The Arizona mountains are some big matzoh balls, and four philosophers in the 2016 Range Rover Td6 decided we could not lift them. Instead we went straight into them, and for the first time since I started driving Land Rovers in ’04, brothers and sisters, I understood why anyone would purposely take a vehicle off-road. It had seemed to me, in the past, an activity best suited to hardcore, committed dudes and bros – young men in bandanas, deltoids, biceps and lats rippling in sleeveless t-shirts, perhaps a dog in the passenger seat. Not me, in other words.
These mountains were gargantuan, solid, tough and magnificent, but so we were we with the with the TD6′s “All-Terrain Progress Control.” (ATPC) Deployed, ATPC lets the Land Rover crawl over minor boulders or descend like a tarantula. Set the speed using the cruise-control buttons on the steering wheel and ATPC figures out the rest. It can even control your speed while descending, but unlike hill-descent control, ATPC operates only at very low speeds. Hands off the accelerator and brake, guy – let the technology judge speed and management of the vehicle, and you’re good.
These controls, when deployed, made this half a driverless car and the other half a twice-as-vigilant operator at the wheel avoiding the sharper rocks, an occasional cliff and marvelling at the technology allowing us to not only to go off-road, but also to avoid damaging the vehicle. Who likes to have to send their car to the shop, or fix a flat? Nobody.
For example, we were passed by a Jeep Wrangler at one point during our crawl, its driver obviously anxious to whip through the mountain, and I pulled to the right and let him do it. The expert in my cockpit pointed out the possible cost of his impatience, whether later today or in the future. Tires, undercarriage, alignment and more aren't the mountain – you rough ‘em up, it will cost you money down the line, unlike the mountain which will survive most anything you can throw at it. Your off-road fun in the Td6 won’t be followed by a hangover consisting of a flat or other breakdown, in other words. Although we shall see, right? Let’s talk in, say, two years. Most marriages are sweet at the start; if it survives two Thanksgivings and Christmases, as the great Leon Errol asserted, you’re ok.
The 2016 Range Rover’s other standout features include a new diesel engine, one which sounds mighty-mighty minus the trucklike stink of diesels past, and it also, if driven the right way on highways, squeaks into the low 20s, MPG-wise. It’s comfortable, it’s plush, its sound system kicks it and there isn’t any blizzard or storm you won’t be able to scoff at when you need to make a grocery store or gym run in wintertime. Our machine’s sticker starts at $87,445, while the 2016 Range Rover Sport Td6 will start at $67,445. Both are offered in higher-level HSE trim, bumping prices to $94,445 for the Range Rover and $72,445 for the Range Rover Sport.
This was a dusty, dirty, shaky, rock-and-roll, fun half-day that made sense. I get it now.
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