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ON-THE-MOVE

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DETROIT — Nissan isunveiling amore sophisti-

cated version of the Sen-tra compact car.

The company says thenew car is 150 poundslighter than the old one,yet has more interiorroom.Italsohasasmooth-er, quieter engine.

The car goes on sale inthe fall. It will compete

against the top sellers inthe segment, the HondaCivic and Toyota Corolla.

The 2013 Sentra lookssimilar to Nissan’s mid-size Altima. It has a 130-horsepower, a four-cylin-der engine and a continu-ously variable transmis-sion that doesn’t shift

gears. It keeps the enginerunning at the optimalspeed for fuel efficiencyand performance.

Nissan says the Sentrawill get 34 mpg in com-bined city and highwaydriving. Most versionswill get 39 mpg on thehighway.

Nissan unveils new Sentra

Nissan says its 2013 Sentra is 150 pounds lighter than theprevious model, yet has more interior room. AP

Revamped modelis lighter, roomierthan early model

Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT » MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2012.

2 » MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2012 » TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT » ONTHEMOVE

KICKINGTIRES.NET

Buick’s hopped-up 2013 VeranoTurbo sedan with a 250-horsepow-

er, turbocharged four-cylinder will startat $29,990 when it goes on sale this fall;pricing includes an $885 destination fee.Buick’s smallest sedan with big powercomes with a standard six-speed auto-matic transmission while the six-speedmanual transmission is a no-cost option.

Fuel-economy estimates of the auto-matic transmission have yet to bereleased though we know the manualVerano Turbo is rated at an EPA-esti-mated 20/31 mpg city/highway. That’s

only a 1 mpg sacrifice in city, highwayand combined ratings compared to thenon-turbo Verano for an additional 70hp and claimed performance of zero to60 mph in 6.2 seconds.

The Turbo’s starting price includes along list of standard equipment: leatherseating with heated front seats, Buick’sIntelliLink multimedia system with 7-inch touch-screen, heated steeringwheel, Bose stereo system, rear parkingassist, blind spot warning system, rearcross-traffic alert as well as a backupcamera, which is a standard feature onall 2013 Veranos.

VeranoTurbo below $30KThe Land Rover Range Rover SUV will weigh 926 pounds less for 2013.

USA TODAY

From the outside, Land Rover’snew 2013 Range Rover won’t

look terribly differentfrom the one it replaces.But beneath its skin,there is a radical changeafoot.

The new, fourth-gen-eration Range Rovergoes to an all-aluminumunibody construction that con-tributes a large portion of the 926pounds of total weight savings.

The goal is better fuel economy.

The new frame is 39 percent lighterthan the steel one in the current ver-sion of Land Rover’s big, go-any-

where SUV, Land Roversays.

With the new chassiscomes a new four-cor-ner air suspension.

Even the engine islighter thanks to alu-minum. The new 5-liter

V-8 comes in at 700 pounds lessthan the one it replaces. It is pairedwith an eight-speed automatic trans-mission.

LAND ROVERStandard equipment on the Verano Turbo sedan includes rear parking assist.

GM VIA WIECK MEDIA

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Go to USAToday’s Drive Oncommunity at http://con-tent.usatoday.com/com-munities/driveon/index

READ MORE AT

Aluminum unibody helpsRange Rover shed pounds

LOS ANGELES — Jona-thanHernandez figures ifhe is going to drive, hehad better know how tofix cars. And he’s well onhis way to earning his de-gree in auto repair fromLos Angeles Trade Tech-nical College.

But the 23-year-olddoes not intend to put hiscommunity college cre-

dential to use as a career.He plans instead to be-come a tattoo artist.

“I can do a tattoo inthree hours and make$300,” explains Hernan-dez, who says he isn’t tat-tooed himself. “Tattoomoney is a little easier.”

Such are the chal-lenges for auto dealersand repair shops looking

to recruit the repair tech-nicians of tomorrow. Ageneration who grew upplaying Xbox games in-stead of rebuilding carbu-retors doesn’t seem tohave the fascination withauto repair as earlier gen-erations who grew up asshade-tree mechanics.

There is already com-petition among auto deal-ers in many parts of thenation to hire or retain

good technicians. Thebigger worry is whetherthere will be enoughyounger workers in a fewyears as a wave of midca-reer mechanics hits re-tirement age.

