Land Rover Discovery News

Of all the brands, Land Rover's performance has defied the odds.As the year winds down with plenty of its rivals seeing red ink, Land Rover sales are up almost 20 per cent over last year, largely on the back of the return of the Defender crew cab and wagon.The volume-selling Discovery and Range Rover Sport have also done their bit.Land Rover Australia product manager, Brett Lewis-Driver, says the Defender's success comes from a loyal customer base."There are a lot of repeat buyers but also a little bit of conquest from other brands there," he says."Defender also does tend to do quite well in a launch year."The company expects to end the year with about 4500 sales, which will be up 1000 over 2007.Going into 2009 though, Lewis-Driver, is more cautious."Because of the downturn in the overall market we are not alone in thinking things will be a bit quieter," he says.He sees the next 12 months as a time of consolidation.But to help entice showroom traffic Land Rover has just launched a refreshed Discovery, Range Rover Sport and range-topping Range Rover, each with more equipment and mild facelifts.The Discovery gets a cleaner looking body-coloured front bumper as well as revised rear bumper, tungsten coloured side vents, new alloys and rear clear-lens indicators, Inside there are some trims changes.The TDV6 S gains air suspension and terrain response and leather seats have now been made an option.The SE gets Hi-ICE as standard, six-disc CD changer, 8 speaker Harmon Kardon speaks and steering wheel controls.The range topping HSE gets Premium ICE with 13 Harmon Kardon speakers and Logic 7 sound system.Prices remain largely unchanged, starting at $66,490 for the SE V6 and topping out at $92,990 for the HSV V8.The Range Rover Sport also gets some mild exterior tweaks, new alloys and three new colours.At the top-end of the Land Rover spectrum is the Range Rover Vogue Autobiography.The Autobiography adds another level of luxury with leather dashboard, doors, seats and centre console as well as leather-bound floor mats.The lavish attention to detail continues with acoustic and climate glass.The acoustic glass reduces cabin noise, while the sun-reflective climate glass reduces heat build-up.Outside the Autobiography has new 20-inch diamond-turned twin-seven-spoke alloys.Both the TDV8 and Supercharged petrol models have diamond mesh grille and side vents, black and silver badging and stainless steel detailing on the pedals.Range Rover Vogue prices start at $153,400 for the TDV8, with the Supercharged Autobiography costing $212,700. 

The Range Rover Vogue, flagship of the Land Rover fleet, glides into El Questro trailing red dust and miles of memories. Memories of dust hovering in billowing clouds, of stones flicking up and spitting sideways as Goodyear Wranglers pounded down the Gibb River Road.Our convoy of eight Land Rovers is heading to a well-earned break at the Kimberley resort.The Range Rover Vogue and Sport, the Freelander, three Discoverys, Defender wagon and ute have been comfortable, reliable and capable on this long, dry run from the Alice up through the Tanami Desert.Through corrugations and bulldust, chill desert mornings and gold-red sunsets, the Land Rovers have run easy through a rugged and remote piece of the continent.At the end of the trek, as we head for our first shower in five days, there are few more suitable — and suited — vehicles than a Vogue to roll into the greens of the El Questro oasis.Here, in this stunning part of Western Australia, gateway to a land of geographical treasures, the Vogue and all its comforts and conveniences makes a driver feel extra-special.Inside is soft and quiet, apart from unintelligible Olympic commentators fading in and out on the radio. The Vogue ignores rough, nasty patches of ancient landscape passing beneath.Its mighty turbocharged diesel V8 powers on, its six-speed sequential transmission slurring through the changes, rounding up 50m roadtrains or pushing on through the talcum-soft bog of bulldust.This year, the Range Rover Vogue has benefited from minor changes including a four-zone air conditioning option and Bluetooth connectivity.But the basics remain the same in a majestic off-road machine that sails through this wild country with supreme comfort.The Vogue and its Land Rover mates have crossed the Simpson Desert from Birdsville, then on to Alice Springs. The next leg — Alice to El Questro — was a further 1700km.During this epic drive to mark Land Rover's 60th anniversary, there has not been a single drama aside from the odd flat tyre.And, thanks to the attention paid to build quality under BMW and Ford's ownership of the famous British brand, the fleet is pleasantly free of rattles and loose bits.All of them prove to be great touring and rough-track machines on this run across Australia (despite outback tales of certain Japanese makes being the only means of travel out here).The Vogue is — surprise, surprise — the pick of the Land Rover bunch: elegant and effortless.The Range Rover Sport is very good but, for desert tours, the Discovery wagon is probably a better bet. The Sport is quite capable but with a bias towards on-road handling, while the Discovery sits on a longer wheelbase.If the Vogue is the flagship of the fleet, the acclaimed Discovery is the battleship and the Defender the minesweeper: a tough wagon to send out if the going turns really gnarly and some forward scouting is needed. This square-jawed, 2.4-litre machine is hard to stop, and dings and scratches will only enhance its character.Where the Defender loses out is in cabin ergonomics, ride comfort and noise levels on rough, corrugated roads.The wagon, priced from $48,990, is acceptable if the sweet spot can be found — up the Tanami Track, that was around 90 km/h.That leaves the surprise packet of the convoy, the Freelander. This is the patrol boat, quick and game for anything.Unlike the Range Rover or the Discovery, the Freelander has no low-range gearing or suspension height adjustment (the bigger wagons have air suspension that adjusts the ride height according to the terrain).But the diesel Freelander, with its six-speed transmission and clever four-wheel-drive system, is forever willing to tackle both high-speed runs down dirt roads or off-road crawls.Like its bigger mates, the Freelander has Land Rover's All Terrain System, which sets engine and transmission parameters to suit the work involved — more torque and lower gearing for rocks, more power and quicker changes for sand.On all Land Rovers (aside from the Defender) this system is best proved by setting the centre console dial to the wrong spot.Try to slip through sand and mud with the rocky road setting, and the vehicle bogs down. Try to climb a rock-strewn hill with the sand setting, and it bounces around with too much ground speed.The system does help the Freelander (from $49,990 in petrol form, $52,490 for the diesel) get further than may be imagined; this is arguably the best of the premium compact SUVs for combining good road manners and some rough paddock ability with a fair degree of comfort.It's also a fun machine on a soft dirt road, stability control turned down to allow more tail slides, driver's arms crossed in rally style.All the while, the Freelander's 2.2-litre diesel is returning better than 10 litres per 100km through the scrub. The big Vogue can achieve close on 10 litres on a run down the track, out to a reasonable 13 litres when it's needed to work harder down a bush track.These machines allowed a disparate group of travellers to explore some of Australia's most desolate country, then the magnificent Kimberleys.There are many vehicles capable of such a trip, but this fleet of Land Rovers added extra style and comfort to the journey.For, despite some hiccups over the past 60 years, the British maker (now owned by India's Tata) has been doing it with a passion for the brand and the adventure — characteristics not always seen among the Johnny-come-latelys of the four-wheel-drive business. 

