carcounsel.com |HID|

For the past ten years I’ve been trying to convince people that all wheel drives cars and SUVs need winter tires more than two wheel cars (due to the added mass the tires need to bring to a stop, and in the case of SUVs inherently inferior braking and handling and tires with hard rubber designed to take the punishment of off roading).

if a picture is worth a thousand words this video from Automobile is worth many times that.

Sure it’s spring again, but now you’ll be safer come next year…

BMW designed the current Range Rover to be an alternative to the S class, A8, etc. But traditionalists moaned that it had grown too large, so when Ford took ownership Land Rover introduced the smaller, sportier Range Rover Sport.

Now that the X5’s gained about 400lbs and a considerable amount of length and width, BMW is considering an X6.

For those who thought the last X5’s form factor was large enough but want the new X5’s front suspension and chassis technology, this should be just the ticket.

Imagine a Range Rover Sport that accelerates slightly faster, has the same top speed, and gets 30+% greater fuel economy.

That’s what the 268hp V8 turbodiesel model – not available in the U.S. – promises. The V6 turbodiesel was already consdered the pick of the litter by European journalists; hopefully Land Rover will have the good sense to import the new V8 version as soon as our diesel fuel switches to low sulphur content.

Last week a friend who takes cars almost as seriously as I do said he didn’t see the point in the Range Rover Sport. I disagreed, my argument sounding a lot like this excerpt from evo:

think of the very first Range Rover, the really cool one. Remember the way it was properly utilitarian as well as being somehow glamorous. Remember how it was a good bit smaller than the current full-house Range Rover and Discovery models. Now imagine it brought up to date…