“We’re finding we’regoing to run short of tech-nicians in the very nearfuture,” says Rich Or-bain, manager for Gener-al Motors’ Service Tech-nical College. “It’s al-

ready getting very diffi-cult to get young peopleinterested in this as a ca-reer.”

Auto-repair educatorssay they are fightingmis-conceptions about theprofession. They pointout that fixing cars hasgone high-tech. A laptopcomputer is becoming asimportant a repair tool asa set of socket wrenches.And, in a world of job un-

certainty, auto repair re-mains a career largelyimpervious to being out-sourced abroad.

The nation’s demandfor auto mechanics is ex-pected to have grownabout 17 percent from2010 to 2020, adding124,800 jobs for a total of848,200, theBureau of La-bor Statistics reports. Au-

Supply of auto mechanics is running on EFinding technicians becomes a worry

See SUPPLY » 6D

USA TODAY

Honda is revealing the look ofthe next Accord, a sleeker,more-fuel-efficient sedan that

faces tough rivals.Honda says the new look for 2013 is

more sculpted. “It doesn’t scream andshout, but it’s sophisticated and refined,”says Vicki Poponi, anassistant vice president.

The new Accord is 3inches shorter than theone it replaces butretains about the sameinterior size. The trunkis a cubic-foot larger.Honda engineers have an “obsessionwith getting the most interior (space),”she says.

When it goes on sale this fall, theninth generation of Accord will com-pete in the big but ever-tougher mid-size-car market. New products havepoured into the segment.

Besides the just year-old redoneCamry and Volkswagen Passat and 2-year-old Hyundai Sonata and Kia Opti-ma, redone 2013 models newly on sale

or soon to be include Chevrolet Malibu,Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion.

Honda says it’s going to stay ahead ofthe competition by giving the newAccord more upscale touches and newtechnology.

It will get LED headlights, taillightsand running lights, a feature typically

found in luxury cars.The four-cylinder baseengine will be pairedwith a more gas-effi-cient continuouslyvariable transmission,or CVT, rather than aconventional automat-

ic transmission. Unlike many others,Accord still will offer a V-6, too.

The new Accord is designed forextra-low wind drag, with flush-mount-ed window glass and wipers and asmoother underbody.

Accord has the advantage of havingan army of happy customers behind it,points out Joseph Phillippi ofAutoTrends. “Maybe (the styling) is alittle conservative, but there is a hugecadre of loyal owners out there,” he says.

By MARK WILLIAMSPICKUPTRUCKS.COM

As the auto industry stays cau-tiously optimistic and pick-up truck sales incrementally

march on a soft upwardtrajectory, there are someobvious bright spots, notthe least of which is thestrong sales climb ofFord’s SVT Raptor.

Through July, sales forthe all-terrain powertruck are up 26 percentcompared with last year, and for themonth, Raptor is up 36 percent.

This puts year-end Raptor sales, injust its third year of production,close to the 13,000-unit mark, some-thing that no one predicted was pos-

sible when the truck debuted.Other specialty power trucks, like

the Toyota Tacoma Baja, are pro-duced with a defined sales run,making them something of a spe-

cial-edition package.The Baja will be limitedto just under 5,000 unitsthis year, with approvalfor the model next yeardetermined by the deal-erships.

It remains to be seenwhether or not these spe-

cial-edition four-wheeling optionpackages will get more popular. Allwe know now is that if Raptor saleskeep climbing, we’d assume moremanufacturers will try to squeezeinto that market segment.

Sales of the Ford SVT Raptor are up 26 percent compared to last year.

PHOTOS BY HONDA

TRENDSTRENDS

FORD MOTOR CO. VIA WIECK MEDIA

For truck news andreviews, go to

PickupTrucks.com

Raptor continues climbing

All-important Honda Accordready for its 2013 closeup

Upscale touches and newtechnology grace the new HondaAccord sedan, at left, and coupe,

below.

ONTHEMOVE » TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT » MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2012 » 3


The Ford Fiesta is aversatile, budget-con-scious small car with astylish interior and up-scale car options such asheated leather seats andvoice-recognition con-trols. The Fiesta also hashigher U.S. governmentfuel economyratings thandoes a gasoline-poweredHonda Fit.

