NEW RANGE ROVER AND SPORT UPGRADES

At the 2013 Frankfurt International Motor Show, Land Rover presented a few upgrades for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models. The upgrades are not about styling, but concern engines, kit and some technologies. We reckon we’ll see some of these at the 2013 Johannesburg International Motor Show (JIMS) next month.

Something called the Black Design Pack has been put on the Options list. It’s essentially made up of gloss black finishing on the bonnet moniker, front grille, bumper vanes, side mirrors, door handles and the tailgate. It also gives the owner a choice of either 21 or 22-inch alloy wheels.

Some of the hi-tech bits include things like Parking Exit which helps drivers to automatically park in parallel parking bays, Perpendicular Park (which might not work very well in Mzansi) – positions the car exactly in the middle of the bay and 360 degree Park Distance Control which provides virtual object tracking along the sides of the car at speeds of up to 16km/h.

As far as the engines, Land Rover has developed a powerful 4.4-litre SDV8 turbo diesel and hybrid engines to take on the best in the world. The SDV8 features twin intercoolers and a new sump among others, as it loses 10kg in weight. Power is 249kW and while torque is a good 700Nm. In the Range Rover Sport it is claimed to accelerate from 0 – 100km/h in just 6.9 seconds. Both cars are fitted with an 8-speed ZF gearbox. Depending on country and market, both cars can also be purchased with a choice of 3.0-litre SDV6 with 215kW, 3.0-litre TDV6 with 190kW, 3.0-litre petrol V6 making 250kW and the big boy, 5.0-litre V8 Supercharged pulling out the usual 375kW.

The big engine news however, is the introduction of a new hybrid, a first for Land Rover. Based on the 3.0-litre SDV6 engine, it also comes with a 35kW electric motor. Total system output is 250kW, while torque is 700Nm. They say it can run from 0 – 100km/h in under 7 seconds but return 5.3 litres per 100km.