The 2016 Range Rover HSE Td6 is So Luxurious, It Even Thinks for You
When you think of a four-wheel-drive luxury SUV, which one comes to mind? The Land Rover Range Rover, right? It’s a no-brainer.
It is in many other ways, too. We found that out after driving a 2016 Range Rover HSE Td6 for a week around the streets of Austin, Texas and up and down the trails of an off-highway vehicle (OHV) park in the nearby city of Marble Falls.
Behind its leather and wood steering wheel, we didn’t think about the outside world because we largely couldn’t hear it. The cabin was that well-insulated from sound – even that from its 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6. We didn’t give much thought to passing semis on the highway thanks to its 254 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque that gave us a firm push in the back when we put the right pedal down.
Around town, although we did have the presence of mind to check the side mirrors before changing lanes, there was little need for us to. Our review vehicle had Lane Departure Warning technology keeping its eyes open for us. The Range Rover was even able to read speed limit signs, although sometimes it missed one here or there. Luckily, we knew we were supposed to do 70 on the highway.
When we discovered that the Range Rover had the ability to steer itself into a perpendicular parking spot, we didn’t hesitate to give it a shot. We ended up giving it more than one because it needed to read the parking lines in front of it before it would activate the feature. For some reason, its sensors weren’t satisfied with what they “saw” and the parking system didn’t engage.
Despite the potholes and rough pavement we encountered in Austin, the thought of popping a couple of aspirin after hours of driving didn’t cross our minds. We suspect the Range Rover’s air suspension was filled with fluffy clouds. Once we turned on our media tester’s Adaptive Cruise Control with Queue Assist, driving down the highway was as complicated as listening to the satellite radio coming from the 825-watt Meridian surround sound audio system. The safety tech not only maintained our speed and the distance between us and the vehicle ahead, but watched that car’s speed and brought us to a complete stop if traffic ground to a halt – which it does quite often in the Live Music Capital of the World.
We averaged something between 25 and 26 mpg, so the idea of stopping off at a gas station to pump more diesel into the RR’s tank on our way out to the OHV park didn’t occur to us. However, the idea of actually taking what’s often used as a “mall crawler” off-road and letting it do what it was built to do did.
The Range Rover’s array of electronic aids included the four-mode Terrain Response System to handle regular conditions, snow, mud, and sand; All-Terrain Progress Control (aka off-road cruise control) to keep us moving at the speed of our choice over the park’s rough terrain; and Hill Descent Control to help us get down a steep grade at a speed that didn’t turn our knuckles white and our eyes twice their normal size. A variety of cameras allowed us to see all around the vehicle from a bird’s-eye view, in front of us, and behind us.
We took the HSE over a stretch of land roughly shaped like a staircase made of rock. Before we attempted to ascend it, we thought it would be a good idea to keep the rig’s underbelly as far away from the potentially ruinous natural formations as possible. All we had to do to get that extra ground clearance was press a button. The air suspension lifted the Range Rover to its max height.
The loud thumping and other noises we heard under us as we scaled our way up the daunting ground ahead were concerning, considering the $103,925 vehicle we were in didn’t belong to us. After we reached the top, we went back down the way we had come, slightly sweating in our ventilated Oxford leather front seats.
We stepped out to check under and around our now-dirty press loaner. No leaks. No crunched aluminum. Nothing. As we laid eyes upon the terrain we had just traversed, we started to think for the first time in a while since getting the keys to the Range Rover. We realized that off-roading can sound worse and more damaging inside the cabin than it really is. The land ahead can look more intimidating from the driver’s seat than it does when you’re actually standing in front of it and looking at it up close with your own eyes. Those helpful front cameras could see around hedges and other visual obstructions, but they were no replacement for human sight.
Ultimately, the 2016 Range Rover Td6 impressed us both on- and off-road. There are many reasons why it’s been the go-to luxury 4×4 SUV of choice for so many people for so long. At least, that’s what we think.
*Our 2016 Land Rover Range Rover HSE Td6 had an as-tested price of $103,925, which included $9,480 in options such as the $2,110 Vision Assist Package, $2,900 Driver Assistance Package, and $1,295 Adaptive Cruise Control with Queue Assist feature.
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via [Land Rover]