Best of all, the 2013 Fi-esta earned five out offive stars in side crashtesting by the U.S. gov-ernment. It’s one of thefew subcompacts withsuch a high score in sidecrash testing.

Available as a five-door hatchback and a se-dan, the Fiesta featuresthe lowest starting manu-facturer’s suggested re-tail price, including desti-nationcharge, ofanynew-model Ford: $13,995 for abase S sedan with five-speed manual transmis-sion and $15,090 for a se-dan with automatic. Abase, 2013 Fiesta S hatch-backwithmanualstartsat$14,995. A Fiesta S hatch-backwithautomatic, how-ever, jumps in price, to$16,090.

All 2013 Fiestas havethe same, 120-horsepow-er, naturally aspirated,four-cylinder,gasolineen-gine, though the Fiesta issold in other some coun-tries with diesel enginesand turbocharged power.

In the United States,the Fiesta has a largenumber of small-car com-petitors.

As an example, thestarting Fiesta hatchbackretail prices are $1,120and $825 less, respective-ly, than those for the 2013Honda Fit with 117-horse-powr, naturally aspiratedfour-cylinder and manualand automatic transmis-

sions.But the2013KiaRiofive-door hatchback with138-horsepower,naturallyaspirated four cylinderhas starting MSRPs, in-cluding destinationcharge, that are lowerthan the Fiesta’s —$14,550 with manualtransmission and $15,650with automatic.

Meantime, the 2012Chevrolet Sonic starts at$14,660 as a sedan withmanual transmission and$15,730 as a sedan withautomatic. As a hatch-back, the 2012 Sonic has astarting MSRP, includingdestination charge, of$15,560 with manualtransmission and $16,630with automatic. Sonicsare available with 138-horsepower, naturally as-pirated four cylinder and138-horsepower, turbo-charged four cylinder.The turbo four has higherpeak torque and it comeson at a lower rpm.

Not much has changed

for the U.S. Fiesta for the2013 model year, thoughstandard equipment andequipment packages arere-aligned.

The test Fiesta SEhatchback looked good inits bright red paint withpainted aluminumwheels.

Fiestas have promi-nent indentations in theirside bodies to add inter-est. Added-on trim piecesof silver or black are non-existent, thus conveying a“clean” car that slicesthroughtheair.Frontstyl-ing has a swanky Euro-pean look — not exactlybrawny and not exactlycute. Some buyers mayprefer a different appear-ance, and Ford offersbodystripesanddifferentgrille inserts as options.

The test Fiesta five-door moved along in traf-fic and merged well,though the car didn’t havesporty acceleration.

Gear shifts were no-

ticeable at times. Thetransmission was the six-speed PowerShift auto-matic that’s Ford’s dual-clutch, semi-automaticmechanism. It was thesubject of complaintsfromconsumers last year,but Ford said it has in-stalled new electronicprogramming to bettermanage the workings ofthe transmission.

Torque in the Fiesta’s1.6-liter, double overheadcam, Duratech four cylin-der peaks at 112 foot-pounds at high 5,000 rpm.Incomparison, theSonic’s1.8-liter, turbochargedfour cylinder delivers 148foot-pounds of torque at2,500 rpm.

Still, the test Fiestaeasily averaged 29 milesper gallon in combinedcity and highway travel,for a total range of nearly360 miles on a single tankof gas. This mileage is abit lower than the com-bined33-mpgratinggiven

to this Fiestamodel by theU.S. government, whichestimates city mileage at29mpgandhighwaymile-age at 39 mpg. A Fiestawith extra-charge fuel ef-ficiency package is ratedat 40mpg on the highway.

The Honda Fit, in con-trast, is ratedat 27/33mpgwith automatic transmis-sion and has no extra fuelefficiency package.

The interior of the Fi-esta test carhada snappy-looking dashboard ar-ranged with a nice arrayof controls and featuresthat dispelled any thoughtthat this was a Spartan,cheap vehicle.

In fact, the stickerprice was barely over$19,000, but the test Fiestadrove with surprisingcompetency and nimble-ness.

The car absorbed agood number of roadbumps without fuss, andwhile passengers felt vi-brations from the road,

they weren’t overly intru-sive. The driver, mean-time, had a good feel forthe road in the Fiesta SEhatchback, and found thecar tracked accurately incurves.

