Land Rover diesel hybrid dreams

I had no idea fiat made an off road 4wd-SUV. HOw much does it tow? What grades can it clime? What surfaces?

Only if you don't want it to act like an off road SUV. Now most never take these things off road, in which case you could make it much lighter and more aerodynamic. Otherwise diesels do quite well at low loads.

IMHO you should complain to Range Rover not me This vehicle is speced for europe and china not america, where they have said it won't be sold, at least initially.. It is an english/indian company, so ice size is purely for Europeans, not Americans. Land Rover are the ones trying to make their vehicle travel off road and tow. I don't think the very wealthy that buy these things are interested in passenger vans

 

I would bet this is meant to comply with euro 6, so it could easily be modified to comply to us emissions if they wanted to do it. All the luxury SUVs other than Lexus and Land Rover have a diesel option or will next year in the US.

 

and i dont see the wealthty go on a red neck offroading or tow the big mobile home they life in

 

Ford would say over 90% of range rover buyers are never nevers, they never go off road and they never tow. They want the security of 4wd and want it to be able to perform well on snow, ice, gravel, and muddy roads. For that you don't really have to do much more than subaru. You certainly don't need to be able to go through high standing water or crawl up rocks as the range rover does.

There is nothing red neck about off roading. The range rover was the first vehicle to go through the darian gap in panama. Back then IIRC they had a interior that you could clean with a hose, like the jeep. I just don't think that is who the customers are today. Which means they can probably do some off-road compromises like bmw in their X5, which would also allow them to make it handle better, and get better fuel economy. Then you would also be correct that you could use a smaller ice, but those very rich european and chinese buyers may like the story that they have bought a vehicle that can go anywhere.

As John Stewart said about most of these SUV buyers, they need it to tow the boat they don't own up the mountain they don't live by. But I agree with Grumpycabbie here, at least they will be getting much better fuel economy (double?) than the last generation V8 on the new aluminum hybrid diesel.

 

I read other articles that said they were not planning of bringing it to america. This is a european and chinese product. They may eventually decide to bring it here, but if they do they will have to put it through the epa test, like all other US vehicles, and it will be much lower than NEDC. Diesel luxury SUVs appear to do well in the real world compared to epa though. Here are all the choices you have to buy one.

2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit EcoDiesel 4X4 vs. 2013 Volkswagen Touareg TDI, 2013 Mercedes-Benz ML350 BlueTec 4MATIC, 2013 Porsche Cayenne Diesel, 2013 BMW X5 xDrive35d – Comparison Test – Car and Driver

I don't think anyone will complaign in the US about not having diesel choices in this segment. The complaints are about small cars and pick up trucks. In this segment, nearly everyone has a diesel.

 

The 2013 range rover sport only got 14mpg in its epa test. The 2014 with its drastic redesign and supercharged V6 gets 20. 26 mpg is a huge improvement for those trading in older range rovers. I would never trust European numbers or Japanese numbers on these tests and compare them to US numbers. The gen III prius got 73 mpg(imperial) to compare with this 44 mpg(imperial) on the european test. You can't just scale it down though. Aerodynamics don't come into play as much in the european test, and these big SUVs have high drag.

 

And my experience of the diesel V8 Range Rover is that it will get 30+ mpg UK.

And just in case you think that diesel V8's aren't much fun;

Designed exclusively for the Range Rover, the LR-SDV8 diesel engine offers a powerful, effortless driving experience that’s rich in torque - 700Nm, delivering 339hp of power, whilst achieving 229g/km of C0₂.
700 Nm of torque is 516 ft lbs. Not bad for a 4.4 litre engine.

If ever there was a diesel engine to hit America, that would be it. The Mercedes diesel in the ML is barely more economical than the petrol and thus not worth the hassle unless you live in France where diesel is significantly cheaper.

 

It's called a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and was one of the main reasons Fiat wanted Chrysler.

I couldn't find what spec in met in the link, and assumed the worse.

Doesn't matter where they are made, but where they are sold. I think most of the VWs for the American market are made in Mexico though.

 

Nice but that is not a 4 cylinder diesel like the poster I was responding to though.

In 2015 europe will be euro 6, and this is a fairly new diesel engine that I am sure is built to comply. It may need a little tweaking as bmw does, but with scr and egr that should not make fuel economy much worse.

 

And often the European versions of cars sold in the US do comply with US emissions.

I remember my old Jeep had the US emissions compliance sticker in the engine bay.

 

I was commenting on needing at least a 6 cylinder diesel. I don't really think off road vehciles are fun unless you are off road, and then give me a jeep or a 4 runner. I'm sure the v8 has great acceleration.

I did comment on the different mpg. You must have very different routes if you are getting 30+ mpg out of a range rover. The us mpg was the gasoline engine though, and a diesel should do much better.

 

the toyota landcruiser 90 can get a 3.0 4 cylinder diesel...

 

Why would a 3L 4cylinder diesel get better fuel economy than a 3L 6 cylinder? Are you just objecting to the number of cylinders? I thought it was size. With euro 6 or american emission requirements a 6 makes more sense than a 4 as cylinder idling can reduce it to 3, which can run a mixture that is not as lean, leading to lower NOx emissions. You can of course put an SCR on the beast and use more urea, but what is the point. I am sure that engine was not built for the new emissions standards. Cylinder idling should also get it better mpg. Only vw has an engine that can go from 4 to 2, and that is rough and gasoline not diesel. When cylinder volume gets over 0.5 Liters, and cylinder count is less than 6, it is often a better trade off with nvh and emissions to add cylinders. 5 cylinder is often difficult, so 4 cylinder often goes to 2.5L (other than vw group), then 6 until 4L, then 8. Over 8 cylinders things get complicated and producers often add more boost and/or larger cylinders.

 

Only what's on the website;

The performance SUV - All-New Range Rover Vogue | Land Rover UK

or the Evoque diesel that gets 49 mpg UK on the highway;

Range Rover Evoque - The Economical SUV | Land Rover UK

Performance (Manufacturer's Estimates) SD4 Automatic Evoque
Maximum speed mph (kph) 121 (195)
Acceleration 0-60mph (0-100kph) seconds 8.0 (8.5)
Fuel Economy SD4 Automatic Evoque
Urban mpg (L/100km) 35.8 (7.9)
Extra urban mpg (L/100km) 49.6 (5.7)
Combined mpg (L/100km) 43.5 (6.5)
CO₂ emissions (g/km)
174

 

Too....... There is to, two. And Too. All a bit different. We don't want Grumpy Cabby on our case for improper English too?

 

That's actually quite good for a former gas hog. Next RR and Bentley will be coming out with Hybrids.

 

so a 3 liter v6 in a hybrid combination would be better then a 3 liter 4 cyl in a hybrid config?