Land Rover mixes sedan, SUV

Land Rover has just released the LR2, a hybrid of a different color. It’s not exactly the gasoline-electric hybrid that we’re so used to hearing about these days; rather, it’s a sedan-SUV hybrid. This is not your father’s Land Rover.

First of all, no matter what the manufacturers say, it looks to me like it’s a sedan. The interior is filled with comfort-inducing features like stadium seating and an amenities panel that has all sorts of bells and whistles. The exterior reminds me of nothing so much as a large family sedan. Indeed, the ample leg room and five doors make it deal for taking the entire family on a weeklong trip.

But the SUV features are attractive as well. This is still a Land Rover, after all, and it gives you the option of going off-road in style, with a fully independent suspension and the company’s patented Roll Stability Control. Yes, you have to start out in automatic transmission mode, but you can quickly take over and change the gears yourself and even switch to the special Sport mode for those off-road thrills (which we presume you will not be taking the entire family on).

Land Rover have also upgraded the brakes to make it easier to negotiate slippery situations and given the vehicle permanent all-wheel-drive, so you never have to remember to flip that switch or pull that lever.

So it’s a sedan and an SUV. Got it.