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From the start, Land Rover’s littlest sport utility vehicle, the LR2 impressed us. The LR2 was co-developed alongside other Ford products from the EU-CD platform, which has been used in many vehicles, the majority of which are strictly for on-road driving.
They range from the Ford Mondeo and S-Max family cars to the Volvo S80, and other forthcoming cars. Nevertheless, the LR2 has a look that’s distinctively Land Rover-ish, and has driving dynamics that make us smile. It might not be as quick as an Acura RDX, as stylish as Infiniti’s new EX crossover or as enjoyable to drive as BMW’s X3, but it’s an excellent blend of the aforementioned categories and can actually go off-road.

One thing that’s managed to confuse us about the LR2 is its trim level range. Comparing the LR2 product lineup to the other Land Rovers available, you’ll notice that the smallest model was only offered in SE trim level, compared to the HSE that’s available in the LR3, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover. Now this has been rectified with the introduction of the all new LR2 HSE, which will be available in North America for next year.

The difference that adding the letter “H” has is 99-percent aesthetical. Instead of the matte black plastic around the leading edge of the bumpers and the moldings on the doors, they’re now done in body colour. The door handles are also different, finished in a metallic titanium colour rather than the usual black. If the HSE looks a bit sportier, it might have something to do with its wheels and tires. In place of the standard 18-inch wheels, the HSE has ten-spoke 19-inch units that will most likely give a handling edge. Oh, and there’s a rear spoiler atop the roof, in case you’ve missed it amongst all these other minor details. This reminds us of the Sport models that were available for Freelander buyers in its final year of production, which in addition to a sportier look, offered performance suspension upgrades. Unfortunately, the HSE doesn’t have any technical or mechanical upgrades.

Inside, there are two notable changes, specifically an 8×6-way power-operated driver’s seat as standard equipment, as well as a storage cover with a sliding cover.

Other than that, the HSE model carries on with the Volvo-designed 3.2-litre inline-six engine that makes 230 horsepower and 217 lb-ft of torque, and gives the car the ability to accelerate to 100 km/h in 8.9 seconds. Also standard is a six-speed CommandShift automatic transmission, plus the usual assortment of off-roading goods including Hill Descent Control with Gradient Release Control, plus Land Rover’s trademarked Terrain Response system.

Pricing has yet to be announced, but don’t expect the HSE model to set buyers back more than $2,500 to $3,000 over the SE.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 5:56 am and is filed under Land Rover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.