Town-based owners of 4x4s and SUVs get a bad rap, with plenty of negative media publicity, name-calling – ‘Chelsea tractors’ – and campaigns by environmental groups and activists. Many a Freelander owner has returned to their vehicle to find a ‘Poor Vehicle Choice’ ticket on their windscreen, the work of a group called the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s.

Land Rover has, wisely, risen to the challenge – not that it has much choice, with the consumer tide turning against large fuel-thirsty vehicles anyway – and come up with a version of the Freelander 2 that, if not quite as eco-angelic as the ‘e’ in its name-badge implies, is considerably less polluting and more efficient than the models previously offered. And of course, this model is in no way compromised in its off-road ability, should you actually wish or need to leave the tarmac.

The Freelander 2 TD4 _e uses the already-economical Peugeot-Citroen 2.2-litre diesel engine, as in the outgoing TD4, but adds a stop-start system to automatically cut the engine when idling. This forms part of an integrated starter-generator unit, with a regenerative braking function to capture energy otherwise lost under deceleration or when coasting. This energy is stored in super-capacitors, which can release it very quickly to power an additional 24-volt electrical network for the starter-generator. This network is supplementary to the standard 12-volt system to power the vehicle’s other electrical functions.

This is a relatively lightweight, compact system to add to a vehicle – no large heavy battery packs or motors as in a full hybrid, for a start – which goes some way to bring useful fuel savings. Though at the moment it is only fitted in the manual-transmission, diesel-engined Freelander (as standard, at no extra cost) ultimately Land Rover will offer it in many more versions and in its other models.

Read on more for the facts and figures, and the low-down on how this system feels in real-life city driving practice.

This article was taken from: Channel 4

We now have available Melvill and Moon seat covers for all Land rovers. Please visit our online shop for more information and to purchase a set today.

melvill-moon-trade-leaflet

Exmoor Trim Announce the new “Le Mans Sport” seat specifically designed for Land Rovers.

Until now sports styled seats in Land Rovers typically blocked access to the battery and storage box under the seat. The latest seat from Exmoor Trim, Le Mans Sport, features a removable seat base so you can now not only benefit from the hold of a deeper bucket sports seat whilst still being able to access your battery and storage easily. Simply unclick the base.

The seat includes all runners and mounting hardware.

Click here for the PDF brochure.

AS a manufacturer which only produces chunky four-wheel-drive vehicles, it’s hardly surprising that Land Rover are feeling a lot of pain at the moment.

With UK sales in October down to just 1283 units, compared with more than 3000 for the same month last year, the Tata-owned marque will be praying for a quick fix to the global financial troubles.

Yet, while sales may be slow for now, the sad thing is that the Land Rover model range is a hard one to beat.

Take the mid-range Discovery 3 which offers clean, geometric lines that make it instantly recognisable as a Land Rover. Packed with state-of-the-art technology, this chunky SUV offers seating for up to seven adults who are cocooned in a lap of luxury normally reserved for large premium-brand saloon cars.

Out on the road, the Discovery has to be one of the best – if not the best – multi-talented off-road machines around.

With its air springs and independent suspension, it offers afabulous ride, coupled with awesome high-speed corning ability with little roll even on the tighter bends.

Take it off the black stuff and simply set the Disco’s Terrain Response dial to whatever the conditions, and the engine, suspension and traction settings reconfigure automatically to make the most of the vehicle’s superb diveability.

Land Rover have reserved just one engine for the Disco 3, a 2.7-litre V6 turbodiesel similar to that used in a Jaguar. However, the Jaguar is a lighter vehicle, so you have to give the Disco a fair bit of welly to get it up to speed.

But the 187bhp unit does pull a whopping 324lb/ft of torque and can propel the vehicle from standing to 60mph in a morethan-respectable 11 seconds.

For a big diesel lump, engine clatter, even at low speed, is practically non existent and as such the Discovery 3 is great around town, while also being a great motorway cruiser.

Inside, the build quality is first rate and Land Rover have worked hard to improve on past models.

The chiselled-look of the dash gives the machine a tough, goanywhere air. In lead-in GS trim with seven seats, there’s eight air bags. Hill descent control and Terrain Response System, antilock brakes and traction control also come as standard.

Sadly, good things don’t come cheap. Prices for the Discovery 3 start at £29,950 and jump to £45,360 for the HSE model with leather upholstery, sat nav, metallic paint and sunroof.

The Discovery isn’t cheap to run either. Expect no more than a tad over 30mpg in six-speed manual mode and just 27.7mpg when the V6 diesel is mated with the six-speed automatic gearbox.

You’ll also have to fork out for its 13 or 14 insurance grouping.

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 3GS

PRICE: £29,950.

DRIVETRAIN: 1720cc V6 turbodiesel engine, driving all four wheels through six-speed manual gearbox.

TOP SPEED: 112mph.

0-60MPH: 11 seconds.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: Combined 27.7mpg.

WARRANTY: Three years/unlimited miles.

This article was taken from: Daily Record

Prototypes for Land Rover’s facelifted Range Rover Sport have been spotted testing at the Nurburgring less than two months after the test cars were last seen in the UK. The performance SUV already received a series of upgrades last year, including the introduction of a 3.6L twin turbo diesel V8, so for its next update the list of changes have been kept to a minimum, although there’s the chance of the addition of a new high output supercharged V8 engine.

The facelifted SUV is due to hit the streets at the end of this year and is likely to be available with both the 3.6L diesel as well as a new supercharged 5.0L V8 engine developing upwards of 500hp (373kW) and 480lb-ft. (650Nm) of torque.

