2010 Land Rover Range Rover

2010 Land Rover Range Rover

The age-old Defender might be the archetypal Land Rover to fans of the marque, but it’s the Range Rover that is most ubiquitous on the roads of the Middle East.

Mixing top-of-the-line off-road prowess with luxury befitting royalty, the Range Rover is a British classic SUV with 40 years of heritage.

The 2010 model is another update to the latest generation introduced in 2002. This makes the underlying platform old in car terms, but Land Rover has worked hard to keep both design and vehicle performance fresh and competitive. The new model features new engines and various cosmetic tweaks inside and out, as well as new technology to improve the ride and handling.

The big news for this model Range Rover is the all-new engines, developed in-house by Jaguar Land Rover and found in cars across both brands. The units powering the Range Rover are both variants of the same 5.0-litre V8. One is naturally aspirated with 375bhp, the other is supercharged and puts out 510bhp. The engines have been designed with both performance and fuel economy in mind, and represent an improvement of up to 28 percent in the performance of the engines from the outgoing 4.2-litre engines.

2010 Land Rover Range Rover

Looks-wise, the 2010 Range Rover has small changes to the headlights, grille and bumpers, but you’d have to compare the 2009 and 2010 models side-by-side to notice much of a difference. The headlights now feature LEDs and the grille is now a mesh design similar to the outgoing supercharged model. The bumper has been smoothed and the fog lights mounted lower on the vehicle.

Inside, the technological highlight is a very clever 12-inch TFT touch screen that displays different images to driver and passenger. So, for example, a passenger can watch a DVD while the driver sees the satellite navigation display. The quality of the leather used in the upholstery has also been improved. There is full support for a USB stick, iPod and an auxiliary input socket for other music sources.

Other features include adaptive cruise control and an optional surround camera system that uses five cameras to give a complete picture of the terrain around the car, designed to help parking and off road driving.

2010 Land Rover Range Rover

Plenty of work has gone on under the skin to ensure that the dynamics of the 2010 Range Rover are up to scratch. The Adaptive Dynamics system continuously monitors the road condition and adjusts the suspension to the optimum settings during both on and off-road driving. It is standard on all supercharged models and an option on others.

The braking system has also been upgraded, with the naturally-aspirated car getting brakes based on those found on the old supercharged model, and the new supercharged car sporting new, larger discs and bigger callipers. Enhanced Dynamic Stability Control and Roll Stability Control help keep control of the vehicle in extreme situations.

Land Rover’s Terrain Response system has been widely praised in previous vehicles. It is controlled by a knob on the centre console, which can be switched to different terrain settings. The system then adjusts suspension, traction control and other systems to the best settings for that surface. Changes for 2010 include the ability to keep traction control on when Terrain Response is set to Sand mode, and launch control for sand that stops the wheels digging in when moving from standstill.

2010 Land Rover Range Rover

Safety-wise, the 2010 Range Rover has an optional Blind Spot Monitoring system to alert drivers to hidden dangers, and a surround camera system that uses five externally mounted cameras to give almost a 360-degree view of the surrounding terrain. Very useful for parking or off-roading.

The naturally aspirated Range Rover is available in two trims in the region – HSE or Vogue. HSE is the entry-level car while Vogue introduces a sunroof and adaptive headlights.

The supercharged Range comes in three trim levels – Vogue, Vogue SE and Autobiography. The Vogue SE features a rear electronic differential and rear screen entertainment pack while Autobiography models feature extra leather and bespoke options.

You can read our road test of the 2010 Land Rover Range Rover here.

2010 Land Rover Range Rover

Price (AED): 325,000 (5.0), 425,000 (5.0 Supercharged)

Body style: SUV

Weight (kg): 3,200

Trim levels: N/A