Front suspension is in-dependent MacPhersonstrut, while a twistedbeam and coil springshandle the rear.

Rack-and-pinion steer-ingwasmoreprecise thanexpected and added to thedriver’s confidence.

With conservativelysized, 15-inch wheels andtires, the test Fiesta hadno feeling of unsprung, orheavy, weight at the cor-ners, which helped ex-plain the satisfactory,non-jarring ride. Yet, atmore than 2,500 pounds,overall, for the test carwith automatic transmis-sion, the Fiesta didn’t feeloverly lightweight or tin-ny, either. This stable feelwas enhanced by stan-dard AdvanceTrac elec-tronic stability control.

TheFiestaalsohassev-en air bags, including onefor the driver’s knee tohelp keep the driver prop-erly positionedbehind thesteering wheel during afrontal crash.

The five-star side gov-ernment crash tests areimpressive for the Fiesta,while frontal crash testresults garnered four outof five stars.

The Honda Fit earnedfour out of five stars inside crash testing.

But the 2013 ChevroletSonic earned five out offive stars in both frontaland side crash testing.

Note thatFordhadautojournalists recently testdrive one of its small, Eu-ropean, turbocharged en-gines.WhileFordmadenopromises of which U.S.car might get the power-plant, there is speculationthat the Fiesta would be agood candidate.

Consumer Reportsgives the Fiesta a belowaverage reliability rating.

Fares well in testsfor fuel, crashesBy AnnM. JobAssociated Press

All Fiesta models come equipped with Ford's leading safety and security features including driver knee airbag andanti-theft engine immobilizer. AP

Ford Fiesta small, still versatile


BEIJING — Ford MotorCo., eager to grab a pieceof China’s growing luxu-ry market, plans to startselling its Lincoln luxurybrand here in 2014.

It will be the first timethat the nearly 100-year-old brand will be sold inChina. At an event at aconverted 600-year-oldtemple in Beijing, CEOAlan Mulally and otherFord executives said theybelieve Chinese custom-ers will appreciate Lin-coln’s heritage as well asits new lineup of vehicles.Ford is introducing sevennew Lincolns over thenext three years.

“Lincoln is well-knownin China. Our opportunityis to fill in the blanks ofwhat the brand is now,”Ford global marketingchief Jim Farley said.

The announcementwas a surprise for Ford,which had previouslysaid it wanted to re-estab-lish the strugglingbrand’s reputation inNorth America beforetaking it abroad. Lincolnwas the best-selling luxu-ry brand in the U.S. twodecades ago but gradual-ly fell to last place in themarket because Fordfailed to invest in newproducts.

But Mulally said Fordhas been plotting to bringLincoln to China for thepast two years and con-sidered Chinese custom-

ers’ tasteswhen itwas de-signing the 2013 MKZ.The midsize MKZ, whichgoes on sale this fall in theU.S., is the first of Lin-coln’s revamped prod-ucts.

The Lincolns sold inChina will be made inNorth America, at leastinitially. They will bemore expensive than inthe U.S. because of luxu-ry taxes, which are basedon engine size, and im-port duties of 25 percent.The 2013 MKZ starts at$35,925.

Fordwill startmeetingwith interested dealers inChina this fall.

The company hopes tostart reversing the Lin-coln’s slide with the newMKZ, which has a widerand more luxurious look,a toned-down grille and aclean dashboard withflush buttons for controlsinstead of knobs. It alsooffers a panoramic glassroof that slides open togivepassengersaconver-tiblelike ride.

Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln concept car is unveiled during a news conference Tuesday in Beijing. Ford, eager to grab a pieceof China’s growing luxury market, plans to start selling its Lincoln luxury brand there in 2014. FORDMOTOR CO./AP

Ford rollsout Lincolnin China

LUXURY CARS INCHINALuxury cars make up 6

percent of Chinese sales, butthey’re expected to rise to 10percent by the end of thisdecade, Ford global market-ing chief Jim Farley said.That’s comparable to the U.S.,where luxury sales now makeup 12 percent of the market.German luxury brands

Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were the top-sellingluxury brands in China in thefirst six months of this year.German brands control about80 percent of China’s luxurymarket, independent autoanalyst Michael Dunne said.

