MISERLY ROVER: LUXURY SUV SIPS DIESEL
BARCELONA, Spain — It sure looks like a regular Range Rover.
This specific one’s ostentation might be a little subdued by its taupish grey paint, but it is still rocking that whole Incredible-Hulk-in-a-tuxedo shtick that has been the Range Rover’s stock in trade since its 1970 introduction.
And, for the most part, it drives pretty much like any Range Rover, which means, in no particular order of importance, that it feels regal on the highway, like a billy goat off-road and positively hedonistic everywhere. There’s power to spare, a ride worthy of, well, royalty, and enough headroom for NBA centres to stretch to their full seven feet. In other words, it’s all the things we have come to expect from a Range Rover.
Except for this: Its fuel economy is an incredible-fora-beast-that-looks-like-it-could-pull-the-Queen-Mary 9.4 litres per 100 kilometres. That’s a whopping 66 per cent improvement over the 15.1 L/100 km that the 5.0-litre consumes. To put that into better perspective, that’s roughly the same overall average as a Ford Escape, a compact sport-cute powered by a piddly 2.5-litre four, a vehicle which could almost fit in the trunk of the Td6.
The Td6 stands for turbodiesel, of the 3.0-litre V-6 variety. Even enviroweenies, often critical of diesels, have to see its merits — after all, reducing the supercharged V-8’s 299 grams per kilometre of CO2 to the V-6’s 182 g/km has got to be worth shouting about. For those looking for further perspective, that’s about the same emissions as a Honda Accord V-6. Again, I will remind you we’re talking about a Range Rover HSE here, 2,215 kilograms of the most he donized sport bruiser a whole lotta money can buy.
The best thing — and more and more Canadians are catching onto this — is that there’s little penalty for this parsimony, though those looking at the most basic of spec sheets may see the Td6’s 254 horsepower and dismiss it outright.
Thanks to a tank-like 440 pound-feet of torque, this version of the HSE feels more sprightly than its 7.6-second zero-to-100-km/h acceleration time might otherwise dictate.
Indeed, compared with the supercharged V-8, the only time the Td6 feels lacking is when the pedal is matted to the floor; then, the turbodiesel’s maudlin 254 ponies have to bow to the gas engine’s 510 horses. Wideopen throttle, there’s simply no contest. But, in all other circumstances — taking off from a stoplight, passing on the highway and even towing capacity (both are rated at 3,500 kilograms) — the Td6 is equal to, if not quite better than, the 461 lb.-ft. supercharged HSE.
Based on a Ford of Europe engine (but extensively modified by Land Rover), the turbodiesel V-6 is almost as smooth as the gasoline-fuelled V-8. Indeed, the only time I really had any idea that there was anything other than a conventional gas engine under the hood was at a stoplight with the window down, when a little high-compression clatter would intrude. But once underway, the Td6 was just as melodic, though on a different octave, as the supercharged V-8.
From an engine perspective, then, the mission has been accomplished, especially since Jaguar Land Rover Canada is pricing the HSE Td6 at $108,490, some $8,000 below the least expensive supercharged V-8 Range Rover. No wonder that Barbara Barrette, JLR Canada’s public relations expert, is confident the Td6 will soon account for as much as 40 per cent of Range Rover’s nationwide sales and that “we will sell every one we can get our hands on.”
Penalties are few. Every 16,000 kilometres or so, you have to add some diesel exhaust fluid — basically the same urea-based additive that other diesel makers use — to quell nitrous oxide emissions to LEV III standards. And, like all diesels, the fuel can be a little slimy and smelly when refuelling. The good news, however, is that, for the first time in a while, diesel fuel is cheaper than gasoline, which means even more savings.
The Range Rover Sport will be similarly blessed with a Td6 option for 2016. In the Sport’s case, the turbodiesel will be slotted in just above the V-6 model, the $82,990 HSE 3.0L turbodiesel requiring a $1,500 premium over the $81,490 supercharged 3.0L V-6 gas version. As well, both models get an upgrade to their rock-crawling ability — as if they needed to further burnish their off-road bona fides.