Often referred to as the HSV or AMG of Range Rovers, Overfinch offers an almost limitless range of enhancements, from engines to interiors and tyre and wheel upgrades.

Since the model was launched into Australia late in 1993 there has been little room to argue that it was, in true Land Rover style, a capable off-roader. Unfortunately, there was little room inside the car too. Not so now. The Discovery 3, due to be launched in Australia around March next year, is positively spacious by comparison and certainly comparable to most of its competitors. "Extra space was one of the key targets for this car," lead program engineer Steve Haywood says. "There were so many targets we set ourselves but the interior packaging was right at the top. "Of course, it had to be superb off-road, excellent on-road and be instantly recognisable as a Land Rover." There is no disguising how important the Discovery is to Land Rover. It is the heart of the manufacturer's range, the vanguard of the next generation of cars and the model to take the sales fight into North America. "The Discovery 3 is a new generation Land Rover, a vehicle of great conviction that points the way forward for the company," managing director Matthew Taylor says. "As you would expect from a Land Rover it is awesome off-road. What may be more surprising to some is its great performance on-road too. "The result is the widest breadth of capability in the class." The Discovery 3 will launch in Australia with a mix of three engines and three specification levels in a price band from around $56,500 for the V6 petrol S with five seats and coil springs through to $91,500 for the HSE V8 with air suspension, seven seats and terrain response all-wheel drive. "It is certainly a price increase over the outgoing model – about 20 per cent – but with all the technology and equipment improvements the Discovery 3 represents incredible value," Land Rover Australia managing director Steve Morten says. Morten says there is a demand for the functional workhorse models without some of the more advanced technology. "Some buyers do want the car with five seats and without air-suspension or an electronic rear diff. For those buyers the base S will be available in V6 petrol or diesel." Morten says that while the third row of seats would be available as an option on the S models it would only be sold in a package with air-suspension and the same would apply for terrain response. "They will be available but we are pricing the SE so sharply that with air-suspension and terrain response standard on those models, it doesn't make sense to option up the base model," he says. Land Rover Australia is predicting sales of around 3500 for a full year, an increase of 30 per cent over the previous couple of years. First drive Land Rover's innovative Terrain Response system has made getting off the beaten track, and back again, as simple as it has ever been. Twist a knob, flick a lever and away you go. A simplistic explanation, to be certain, but fairly close to the mark for a system which has taken the guesswork out of the best way to handle a wide range of difficult terrain. "Terrain Response is a good example of Land Rover's commitment to offering 'smart' technology that aids the driver," Land Rover managing director Matthew Taylor explains. "It is easy to use. It simplifies rather than complicates driving." With Terrain Response, a driver can select between five settings – on-road, slippery surface (grass/gravel/snow), mud, sand and rock crawl – with the simple twist of a knob. With a choice of high or low range there are effectively 10 settings available. The system adjusts ride height, engine torque response, hill descent control, traction control, transmission and differential settings to best suit the nominated terrain. "In developing the system we footprinted 50 differing surface conditions around the world," Discovery 3 chief program engineer Steve Haywood says. "Of course it wasn't physically possible or practical to fit 50 settings on the car so we distilled those down to five most likely to be encountered by owners. "It's like having an expert alongside you, to help you get the best out of the vehicle whatever the conditions." The latest electronic wizardry is patented to Land Rover and according to Haywood will trickle down through the range as each new model comes on line over a couple of years. On the test drive of the new Discovery in northern Scotland the system handled peat bogs, sand mountains, rocky traverses and deep water crossing with aplomb. It is not magic ... there are some conditions which will still make a snatch strap and a shovel required equipment but the operating envelope is certainly much larger. Given the Australian experience of most all-wheel drive vehicles rarely seeing the type of conditions which make Terrain Response a must, one of the key improvements in Discovery 3 is in the packaging. No longer does the "reverse Tardis" – huge exterior, cramped interior – label apply. The exterior is still huge, larger than the Range Rover and heavier at a maximum 2.7 tonnes than just about any other commercially available off-roader, but it is the improvement in interior space that is immediately noticeable. There is elbow and shoulder room for driver and front passenger. Unlike the previous model the door pockets are accessible beside the seat with the door closed.