Is it “Never Say Die”, or “Don’t Know When To Quit”?
10th April 2009
There has been a lot of talk among a number of manufacturers about making some new 4×4s - Ironic for an economic climate that sees the absolute death of them in terms of sales figures. Land Rover kicked things off with a new, eco-Land Rover (that will actually be badged as a Range Rover, for reasons unknown to us mere mortals). It’s called the Range Rover LHZ. It’s basically a Land Rover Discovery that’s shrunk in the wash, and whilst performance specs have yet to be confirmed, the party piece is this: it will only churn out a mere 150g/km of CO2. When you consider vehicles that produce 120g or less are tax exempt, that’s very, very good.
Personally, I was very impressed by this. It’s a huge leap for big SUVs that would spell the end for, well, every other competitor desperately trying to sell theirs. But it wasn’t met with entirely positive attitudes. Many people argued that you don’t go thinking about the environment if you’re set on buying a 4×4, and only avid petrolheads like us would even be aware that there’s a Range Rover that’s this economical anyway.
So, whilst ignoring these cries and building the new LHZ anyway, Range Rover have decided to build something very much ‘the other end of the spectrum’. But this time they’re not alone - BMW had just beaten them to the punch. So from Range Rover, we have a new Range Rover Sport. Doesn’t sound all that new? Ok. Fine. Have a 500bhp 5.0L V8 engine from the new Jaguar XKR.
Yep. A Range Rover with more power than quite a few Ferraris. That’s, er… scary. Wanna see?
Range Rover Sport also gets a facelift, evidently to match the LHZ
503bhp, and 0-62mph in under six seconds. It will (and has) also lapped the famous Nurburgring circuit in Germany in under nine minutes, which isn’t something a big SUV should even consider attempting, let alone actually go out and do. However, Range Rover is also offering a much more frugal 3.0L V6 model that produces half the power but much better fuel economy. Expect to see these models in dealerships sometime in the summer.
However, as mentioned earlier BMW have beaten Range Rover to the punch (just - a few days earlier!) with two new monsters from their high performance ‘M’ division - the BMW X5M and X6M. As you probably guessed, they’ve taken their X5 and X6 SUVs and given them the ‘M’ treatment (that is: more power, performance suspension, more power, and a menacing facelift. And more power).
X6M and X5M, front and rear respectively.
And if you thought 500bhp in a Range Rover was crazy, BMW have topped that. 550bhp in both the X5M and X6M. BMW took the 4.4 litre V8 from the original X6, gave it two big turbochargers, and put it back into the X6 (and the X5 for good measure).
They have Range Rover beaten on performance, too. That extra 50 horsepower really shows, with a 0-62 time of 4.7 seconds, which is just as fast as the BMW M3 Coupe. Top speed is also the same as the M3 - electronically limited to 155mph. However, you can opt for the M-division’s ‘Driver Package’ that derestricts the cars, allowing for a top speed of a fraction over 170mph. Note the rather large gunshot wound in BMW’s foot.
There’s a major compromise though. The 500bhp Range Rover is claiming to achieve a fuel economy of 30mpg, which is quite impressive. The BMWs? 20mpg. And if you have the cars derestricted, you’re going to be lucky to get anywhere near that figure, especially if you plan on putting the performance claims to the test.
The really big question that’s screaming itself to us is this: Why? This is a period where SUVs are becoming socially unacceptable and sales are at a record low. As the environmentalists are now earth-shatteringly noisy, more and more people care more about fuel economy than anything else these days.
So like I asked earlier - is it a “Never Say Die” attitude, or just don’t know when to quit?
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