Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover has made same significant upgrades to the 2010 Range Rover models for next model year.  Expect the new 2011 Range Rover to have at least two major core enhancements – a more powerful diesel engine and an all new 8-speed automatic model.

Revamping the Engine

The Range Rover SUV brand has always sported two engine variants, one petrol and another diesel.  The well-regarded 3.6 litre V8 diesel engine already morphed into a heavily re-engineered 3-litre version in the V6 diesel that was adopted for 2010 Land Rover Discovery and Range Rover Sport models, including the Jaguar XJ and XF models with improved fuel efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions.  This time, the V8 goes into another revamp allowing it to overtake the V6.

The V8 capacity is now increased to 4.4 litres providing 313 horsepower and a torque of 700 Newton-metres.  In addition, its combined cycle fuel economy gets improved to 30.1 mpg, making this model the first Range Rover to breach the 30 mpg limits in official road tests.  At the same time, CO2 emissions fall by as much as 14% though still on the heft side at 253 grams per kilometre.

ZF 8-speed Automatic Transmission

The diesel engine gets mated to a new 8-speed automatic transmission gear train which, like the previous 6-speeder, is sourced from the German gearbox specialist ZF.  BMW has been using the same ZF 8-speeder on its flagship cars and SUV for a number of months now and Jaguar Land Rover is only too pleased to take the hint and play catch up even if the gear ratios make little sense on the road.

The new gearbox/engine allows the Range Rover diesel model to accelerate to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds and reach 130mph on the highway.

In the meantime, the current supercharged 5-litre petrol engine remains unchanged and will be offered for the 2011 model year along with the improved diesel model.  It will continue to use the ZF 6-speed transmission gearbox.   Both petrol and diesel models, however, will get an improved Terrain Response system exclusive to the Rover SUV line.  It brings greater ease and manageability for less experienced Range Rover drivers to set its 4X4 drivetrain system to match any type of off-road conditions.

The new 2011 models will have small cosmetic changes as well as new equipment add-ons.  Moreover, a specially accessorized 40^th anniversary limited edition in Autobiography Black will be offered next year to celebrate the launch of the Range Rover name in 1970.

Tags: 40th Anniversary, Jaguar, Range Rover, Tata

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 12:16 pm and is filed under New Models. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.