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If Ernest Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, they’d hop into Land Rover’s 2008 LR2, drive down the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles and blast every hybrid they saw in the carpool lane with just one person in it.

The duo would despise anyone under the guise of caring for the environment as a way to get to work faster. They know that people dedicated to preserving nature need tough SUVs a lot more than they need hybrids — where would you recharge your batteries on a safari? And the LR2, which rolls into showrooms in April, is an exceptional vehicle on and off the road.

Both men spent years in the world’s majestic wilderness where they absorbed its timeless beauty, and, quite often, shot the wild beasts they most admired. But to think a man who hunts cares nothing about the environment is as foolish as thinking that every Francis Macomber behind the wheel of a hybrid somehow cares more.

The Roosevelt-Hemingway connection came to me as I was driving the LR2 along Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area near Pismo Beach, Calif. The beach is the last seaside refuge for the off-roading public in Southern California and some environmentalists oppose motor access to the dunes — which they say hurts snowy plovers, a bird that loves to burrow in tire tracks.

Many nearby homeowners have clamored for years that dune conservation is essential. I wonder if the protests stem from altruistic kindness to the snowy plover or, perhaps, they come from the potential boon to real estate values prohibiting vehicles from the beach might bring.

For now, though, the park remains open and to the best of my knowledge no snowy plovers were harmed during my testing of the LR2’s Terrain Response, an ingenious piece of technology.

The way it works is a palm-sized knob on the center console has preprogrammed settings to adjust how the LR2 responds on different surfaces such as pavement, sand, snow and mud.

The system monitors the vehicle’s stability control, traction control and hill descent control, as well as the electronic center coupling to maximize the vehicle’s performance. It changes the engine tuning as well as when the transmission changes gears to handle the different demands of a specific terrain.

Set it for sand and the dunes near Pismo Beach become as easy to traverse as the rocky mountain trails 100 miles away..

And the paved roads between the two are smooth and comfortable. Gone are the rough rides of Land Rovers past, where a trip to the grocery store could feel like a U.N. mission in Kosovo. The LR2’s handling is superb and the hydraulic power assisted steering is crisp, even on mountain turns. There’s minimum body roll for a vehicle that looks more top heavy than it feels.

The excellent driving characteristics may explain why Land Rover, which only sells SUVs, continues to have success in a market in which others selling SUVs have faltered. Land Rover’s sales increased 4 percent worldwide in 2006 and 3 percent in the U.S.

Comfy without being brash

Under the LR2’s clamshell hood is the 3.2-liter inline six-cylinder engine. It hammers out 230-horsepower and 234-pound-feet of torque and ran flawlessly on a 400-mile trek around Southern California. The six-speed transmission, which includes clutchless shifting, known as Command Shift by Land Rover, was smooth, allowing quick acceleration.

The LR2’s off-road prowess is outstanding. Its on-road characteristics are excellent. Its interior is luxurious. While its starting price of $34,700 is considerably more than its U.S. replacement, the Freelander — last sold in the U.S. as a 2005 model — nearly everything on it is standard.

Leather bucket seats, standard. All-wheel drive, standard. Two-piece panoramic sunroof, standard.

Land Rover offers three option packages for the LR2:

A $3,500 technology package that upgrades the stereo includes a navigation system and Bluetooth connectivity.

A $700 cold weather package that includes heated seats and windshield.

A $1,050 lighting package that includes adaptive headlights, puddle lights off the mirrors and memory seats, which allow a driver to hop in the vehicle after someone else drove it, hit a button and have the seat return to its previous settings.

Inside the cabin, the LR2 is comfortable without being brash. The ride is quiet and refined. It feels like old money, not Mega Millions winnings. Only a cluttered set of controls near the gear shifter was confusing. But even those, once you got the hang of them, were easy to operate.

The fit and finish is excellent inside and out.

The exterior is clean and simple and definitely a Land Rover. It’s modern and smaller than its bigger brothers, but nearly as capable.

‘People miles’ efficient

The quality of the Liverpool, England-assembled Land Rover seems almost surprising. When inspecting an old Defender displayed on Pismo Beach, I was amazed at how its sheet metal gaps were so uneven and big, I could poke my thumb through some. When the wind blew, it whistled.

Those days seem to have disappeared. The LR2 may be the least expensive Land Rover, but I wouldn’t call it cheap and the name carries a certain prestige with it. You almost feel like you should switch to tea — something Roosevelt and Hemingway would never do.

But the two would have loved the LR2 as much as they might scoff at the lane-hogging hybrid drivers who purchased it so they can avoid heavy traffic when driving alone.

In some cities, High Occupancy Vehicle lanes can only be used by vehicles with at least two people in them. Some places like L.A. are beginning to allow hybrids into the lanes with only one driver, as a way to tout the efficiency of the vehicles.

Carpool lanes were designed for people carpooling, not political statements. I have no problem with a hybrid in the carpool lane, as long as there is more than one person in it.

An LR2, which gets an estimated 23 mpg on the highway, can easily carry five adults and camping gear comfortably along the highway — meaning it would get 115 pmpg or people miles per gallon. One person in a hybrid would get less than 50 pmpg.

The gas-electric hybrids become gas-powered cars when traveling 80 mph for long periods. In fact, it should be mandated that hybrids only drive in the right lane of the notorious 405. That would be more beneficial to the environment.

The 26th U.S. president and Pulitzer Prize-winning author would, no doubt, stick with the LR2. Whether climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or charging some hill near San Juan, they would have used and abused a vehicle worthy of their extraordinary lives.

Land Rover 2008 LR2

Type: Five-door, all-wheel drive luxury small SUV Retail price: $34,700 to $40,350 Engine: 3.2-liter inline six-cylinder, 230-hp; 234-pound-feet torque Transmission: Six-speed automatic, with clutchless shifting EPA mileage: 16 mpg city / 23 mpg highway Estimated 12-month insurance costs, according to AAA Michigan: $688. Notes: Hits showrooms in April. Report card

Overall: **** Exterior: Excellent. A distinctive, boxy Land Rover. Interior: Good. Luxurious and comfortable, even in the back. Only the cluttered center console kept the rating from being excellent. Safety: Excellent. Stability control and roll over control standard. Full set of front, side, and side curtain airbags are standard. Performance: Excellent. Performs well on the highway and trails. Engine is powerful and handling is crisp when taking tight mountain turns or making sandy donuts. Notes: The LR2 is an excellent vehicle and the price is very competitive when comparing it to other high-end compact SUVs such as the Acura MDX and BMW X3. Grading Scale Excellent: ****; Good: ***; Fair: ***; Poor: