[dd74]

Originally Posted by kaisen

The Freelander 2 (known as LR2 here as Freelander was a huge flop) is available in Europe as the LR2 TD4_e manual. It's a 160hp 2.2L turbodiesel with a 6 speed manual transmission. It is the same platform as the 2010 Ford Escape, but the Hybrid system (if you can call it that) is NOT the same.

It is considered a micro-hybrid. The electric motor (which is <10 hp) is used only to re-start the engine in an effort to save fuel at stoplights. It shuts off only when you are stopped, foot on the clutch, and move the shifter to neutral. When you let off the clutch, the little electric motor instantly starts the engine and you're off. Intelligent Start-Stop. You all laughed at the idea when GM introduced it, what, four years ago?

You're right. The system returns 49+ mpg in European extra-urban routes, which would be about 43 mpg EPA highway. But it doesn't meet US emissions.

$38K? The cheapest no-option gas-powered LR2 starts at $36K here in the US. I don't think adding the diesel option and micro-hybrid will keep it at $38K.

Ford hasn't owned Land Rover in over a year, selling to Indian based Tata in 2008. But the platform was developed by Volvo/Ford.

I think you should buy one and let us know how it works out for you, okay?

There's enough information out there to suggest the LRX is all that the press says it is, at $38K.

Meanwhile if you have an issue with Tata, just know that they've been building Mercedes Benz models for a while. Good practice for Land Rover, wouldn't you say?

Also, the second paragraph suggests Tata is infusing only financial support to Land Rover and Jaguar. It seems as if most, if not everything will remain in Britain concerning both models.

A Notable Feature of the 2011 Land Rover LRX

Though some may find it odd that an Indian company should own the venerated Land Rover and Jaguar brands, Tata is a fast-growing, multifaceted international concern with big ambitions and deep pockets. Named for its founding family, Tata began in 1945 as a locomotive manufacturer, then added commercial-vehicle production for the India market in a 1954 joint venture with Germany’s Daimler-Benz. The first Tata-designed trucks didn’t roll out until 1977, however, and the company’s involvement with passenger cars came only in 1994, when it began local production of various Mercedes-Benz models. Yet just four years later, Tata introduced the first all-India passenger car, the aptly named Indica subcompact. More models soon followed. Fast forward to early 2008, when Tata made major news by unveiling the world’s cheapest car, the tiny Nano, conceived by CEO Ratan Tata to replace small motorcycles as affordable family transport for India and other emerging markets. Designed to sell for a scarcely believable $2500, the Nano has already attracted close scrutiny by major automakers as an exercise in low-cost engineering that could well change the global industry landscape.

Given this background, it’s no surprise that CEO Tata--who some see as a 21st century Henry Ford, ironically enough--is taking a respectful, hands-off approach to the new jewels in his corporate crown. Indeed, he has gone out of his way to reassure employees, investors, and the general public that Land Rover and Jaguar will remain as British as bulldogs, continuing to operate in England under existing managers, but with a level of financial support that Ford can no longer provide. So it’s business as usual and full speed ahead for future products like the LRX, at least for the near term--welcome news for Land Rover and Jaguar fans who had been fearing the worst.