Plans to sendmodel abroadkept under wraps

By Dee-Ann DurbinAssociated Press


RAYONG, Thailand —Ford Motor Co. says itsFocus small car is ontrack to become the best-selling car in the worldthis year, trumping theToyota Corolla.

Ford sold 489,616 Fo-cus sedans and hatch-backs worldwide in thefirsthalf of2012.Thatwasalmost 27,000 more thanthe Corolla.

Ford made the an-nouncement at its assem-bly plant in Rayong,which opened in May tobuild the Focus.

The Thailand plant,which is one of Ford’smost advanced, has thecapacity to produce150,000 cars per year forsale in Thailand, Vietnam,

Australia and other coun-tries in the region.

Ford’s recently re-vamped Focus is sold inmore than 100 countriesworldwide. It’s a strongseller in the U.S., whereFocus sales were up 31percent in the first half ofthe year compared with2011. But the Corolla isstill king in the U.S.,where it outsold theFocusby nearly 27,500 in thefirst half of the year.

The Corolla could stilltop the Focus worldwide,too.

Last year at this timethe Focus was ahead ofthe Corolla, but the Corol-la pulled through in theend, outselling the Focusby around 100,000 vehi-cles, according to IHSGlobal Insight, an indus-try consulting firm.

Ford Motor Co. said Friday that its Focus small car is on track to become the best-selling car in the world this year,trumping the Toyota Corolla. AP

Focus may bebest-sellerBy Dee-Ann DurbinAssociated Press

Faced with complex-ities of today’s cars, mas-ter mechanics are beingasked to deal with issuesthat would have requiredan engineering degree inthe past. That problem isbeing compounded by themultiple new powertraintechnologies hitting themarket, including hy-brids, electrics and lean-diesel engines.

“You have paralegalsand paramedics. You’regetting to the point in (au-to repair) that you are go-ing to have para-engi-neers,” says FrankDiertl,general manager of engi-neering services forMer-cedes-Benz in the U.S.

While in the past fixingcars was more about me-chanical aptitude, elec-tronics and computer-controlled systems ruletoday. A typical car mayhave 20 or more micro-processors working to-gether, each running soft-ware with thousands oflines of code to control vi-tal systems, whether it’s

to technicians overallearned an average of$35,790, but 10 percentearned more than$59,590, in 2010, the mostrecent year for which thebureau has data.

Wanted: Mastermechanics

While high schoolgraduates can land basicmaintenance jobs such aschanging engine oil, thereal needwill be formorehighly trained techni-cians.

It’s those at the top ofthe profession that the in-dustry is most concernedabout losing, the mastermechanics who don’t justread troubleshooting dataoff a computer screen,but rather put their edu-cation and experience touse to interpret clues andpinpoint a problem.

anti-lock brakes or the in-fotainment system.

Many auto techniciansare embracing how thejob is evolving towardhigh-tech. A survey of5,000 auto techniciansconducted by consultantCarlisle&Co. on behalf ofsix automakers foundthat the second-biggestreason the technicianschose the profession wasthat they like workingwith technology—namedby four out of10. The onlybigger reason, at six outof 10, remains havinggrown up working oncars.

But the same surveyalso pointed up the chal-lenge: Top mechanics aregetting older. Mechanicsat the dealerships of GM,Ford and Chrysler had anaverage age in the low40s.

Programs cut

It doesn’t help, as well,thatmore high school dis-tricts have whacked bud-

gets for auto repair pro-grams, a key source ofrecruits. Supporting theprograms has becomemore expensive becauseof the test equipment nowinvolved.

“Theyaremakingharddecisions aboutwhat theycan do,” says Tony Molla,vice president of the Na-tional Institute for Auto-motive Service Excel-lence, an outfit commonlycalled ASE, which certi-fies auto technicians.

Molla says someschools have had to limitenrollment in auto repairand specialized courses.“In some areas, there aremore kids applying thanthey have seats forthem,” he says.

AAA says it reachesout to 900 vocationalschools across the coun-try to encourage strongerprograms and more stu-dents.

“Students are still in-terested, but you have togo out and actively pur-sue them at the high

schools,” says Mike Gar-blik, professor of automo-tive technology at Sin-clair Community Collegein Dayton, Ohio. “Theyare being pulled in somany different direc-tions. There are so manyopportunities.”

