.
Hang on a second.
Hello?
It's my old Palm Trio calling.
Yeah, what's up?
Oh okay, I'll pass that on.
Yeah.
It wants its interface designer back.
[MUSIC]
This is what we call, in the vernacular of the tech industry, god awful.
It's a very dated design, it wastes a lot of space on Chrome and lines and boxes.
It has a lot of dead space in it.
For example, if you go to the radio.
I just want to see more information on what I'm listening to right now, not a majority of kind of standard utility buttons that I may not use for minutes or hours.
Lots of truncation of what I want to read.
The screen itself is small by today's standards, especially on a pricy vehicle.
Navigation.
Navigation.
Go to.
Go to.
Address.
Navigation.
Go to address.
Please say the city name or say change search area.
San Francisco.
Sorry.
Okay you lost me at San Francisco as soon as a system wants information, little onesie, twosie buckets like that I know we're back in the 90's, no thanks.
On the audio system you've got several levels of Meridian sound they've dumped Harmon Kardon.
We have the high-end system, which is some 17 speakers and 800 plus watts.
Your sources are all good.
You've got basically everything here you might want.
I've never been able to get the Bluetooth streaming to work.
Maybe it's just my phone, though no other car I've ever tested has a problem with my phone but this one does.
Beyond that, you've got your USB and AUX connections.
You can get a rear seat entertainment system that appears to be USB and MP4-biased, not so much disc.
AM/FM, HD, and satellite radio, of course, are all in here.
There's an apps package called InControl, but our LR4 is one year too old to have it.
'15s and later can pull up I Heart Radio.
Glimpse for location sharing.
Sygic offline navigation which is probably better than the factory rig and seldom seen choices like news on board and mobile day.
They've moved the place where you plug in your portables from in the console, and I'll show you why in a minute, to one of the two glove boxes.
The upper one now has a little dock over there with your USB and your aux.
It's handy to have it up high and in it's own little bin.
Unless you're driving alone, in which case, you can't reach it.
Here's why the USB stuff isn't in the console anymore.
Because, we've got a little frig in here.
You can turn that on, keep things cool as you drive.
Bigger ergonomics screwup, once we turn to the drive controls.
If you're a six footer, like me, there is actually no way.
You can lower the seat enough and raise the steering wheel enough to see the gauges.
I have lost everything between 1 and 6000 RPM, and I can't see anything between 50 and 110 miles an hour.
I think I would use those ranges in day to day driving.
If I could see them.
Now your automatic transmission is one of these rise to your hand knobs that Jag, Land Rover is so big on.
You've also got shift paddles over here for your standard one choice automatic transmission, we'll get to the powertrain in a minute under the hood.
Over here is your terrain response system where you can dial in very.
Simply.
A little pictogram of whatever kind of terrain challenge you are facing.
You've also got your height adjustment, rear differential lock, crawl control, and whether or not you're gonna be in high or low on your transfer case.
We have the optional 2-speed transfer space.
They don't all come with that.
[MUSIC]
No longer a five liter V8 found up here.
Now it's a much a smaller three liter, but supercharged V6.
340 horsepower but only 332 pound feet of torque.
I normally expect a supercharged engine to have a very high torque number.
This one, not really.
And it has to move over 5,600 pounds of British squared off tradition.
Still it gets up to 60 in 7.7 seconds, pretty respectable, and does that through a one-choice only eight speed automatic, where it used to have a six speed automatic.
Nice improvement there as well.
And obviously, these are all four wheel drive.
Their MPG is rated at 14, 19.
That really means 14 in everyday living I'm pretty sure.
There is some efficiency tech here helping prop it up as much as it does that would include auto start stop technology and brake energy regeneration to reduce some of the alternator lag, but overall this is not light on the fuel or light on the pavement.
[MUSIC]
Well, I note this is a serious capable off roader, the ride quality is outstanding.
It's basically a luxury car which depends on what you have to do these days, to play in this market, at this price.
Now power is, power is kind of disconnected.
It's not the worst I've driven but there's no sharp throttle.
Response here.
You get a burst of power a moment after you press the throttle and it's more than you really want and then you're backing it off and reigning it in so it's kind of a lumpy yo-yoie drive quality.
It's not too out of character with this kind of vehicle though.
And there is ample power and it's very linear once it does come on.
Now in terms of visibility tech you've got blind spot monitor and indicators here on the mirror.
Nothing active about it.
Cross traffic alert in the back.
We have adaptive cruise control on this particular sample.
There's no forward collision tech, though, no warning or automatic braking.
And you can also get a surround camera as well as, we have the sort of porpoise nosed camera here that looks out left and right for when you're nosing out of a blind alley, or something like that.
Now, I've got no place to really check out the off road ability of this terrain response system.
Here in urban greater San Francisco.
But it's, as you've seen, easy to operate, very straightforward and the air suspension can grab a big degree of additional lift here when you do go off-road.
Now I 'm coming to a stop sign here.
Let's see how this start/stop technology works.
Off we go.
And now I'm a lift off the brake, and actually among the quickest I've driven; which would surprise you considering I'm comparing it to some fine German sporting sedans, but this one [SNAP] fires quickly, it's fairly unobtrusive; and perhaps because of the sheer weight of the vehicle, it doesn't shake the whole cabin.
So it's actually very satisfying.
[MUSIC]
Now, you can get into an LR4 for, for as little as about 50,000 and change.
But we've got the lux package, so we're starting at about 61,500.
Then we add on the key options, we'll start with the HD package if you want the serious two speed transfer case.
Satellite and HD Radio are insultingly ala carte at $750 for the package.
The apps suite is $430, afraid I couldn't test it and tell ya if it's worth.
Adaptive cruise is $1300 but as I mentioned has no forward collision warning tech.
And vision assist, which includes auto high beams, the blind spot and surround camera tech as well as that front junction camera is 1600 more.
All in you're looking at about $67,000, Cnet Style, for a vehicle that's been dramatically modernized and refreshed as it comes into this model year, and yet retains a certain traditional British something.
[MUSIC]
