Mamanger

Land Rover's top model - the full-size, luxury Range Rover - comes to market with some major changes for 2006, improving on the line that had already received a complete makeover just three years ago.

The biggest news is the addition of a supercharged version - billed as the "most powerful Range Rover ever."

But even the normally aspirated HSE model, which we tested for this report, received a good share of upgrades.

Another big change for 2006 is that the Range Rover's engines are now derived from Jaguar. These new engines replace the V-8 that Land Rover had been buying from German luxury automaker BMW, the former owner of Land Rover. Ford Motor Co. bought the British Land Rover luxury brand in mid-2000, ending the company's short life as a subsidiary of BMW, which had purchased it just four years earlier.

Today's Range Rover owes much of its development to BMW, however. BMW co-developed the vehicle with Land Rover so that the platform could be used for a new line of BMW sport utility vehicles as well.

Ford took over and finished development of the Range Rover side of the equation, rolling out the new generation in 2002 as a 2003 model.

Development was so far along when Ford took over that Land Rover had to buy the 283-horsepower 4.4-liter V-8 engine from BMW. It then took Ford three years to develop its own engines and redesign the Range Rover to accommodate them.

In the 2006 model, the base engine is a normally aspirated aluminum 4.4-liter V-8 rated at 305 horsepower and 325 foot-pounds of torque. That's what comes with the Range Rover HSE model, our test vehicle, which carries a base sticker price of $75,035 plus $715 freight.

For a starting price of about $90,000, the high-performance Range Rover model is offered. It comes with a Jaguar-based supercharged 4.2-liter aluminum V-8, rated at 400 horsepower and 420 foot-pounds of torque.

In both models, the engines are connected to a new six-speed automatic transmission with Command Shift manual shift option. Land Rover says top speed of the normally aspirated model is 125 mph, and the vehicle accelerates from zero to 60 mph in 8.3 seconds. For the supercharged model, zero to 60 is achieved in 7.1 seconds, and top speed is 130 mph.

Land Rover officials said the switch to Jaguar engines was a natural progression of Land Rover's association with Ford. Jaguar, the British sports car company, has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford since 1994. Ford also owns another British luxury brand, Aston Martin. Together with Sweden's Volvo, the four brands make up Ford's Premier Automotive Group, based in Irvine, Calif.

Despite having already changed the Range Rover completely just three years earlier - including an entirely new chassis and body structure - Ford made substantial changes for 2006, which the company said were designed to build upon the already successful new generation. The company has been selling about 14,000 of the new Range Rovers in the United States since the 2003 model year.

Besides the engines, new features for 2006 include more sound damping elements for a quieter ride; a redesigned grille, front bumper, headlights and taillights for the HSE; and a separate mesh grille design for the supercharged model; revised bodyside air vents; and 19-inch wheels.

The supercharged model also comes with new premium leather interior trim, Brembo front brakes, adaptive headlights, 20-inch alloy wheels, unique air vents and black-on-silver "Supercharged" badging.

For both models, steering has been enhanced, and the air suspension system has been improved, the company said.

The vehicle's overall look remains unchanged, however. The formula that has made the Range Rover a successful flagship for the Land Rover brand since its introduction in 1970 is that it essentially is four vehicles in one, Geoff Upex, Land Rover's design director, said during a media introduction of the new models last year.

"It has the luxury of a saloon, the acceleration of a performance car, the stylish body of an estate, and the ruggedness and versatility of a Land Rover," he said. (In Britain, a saloon is a large sedan, and an estate is what Americans call a station wagon.)

Range Rover is the flagship of the Land Rover brand, and with its high price tags, the demographics are impressive. The typical buyer is a professional or executive male, college graduate, with an annual household income of about $375,000.

Land Rover brought the Range Rover to the United States beginning in 1987, and it has undergone many upgrades over the years. But the basic body and chassis were unchanged until the new BMW-engineered model arrived.

The current generation has nothing in common with the old one other than the name and the feel that, even with its BMW heritage, it still is a Range Rover. The old Range Rover came with an aluminum body mounted on a steel ladder-frame chassis, but the new one has a one-piece monocoque body with integrated frame, and some exterior body panels are steel. The doors, fenders and hood are still made of aluminum, however.

BMW and Land Rover, with Ford's help as well, spent more than $1 billion to develop the new generation initially, then Ford invested millions more for the new engines and other changes for 2006.

The 2003 model, even with a complete makeover, still was instantly recognizable as a Range Rover, The company felt that the vehicle's overall look was so well-established and accepted that no radical redesign was necessary - something I would agree with. There really is nothing on the market that comes close to the Range Rover's stately

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