The Electronic Telegraph, 21 March 1995
WORRYING questions about the intrinsic safety of the Range Rover have recently been raised by a spate of high-profile accidents. But can a vehicle that has been in volume production for a quarter of a century really have serious handling problems that are only now coming to light?
To find out, I spent a nightshift with Police Sergeant Joe Launder and his good friend Mike Alpha Zero One, an L-reg Range Rover. Sgt Launder, an Advanced Driver (Class 1), has been with the Cumbria Constabulary for 27 1/2 years - not that he's counting - and he has spent all but four of them in Traffic, or the Northern Mobile Support Group, as his unit is now known. (Traffic is a bit of a dirty word in modern police circles, apparently.)
Who better than Sgt Launder to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the Range Rover? Not only is he a highly skilled driver but he also drives his vehicle to the limits of its capabilities. As an "instant-response vehicle", Mike Alpha can be summoned to anything from a serious accident on the M6 to a pub brawl in a Cumbrian town. Recently, Sgt Launder has driven his Range Rover at 110mph on the motorway, checked blizzard-closed roads for trapped drivers and swerved all over a deserted A-road at 50mph to prevent a "bandit" vehicle from passing him.
Before we hit the midnight streets, I looked over Sgt Launder's 38,000-mile vehicle and found that there were no modifications to the engine or suspension. Mike Alpha is a disappointingly bog-standard 3.9-litre automatic Range Rover, fitted with ABS, traction control and the lowest available trim level.
What's in the back? Sgt Launder took a deep breath: "A winch, 12 cones, six signs, crowbars, bolt croppers, a fireman's axe, stem light and mast, floodlights, blankets, first-aid kit, tow ropes and all my foul-weather gear."
Then, as we pulled on to the M6, I popped the crucial question: is the Range Rover safe? "It is," replied Sgt Launder. "I've been in and out of them since the early Eighties and I've had no problems at all." He concedes, however, that he wasn't too keen on Range Rovers to begin with. "It took time to get to know their characteristics," he said. "But since then, the vehicle has grown on me." These days Sgt Launder revels in the same features that endear the Rangie to thousands of Barbour-clad urbanites: that imperious driving position, the smooth-shifting auto box.
In Sgt Launder's hands, however, Mike Alpha Zero One performed creditably enough, taking quick S bends without undue alarms or any excessive body roll. Sgt Launder said the current Mike Alpha rolls rather less than the G-plate Rangie that went before. It was very noticeable that he kept the hammer down as we rounded every curve, keeping the Range Rover perfectly balanced through the bends.
So, no problems with high-speed stability, but what about violent low-speed manoeuvres? I soon wished I'd never asked. We came into a roundabout pretty fast and Sgt Launder turned in hard, accelerating as we made two, then three circuits, our speed building with each rotation. Eventually, the nearside tyres' shrieks of protest were silenced as Mike Alpha set off in a sideways four-wheeled drift, still under power. As the kerb approached, a little too rapidly for my liking, Sgt Launder simply backed off the throttle and the vehicle snapped straight back into line. Impressive; but not one to try at home.
Like most other forces, Cumbria Police has been buying Range Rovers for years, and it currently runs nine. I asked Harry Armitage, a former police driver responsible for buying and assessing the Cumbria force's vehicles, if he had had any negative reports about Range Rovers from the troops. He hadn't, and even when Range Rovers had been involved in accidents, the subsequent investigations "haven't found the vehicles wanting".
So, how does Sgt Launder reckon us poor civvies, restricted to a paltry 70mph and to going round roundabouts just the once, should drive our Range Rovers? "Accept that your car has less feel than a saloon and doesn't respond as quickly, because that's down to it's off-road capability," he said. "Take your time getting used to the Range Rover and always make allowances for the kind of vehicle it is."
What allowances? "Don't try to corner as hard as you would in a saloon car because if a bend tightens up, you can't just jam the brakes on in mid-corner - the likelihood of losing control has to be greater than in a conventional car. Drive with a more moderate attitude all round; for example, I don't go for overtakes in the Range Rover that would be easy in a Rover 827 patrol car."
Not exactly music to Land Rover's corporate ears, I'm certain, but you can see Sgt Launder's point. "Would you go charging round bends or sit in the outside lane of the motorway in a Land Rover?" he asks.
So, Sgt Launder finds Mike Alpha a willing workhorse, but would he recommend a Range Rover as a family car? "Every time I drive past our local Land Rover garage, I say to myself: 'When I win the lottery, I'm going to have that Range Rover Vogue.' " I had my answer.
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