2010 Land Rover Range Rover and Range Rover Supercharged

A new family of engines keeps the luxury off-roader pointed toward the top of the heap-and the mountain.

Introduced at the New York auto show last April, the2010 Land Rover Range Rover showed off a few subtle tweaks to the interior and exterior styling. We took in the changes, admired Land Rover designers for enhancing an already class-leading interior, and then asked ourselves the most important question, “What will the Range Rover be like with the new engines?”

Now that we’ve sampled the Range Rover and the Range Rover Supercharged in Spain, we can say that the upgrades to the interior pale in comparison to the upgrades that went under the hood.

The base Range Rover, which starts at $79,525, costs $750 more than the 2009 model. But the extra money yields not only the many subtle design changes and the Rolls-Royce–grade interior but also 75 extra hp from the 5.0-liter direct-injection V-8. Acceleration in the previous Range Rover could be described as stately—if you were being kind. With the extra 75 horses, the naturally aspirated Range Rover is nearly as quick as the previous Range Rover Supercharged. The increase in torque and hp over the smaller 4.2-liter is immediately apparent. Land Rover predicts a 0-to-60-mph time of 7.2 seconds, and we have no reason to doubt that claim.