Jobs guaranteed

Garblik reaches out toa wider student popula-tion, trying to make surethat students interestedin information technol-ogy careers are aware ofhowmuch the auto indus-try now depends on com-puters.

He has another lure: anearly 100 percent jobplacement rate.

Out at Los AngelesTrade Technical College,known to everyone as just“Trade Tech,” Automo-tive Department Chair-manRudySerrato also re-ports finding jobs formost of his graduates.And despite the miscon-ceptions about the

“grease monkey” image,“You canmake goodmon-ey,” he says.

Serrato is a1972gradu-ate of theprogramhenowruns — and he hasn’t lostany enthusiasm for thesubject. Launching intoteaching a summer classon heating and air condi-tioning in cars, he notesthe thrill of troubleshoot-ing. “It’s the challenge offixing something some-one else can’t fix,” hesays.

And that’s where theskill comes in. Sure, acar’s computer may spitout a “trouble code” to re-port what system is mal-functioning.But that’s notenough. “It’s a matter ofhow to diagnose that trou-ble code,” says Jose Ra-mirez, an instructor. “Youhave to play around withit.”

He adds that he tellsthe students “anyone canreplace a part. I teachthemhow to troubleshoot.That’s where the moneyis,” he says.

Continued » 2D

Supply


DETROIT — Volks-wagen, Ford and Chrys-ler topped the list in aquality study thatgauges problems foundby consumers, how theyare addressed and alsofactors in passion fornew vehicles and theirfeatures.

OnMonday, StrategicVision released the re-sults of its 2012 TotalQuality Index study andfound the industry as awhole continues to im-prove, with only 17 per-cent of consumers re-porting problems withtheir new vehicles.

Toyota had the fewestreported problems interms of numbers, theirseverity and how theyare dealt with.

But that is just oneas-pect of the study. Interms of total quality,

which includes howwellquality meets a custom-er’s expectations andde-lights them, VWwas thewinner with segmentleaders including theGolf, Eos and Tiguan forthe VW brand and theAudi A4 and A8.

Ford and Chryslertied for second place.The Flex and F-Seriesscored strongly forFord.

Chrysler, the mostimproved brand, scoredwell with the DodgeCharger, Jeep GrandCherokee and the Fiat500 as the small car seg-ment winner for its styl-ing and additional highmarks for its sound sys-tem.

Strategic Vision hasreleased its Total Quali-ty Awards since 1995.This latest quality indexwas calculated from45,390 buyers who pur-chased 2012 models.

TOP VEHICLESSmall Car: Fiat 500 HatchbackSmall Multi-Function: Volkswagen GolfMedium Car: Chevrolet VoltMediumMulti-Function: Honda Accord CrosstourLarger Car: Dodge ChargerNear-Luxury Car: Audi A4 sedanLuxury Car: Audi A8Specialty Coupe under $28,000:MINI Cooper coupePremium Coupe over $28,000: BMW1 Series coupe andChevrolet Corvette coupeConvertible under $30,000: VW EosPremium Convertible/Roadster over $30,000: BMW Z4roadsterMinivan: Honda OdysseySmall SUV: Volkswagen TiguanMedium SUV: Jeep Grand CherokeeMedium Crossover: Ford FlexLarge SUV: Nissan ArmadaNear-Luxury SUV: Land Rover Evoque 5-doorLuxury SUV: BMW X6Standard Pickup: Honda RidgelineFull-Size Pickup: Ford F150Heavy Duty Pickup: Ford F250/350

VW, Ford atopnew-car totalquality studyBy Alisa PriddleDetroit Free Press

Well-heeled car buyerswho haven’t had enoughof all thingsBritish— lastyear’s royal wedding, thisyear’s queen’s jubilee andthe recent Olympics inLondon—don’t need to bedeprived.

The 2012 Land RoverRangeRover, which is thequintessential, large Brit-ish sport utility vehiclethat has chauffeuredQueen Elizabeth on occa-sion, remains a properand luxurious expressionof British transport.

The Range Rover’sboxy exterior, amazinglyadaptable suspension, tallperch for the seats andBritish-flavored interiormake for a unique roadexperience. And off-road,the Range Rover’s prow-ess is legendary.