Another possibility is the introduction of a V6 twin-turbo diesel, likely to be the 2.7L unit used by Jaguar. However, in the Range Rover Sport, displacement would likely be bumped up to around the 3.0L mark.

In addition to the engine upgrade, the new Sport also receives a slightly revised face including a new grille design that’s reminiscent of the Land Rover Freelander/LR2 as well as a new front bumper. The side vents also feature a slightly different design to the ports on the current model, as well as the headlight treatment.

This article was taken from: Motor Authority

One thing you can say about the Discovery is that it suits a wide variety of budgets. The cheapest model in the range, the GS manual, comes in at £29,950, while at the other end of the scale there’s the HSE tested here, which officially costs £45,360 but, with the options that are fitted to it, would set you back by just short of £50,000.

Despite this considerable price gap (you could fit quite a decently-equipped Ford Mondeo into it without touching the sides) every Discovery is more or less the same as every other Discovery. The differences relate to whether you either want or could do without various pieces of equipment – or, to look at it another way, whether you want to use your Discovery as a workhorse or as a rather luxurious SUV.

Regardless of how you want to play this, the car will have only one engine. There is now no such thing as a new petrol Discovery – instead you get the 2.7-litre V6 turbo diesel which has now been fitted to a considerable number of Fords, cars built by companies formerly owned by Ford (namely Land Rover, Range Rover and Jaguar), Citroens and Peugeots. It’s difficult to find any reason to complain about this, since the engine is exceptionally good and makes Discovery driving a more peaceful affair than could possibly have been imagined when the first-generation version was launched.

Every Discovery is available with a six-speed automatic gearbox, and in fact if you buy either this HSE or the one-step-down SE it’s the only option. A six-speed manual is offered with the lowlier GS and XS versions, at a saving of £1505, and it can’t be a coincidence that those are the ones more likely to be required to do serious off-roading.

But whichever one you pick you’re going to be able to leave civilisation behind you to a much greater extent than you could in any SUV which has the word “lifestyle” attached to it. As you can see from the photos accompanying this article, I took the test car over some reasonably difficult ground but didn’t come close to reaching its limits. When the third Discovery was introduced to the UK press back in 2004 we were encouraged to stretch it much further, and I refer you to Mike Grundon’s launch report from that time if you want details on how impressive it was.

The Discovery will clamber over far more difficult ground than most owners will be prepared to countenance even if you leave it on the settings that are designed for road use, but when things get tougher you can start playing with the Terrain Response System, which prepares it for conditions such as gravel, snow, mud and clambering over rocks. This is very clever and very effective, but I doubted four years ago whether many buyers would ever actually need to use the facility, and I’m still not convinced. It’s entirely possible that Discovery types may enjoy – and be prepared to for – this kind of thing even if they’re never actually going to use it.

That being the case, the on-road behaviour is very important, and here the current Discovery does a lot better than either of its predecessor did. I’ve already mentioned that the engine is quiet; on top of that, the interior is very comfortable and the ride, considering the car’s shape and where the weight is, is astonishingly good. The Discovery will also take corners with some enthusiasm, but there’s a lot of body roll, and you’d be wise to remember that it was never designed for changing direction abruptly at high speed – care is definitely required, particularly in wet conditions.

Like the other models in the range, this one has seven seats, and I was all prepared to be quite scathing about this until I actually tried sitting in the back row. Well, stone me if it didn’t turn out that access past the middle-row seats (which tumble forward for this purpose) is really rather good, and once you’re installed back there you’ll find far more space than in rival products which, it’s claimed, can transport seven people. The Discovery really can do this, and they can all be at least six feet tall (though those back seats are so near the back door that I would be very concerned about sitting in either of them during a rear-end shunt).

In the history of writing reviews about Land Rover products a tradition has developed whereby the writer must mention reliability at some point. I only had one problem, which was that the left headlight refused to dip in night driving, which caused fury and consternation among my fellow road users until the problem suddenly fixed itself. Odd, but I wasn’t going to complain since nobody was flashing their own lights at me any more.

As of August this year, the Discovery has looked slightly different from before, with body-colouring for the bumpers and exterior trim, a wider range of metallic colours, new 19″ alloy wheels and an updated Bluetooth phone system. The range line-up remains as before, though, with HSE representing the Furthest North of Discovery luxury.

The reason the test car cost more than £5000 above a “standard” HSE is that it was fitted with an active locking rear differential (£495, if you think you’re going to get a bit serious off-road), a tyre pressure monitoring system (£385, or you could just buy a gauge), a cool box in the centre console (£230), a towing pack (£440), carpet mats (£125!), rear air-conditioning (£700) and – to save the most expensive till last – a DVD-based rear entertainment system for £2250.

Running costs will, of course, be high, though nothing like what they used to be when there was a petrol V8. Combined fuel economy is 27.7mpg (very similar to what the trip computer told me I’d managed after driving in a wide variety of conditions) and the CO2 rating is 270g/km, which means VED of £400 now, £440 from next April and £455 from 2010, assuming the proposed car tax structure doesn’t change in the meantime.

Price: £45,360
Capacity: 2720cc
Power: 188bhp
0-62mph: 11.7 seconds
Maximum speed: 112mph
Economy: 33.2mpg extra urban, 27.7mpg combined
CO2 emissions: 270g/km
Towing capacity: 3500kg braked
Insurance: Group 14
Land Rover figures.

This article was taken from: Car Keys