RANGE ROVER VOGUE 2010

What is it?

It’s the new Range Rover, revised for 2011 with a modified, more powerful, more efficient turbodiesel engine. The world’s most admired luxury off-roader, the Range Rover, has just celebrated its 40th birthday and everyone agrees it is still at the height of its powers, except for one thing. It is large and heavy and has a reputation for thirst.

Land Rover has completely rethought the former 3.6-litre V8 diesel, which is now bored and stroked to 4.4 litres, and fitted it with a similar sequential twin turbocharger induction system to the one in the diesel Discovery’s 3.0 litre V6. This allows it more power (308 bhp at 4000 rpm) and torque (516lb ft at 1500-3000 rpm) and obviously it now meets the new Euro5 emissions standards.

Combined with a new ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox, carefully matched to the RR’s unique weight and character, the new powertrain offers a 20 percent improvement in fuel consumption and cuts CO2 by 15 percent, removing the diesel Range Rover from the top road tax band. The Range Rover upgrade also brings paddle-shifts and a Jaguar-style rotary gear selector for the first time.

The 2011 Range Rover gets minor upgrades to the exterior, but substantial upgrades to the rear compartment to cater for the fact that owners in emerging markets (China, India, Russia) are frequently chauffeured. The diesel also adopts the supercharged RR’s Brembo brakes – and needs them.