NO FREELOADERS! With LR2 squirt ute, Land Rover reforms its redheaded stepchild.(News)

Byline: DANIEL PUND

The distinction of being Europe's best-selling sport/utility vehicle is something like being recognized as Austria's best baseball team or France's finest rock band. That was the Land Rover Freelander. People loved it in Europe, where there were not all that many other options when the Freelander was introduced near the end of last decade. But in a market saturated with SUVs of every conceivable stripe, American SUV shoppers (of which there are many) avoided the small, weak Freelander. People started calling it the "Freeloader.'' Land Rover withdrew it from the U.S. market last year to a collective, "Was that thing still on sale?''

So how will Land Rover deal with Freelander's legacy? To his eternal credit, Colin Green, Land Rover director of global marketing, tackled that question head-on during a sneak peek at the Freelander's replacement, the LR2, in England.

"We've got to have a degree of honesty in dealing with the reputation of the Freelander,'' said Green. "It wasn't big enough. The engine certainly wasn't powerful enough. It was a very compromised automobile for the United States.''

The LR2, which goes on sale here early next year, appears to be an altogether more credible effort. We should note here that we did not drive the LR2 at this early unveiling, though we did watch Land Rover test drivers pilot LR2 prototypes. Later, we asked a total stranger to try on a shirt to see if it made us look fat. We'll have to get back to you on that whole "driving'' thing.

The LR2 doesn't remind us of one of those brightly colored, early-'90s jet skis the Freelander always resembled. The substantive-looking LR2 has none of the Freelander's happy-Barbie-beach-party styling. Nor does the new Rover have its predecessor's low, long nose and '80s-style tailgate-mounted spare tire. What it does have is a pastiche of design cues from the larger Rovers applied to a body that, in profile, bears a shocking resemblance to the Saturn Vue.

From the Range Rover, the LR2 gets its raised (or "castellated,'' in Land Rover-ese) hood, blacked-out B- and D-pillars, and lace-look front grille bars. Snatched from the Range Rover Sport are the front-fender vent, the sloping, dark plastic dashboard, and a general sense of shininess. The only thing Land Rover pinched from the sober-looking LR3 for this new truck is its stepped roof, which is taller over the cargo area than the passenger cabin.