Light color of preview pictures has many asking what the new trim will look like with darker paint #2013rangerover

I’m sure a lot of thought went into the decision of what colors to announce the 2013 Range Rover with.  It could be some new marketing formula, Gerry McGovern’s preference or maybe just a color roulette wheel (Stornoway Gray was just one position off on the wheel).

Then I remembered, we actually did see the trim against a dark paint color.

First, a close up of the released photo(with highlights):

The paint color kind of hid the fact that, along with the trim strips running across the side and back of the 2013 Range Rover, there is also a strip that runs along the front of the new Range Rover face.  It’s similar to the strip we currently see on the L322 supercharged Range Rover.  The light paint colors really disguise it.

BUT, we were lucky enough to find this spy shot just days before the release.  And here on a black car, that trim strip really pops, along with something else that’s not clear on the released pictures…l405-chin-strip-black

Those new front horizontal vents are finished metallically too!

2012-08-17T16:00:59-04:00August 18, 2012|

2013 Range Rover, the little things, part one – door locks #rangerover

Disclaimer: everything I say in these OCD Range Rover minutia rants could be wrong, I just like guessing.

Going back to the first real interior spy shots taken in China:

range-rover-china-testing2[1]

I noticed there weren’t any door locks toward the back top of the door card(marked in red).  After seeing the released shots from the other day, we got the first glimpse of the controls(marked in blue).  I didn’t even notice the blue controls until I went back to these pictures after seeing the real ones.  Another thing to note in the final released interior shot, there is no central locking button near the main controls.  This differs from Jaguar, which does still have their central locking buttons on the center console.

I think this is neat and just adds to the cleaner look they seem to have achieved.  The door locks on the previous Range Rover were BMW circa 1997 and although you could press them down to lock the doors, you had to pull the door handle twice to unlock them.

l405-door-lock-controls

l405-door-lock-controls2

That little lock control panel shows up on the passenger side too.  So what does it all mean?  There are more than a couple of buttons there, are there individual buttons for each door?

2012-08-16T23:17:12-04:00August 17, 2012|

Do you see what I see, the Ford Explorer vs the Next Range Rover, the lights #rangerover L405

The Explorer now makes me angry, every time I see it, every time…

rangered3[1]

Front headlights:

fe3l405-1

fe1l405-2

Rear lights (now with wings):

fe-2l405-r4

fe-r1l405-r1

l405-r2

And lastly, the rear view with matching spoiler and horizontal chrome trim bar:

fe-rear-barl405-rear-nocamo-compaeo

 

It’s not like Ford has ever done something like this before, using design cues from the vehicles it previously owned…

2013-Ford-Fusion[1]2011-Aston-Martin-DB9-Front-View[1]

J Mays, Ford designer, told Automobile that he just didn’t see it…

Some may remember this too: “We wish our friends the best of luck with their new vehicle”

And a final additional insult to injury, the Ford Flex(the floating roof is the least of its problems), still don’t see it Mr. Mays?

I realize they had to get some return on their investment, but come on!

2012-08-04T22:48:34-04:00August 3, 2012|

Range Rover Sport Badging Suggestions–Why just the LUX? #rangerover

When a Range Rover Sport is ordered with the Luxury package, it gets a unique badge indicating the upgrade:

rrsport-hse-luxury

And I say why stop there!! There are plenty of option packages for the Range Rover Sport that could also get the coveted badging spotlight.

Here are some great examples:

Climate-Comfort-Package

Vision-Assist-Pack

Locking-Diff

HK=Stereo

And finally, what if you’ve checked more then one option on your order form:

combo

So as far as the HSE Luxury thing goes, why not just bring back an actual Range Rover badge from the past – Range Rover Sport LSE!

2012-05-09T17:10:40-04:00May 9, 2012|
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