Okay, okay. Hands up! We’ve miscredited the car pictured here as being the new, 2010 model year Discovery. Land Rover’s not showing the facelifted Disco until next month, and we thought this was the 2010 Disco out early. But we got this one wrong… it’s a bodykitted current gen Discovery.

We at CAR Online aren’t too big to admit when we were wrong, so here’s our correction. But the gist of the original story is still bang-on. So read on for the detail of the 2010 Disco – just ignore the bodykitted current model in our pictures!

So what is new on the 2010 Discovery?

Visually, it’ll be a minor facelift. There’s not much wrong with the Discovery’s Tonka-toy styling, so the Gaydon designers will keep the updates low-key, with updated bumper, grille and light details. Although we can’t see inside the new Disco, we hear there will be a tidied-up interior too.

And the mechanical changes to the 2010 model year Land Rover Discovery?

We’ve been writing for some time about the new family of engines being rolled out across the Land Rover and Jaguar ranges. The 2.7-litre V6 turbodiesel will continue on lower-spec Discoverys, but the new upgraded 3.0-litre V6 TD will feature, too, with new-gen common-rail systems operating at higher pressures for more precise fuel metering.

Although they will be small sellers in Europe, the 4.2 V8s will be replaced by the latest 5.0-litre direct-injection V8s. All engines offer more power and economy – crucial for this sensitive sector of the market.

You can read our verdict on the new engines in our first drives of the new Jaguar XK 5.0 and Jaguar XF 3.0 Diesel S.

What about the Range Rover family?

There’s change afoot here, too. Last week we reported on how the Land Rover LRX concept is to be rebadged as the production Range Rover LRX and shown in 2010 with showroom sales slated for 2011. But the group’s range-toppers, the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, will also receive a makeover next month with the addition of these cleaner engines and a plethora of detail design changes.

This article was taken frm: Car Magazine

Land Rover has a new “son of Range Rover” – a baby model due to make its debut next year.

It is based on the LRX concept first shown at the 2008 Detroit motor show and tipped to join Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models in showrooms in 2011.

No official name has been revealed, and, at present, the car is referred to simply as the Range Rover Compact.

Land Rover managing director Phil Popham said: “It would be the smallest, lightest and most efficient Range Rover that we’ve ever built.

“The compact size, lighter weight and sustainability-focused technologies of the LRX Concept showed how Land Rover is planning to respond to the needs of a changing world.”

The new model’s development is being backed by a 27 million ($72 million) British government grant, money that will be drawn as needed by Land Rover as the project progresses. The aid is being provided on the understanding that the vehicle will be built at Land Rover’s factory at Halewood, Merseyside, which employs 2000 people and also builds some Jaguars.

Although the car’s technical specification is still being determined, it’s thought the newcomer is likely to share some parts with the Freelander and offer an engine range capable of delivering on the firm’s CO2 emissions promise of 150g/km.

A hybrid version is also thought to be under development, capable of returning less than 120g/km.

The new powertrain options are part of the four-wheel-drive specialist’s “e-terrain” technologies strategy, a green goal to exceed a 20 per cent improvement in CO2 emissions.

Popham said: “Our engineering feasibility study has shown that we can successfully deliver Range Rover levels of quality, drivability and breadth of performance in a more compact, more sustainable package.

“Feedback from the most extensive customer research we have ever undertaken also fully supports our belief that a production version of the LRX Concept would further raise the desirability of our brand and absolutely meets all those expectations.”

This article was taken from: The New Zealand Herald

Land Rover has an image problem.

The things people love about its cars (4×4 capabilities, high driving position and, frankly, scale) are the very reasons others deride them as examples of pointless excess. Then there’s an on going perception that its products haven’t always as well made or reliable as they should be.

Until last year the company could take such brickbats with a shrug. It posted record sales, particularly in America, where even the vulgarian Range Rover Sport was regarded by many as compact and a bit introverted.

No longer, and some serious re-invention is now required. The first example of this is a Freelander with an engine stop/start device –claimed to be a design first for a 4×4. Called the TD4_e, it features a system that will be fitted to all diesel manual Freelanders (you re-start the engine by pressing the clutch pedal, so automatics won’t have this capability, at least not yet).