While still headquar-tered in England and withBritish factories, the cor-poration now is owned byTata Group of India,which bought Land Roverfrom Ford Motor Co. in2008.

A warning: The 2012Range Rover, weighingmore than 2 tons and withV-8 engines and full-timefour-wheel drive, gulpsdown gasoline. U.S. gov-ernment fuel economyratingsof12milespergal-lon in city driving and 18mpg on the highway forthe base Range RoverHSEareamongthe lowestfor a 2012 passenger vehi-cle.

The five-seat, 2012Range Rover is the flag-ship of the Land Roverlineup and comes well-equipped. Starting manu-facturer’s suggested re-tail price, including desti-nation charge, is $80,275forabaseHSEmodelwithstandardfour-wheeldriveand 385-horsepower, nat-

urally aspirated V-8.Starting retail price,

including destinationcharge, for a five-seat,2012 Cadillac Escaladewith all-wheel drive and403-horsepower V-8 is$66,715,whilea2012Infin-iti QX56 with four-wheeldrive starts at $64,090with seats for five and400-horsepower V-8. The2012 Porsche CayenneSUV has a startingMSRP,including destinationcharge, of $52,825 withall-wheel drive, five-pas-senger seating and 300-horsepower V-6.

Clearly, the RangeRover commands a pre-mium price.

Standard features onevery model include airsuspension, heated steer-ing wheel, power sunroof,real leather and wood in-terior trim, Xenon head-lights with headlampwashers, harman kardonsurroundsoundaudio sys-tem, an electronicallyadaptable terrain systemfor off-road or inclementground conditions, elec-tronically controlled hilldescent control, low-range transfer box forrugged off-road terrain,navigation system, rearcameraandfrontandrear

parking sensors.But these items and

others are put togetherandarrangedinawaythatmakes a driver and pas-sengers feel comfortableand secure both on thepavement and in the wil-derness. It is no easy feattoberuggedandreadyforthe strenuous RubiconTrail while maintaining aquiet, serene ride that’sfitting as a prelude to acandlelight dinner at thecountry club.

And every now andthen, a buyer will notice afew compromises.

The high ride heightwith minimum groundclearance of 9.1 inches,for example, forces pas-sengers to scramble up toget inside. Range Roverstypicallyarenot equippedwith running boards, butthe tester sure could haveused one to help smaller-stature passengers climbinside. There are no grabhandles at theRangeRov-er windshield edges, ei-ther, as there are in someother SUVs. So front-seatpassengersmust use awk-ward handles up by theceiling, or grabhold of thesteering wheel to help getinside.

Once on the Range

Rover seats — it’s tempt-ing to call the two sepa-rate seats in front“chairs” because of theirfine appearance and care-fully stitched leather trim— everyone sits highabove the ground andabove most other passen-ger vehicles.

The test Range RoverHSE provided the driverwith views way down theroad, even above six carsand smaller SUVs thatwere ahead.

The Range Roversteering wheel is notice-ably large and the leather-wrapped circle feels silkysmooth to the hands.

It’s surprising howcompactly the big RangeRover can make U-turns.The turning circle ofsome 41 feet on a vehiclewith sizable,19- or 20-inchtires is admirable andcomes inhandyboth in thecity and off-road.

The base, 5-liter, natu-rally aspirated V-8 was inthe tester, and its 385horses provided the kindof strong, steady powerneeded for a pricey andheavy SUV that can towup to 7,700 pounds.

The test Range Rovermoved with traffic easilyand merged onto high-ways with some noisybluster but without hesi-tation.

The company says ittakes 7.2 seconds to gofromstandstill to 60milesan hour. Torque peaks at380 foot-pounds at a us-able 3,500 rpm and com-pares with 417 foot-pounds of torque at 4,300rpm that Cadillac’s Esca-lade gets from its base,6.2-liter, naturally aspi-rated V-8.

The Range Rover HSEonly has a six-speed auto-matic transmission, whilePorsche’s Cayenne has asophisticated eight-speedTiptronic.

Range Rover still offersluxurious, rugged rideBy AnnM. JobAssociated Press

Land Rover unveils next generation all-new 2013 RangeRover, the most capable and most refined Range Roverever. PR NEWSWIRE


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On the Move

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