The Urban DINK: 2008 Land Rover LR2

When I first concocted this ongoing feature for the blog, it was with the Land Rover LR2 in mind. OK, maybe that wasn’t the exact vehicle I was thinking of, but it fits all the criteria for Urban DINKs: luxury marquee, high-end look, relative affordability (it starts under $35,000 well-equipped) and a good size for city life.

Does it live up to the Urban DINK’s high standards and critical eye? Surprisingly, yes. To be honest, I only got the LR2 for 24 hours. Joe Wiesenfelder is getting the keys for a full week of testing for an upcoming review, but I couldn’t let it slip out of the garage without giving it as thorough a drive as possible.

My major beef with the performance was a touchy accelerator pedal and spotty transmission. I expect Joe to go into it in-depth, but I found the LR2 to be schizophrenic in stop-and-go traffic, never finding the right gear or the right amount of gas. It did become a learned feel by the morning, when I got to go around idiot drivers stopped dead in my lane with the appropriate amount of acceleration.

On the highway it was another story. I didn’t think the LR2 would be a great highway cruiser, as its larger sibling is, but there was little road noise and even less wind noise. There’s no question the LR2 isn’t a performance-oriented SUV, but at highway speeds it didn’t leave much to be desired, and its handling in curves and around tight corners was responsive for an SUV. Driving through a downpour this morning, it was impressively planted at all times.

Many car folks will complain this is not a “true” offroader because it doesn’t ride on the same kind of frame as the big Range Rover, even though it has a similar adaptive suspension. Personally, I don’t care about any of that as long as it can take the friggin’ huge potholes that make up any Chicagoan’s daily commute. At this, the LR2 rules. It soaks up the bumps and holes with a slightly rigid feedback, but I traversed the roughest roads I’ve found in the city and it took them all on. Now that’s the kind of offroading prowess I need.

The looks are decidedly Land Rover, and they’re what I think will make the LR2 a tough competitor for the Acura RDX and BMW X3. The LR2’s predecessor, the Freelander, was way ahead of its time, pretty much creating the luxury small SUV category. It didn’t sell, though. Of course, the Freelander didn’t ride as well or offer as much cargo room as the LR2. This new model comes to a DINK-filled market awash in plain Jane styling, looking like one of its big Hamptons-trotting brothers. Before anyone pipes up about it looking like a Ford Escape, I would say this: If your non-car-loving wife, brother, dad or mom saw the LR2 and you told them it was a Land Rover, do you think the first thing out of their mouths would be “It looks like a Ford?” Doubtful. 

Speaking of a non-car-loving wife, mine liked the LR2. She found the seating position perfect and thought the materials were quite high-end. She much preferred the driving experience compared to her mother’s 3-year-old BMW X3. Inside, I’d say the Land Rover is a few steps down from the current X3 but a slight step up from the RDX. The window switches on top of the wide door sill — perfect for resting your arm, which is an almost nonexistent notion in these high-beltline days of ours — center-mounted door locks and the big steering wheel are a welcome Land Rover trait. I was a bit disappointed with the boring-as-bread gauges, but at night they glow a cool green. The touch-screen navigation system was also quite pretty, even in bright sunlight. Knobs are coated in rubber sheaths for easy gripping, and there are plenty of places to put cell phones, MP3 players, etc.

The rear seats fold down after flipping the bottoms forward. Normally I hate this set-up, preferring to just fold the backs down on top of the cushion. But since you don’t have to remove the headrests, it’s not so bad. The cargo area could be bigger, but I doubt most people will need more room, and it’s not noticeably smaller than the competition.

I left the LR2 waiting for Joe in the garage, thinking that while it might not be the right SUV for everybody, it’s definitely the perfect one for Urban DINKs.