Land Rover has beefed up the starter motor, battery and other related components, which are all going to have to work much harder, and engineered things so that lights, climate control, hi-fi, etc, keep going. Should they start draining the battery, the car re-starts to charge it, or to replenish the brake vacuum reservoir, and if it’s very cold outside the engine keeps going so that the TD4_e’s occupants don’t freeze. The thing can be also over-ridden if that’s what the driver wants.

There’s little reason to do this. The stop/start works unobtrusively and painlessly, shutting down the engine when the car comes to a halt and firing it up quickly when the clutch is dipped. Even fast getaways aren’t noticeably impeded, and once the mild novelty of mechanical silence has worn off you pretty much forget the TD4_e’s USP.

Land Rover claims a 15g/km reduction in CO2 over the outgoing TD4, which managed 194g/km. The TD4_e’s 179g/km figure is somewhat greater than the 130g/km industry-wide average Eurocrats are seeking, but compares well with the 199g/km posted by the newer Volvo XC60 –although sub-170g.km variants are imminent.

The stop/start TD4 also has a claimed 4.5 mpg improvement, although I got about nine MPG less than the 42 and a bit mpg touted for it. As a driving experience this car is an odd mix. On rural roads its high ground clearance and long travel suspension conspire to make progress somewhat choppy, but on motorways it’s mostly serene and relaxed. Something like the VW Tiguan or Volvo’s XC60 feel more like pumped up regular cars than the Freelander, which remains a 4×4.

This isn’t unattractive, and once you’ve tuned into it, the car can be punted round corners with surprising élan, and will steer and go where you want it to with greater accuracy than you might expect, although the steering itself is light and inert, and the thing rolls a good deal. At non-motorway speeds the 2.2 litre diesel is a bit raucous and feels somewhat gutless in the lower gears unless you let it rev, when it displays unexpected reserve of torque –that’s pulling power- rapidly gaining momentum in the lower gears of the precise-but-clunky six speed gearbox.

On fast A roads and duel carriageways the engine really quietens down, there’s a surprising lack of wind and road noise, and the combination of unexpected refinement and commanding view make the car a pleasant place to be.

Other positives? Well, the lights are especially good. We borrowed £32,345’s worth of HSE, and reckoned there was still a cheapness about some of the fit, finish and switchgear, and the hard plastic steering wheel felt as if it had been pinched from an old Proton, so that’s work in progress.

As for mechanical reliability, the old Freelander had a pretty rubbish reputation, but Land Rover management has been upfront about past failings, and things should have improved.

The TD4_e is unlikely to convert many 4×4 haters, and its duel purpose design does compromise it somewhat (think high, shallow boot to accommodate a whacking great spare wheel, etc), but it’s certainly a step in the right direction, and its makers are promising some more radical design ideas in the future.

Anyone who likes road-friendly all-wheel-drives, is perhaps thinking of downsizing or actually needs the off road capabilities they offer, would be daft not to look at this one.

This article was taken from: Honest John

Land Rover is to show the new Range Rover ‘Westminster’ Limited Edition together with the 2010 Freelander 2 at the Geneva Motor Show.

The unique ‘Westminster’ features include 20″ Diamond Turned wheels, an exterior design pack, ‘Westminster’ tailgate badging, half wood steering wheel and stainless steel accents to the brake and accelerator pedals.

Only 300 ‘Westminster’ editions will go on sale at Land Rover dealerships in the UK, from the end of March, with prices starting from £62,995.

John Edwards, Land Rover UK managing director said: “The dramatic visual impact of the ‘Westminster’ coupled with the Range Rover’s supreme breadth of capability and acclaimed TDV8 diesel powertrain, makes this edition an exceptionally enticing proposition.”

Also on the Land Rover stand at the Geneva Motor Show, which starts today, will be the revised 2010 model year Freelander 2, featuring the intelligent stop/start system now standard on all diesel manual Freelander 2 TD4.

This model includes remote central locking, seven airbags, two ISOFIX points, power steering, heated and electrically adjustable door mirrors, air conditioning, auxiliary audio jack, Roll Stability Control (RSC) and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) as standard.

This article was taken from: Totally Motor