Drag
10-07-2003, 04:18 PM
Dancing Disco? Land Rover adds sporty spice to future models
By JULIAN RENDELL
(Photos @copy 2003 John Johnson)
SPORTINESS IS TAKING on new stature at Land Rover.
Not only is a 400-hp, supercharged Range Rover Sport model due in 2006, but the
new Discovery due late next year will arrive all sporty, too. The mere fact that the new Discovery has been spotted testing at the Nürburgring is telling for a vehicle that in its previous two generations wouldn’t have been worth pointing trackward.
Although the Discovery keeps its boxy dimensions, it is based on an all-new ladder frame that pushes the wheels to the corners of the truck. And it features a Range Rover-derived suspension with air springs and rack-and-pinion steering, a big improvement over today’s technology.
Performance is promising, thanks to the first appearance of a Jaguar V8 engine in a Land Rover—a 4.4-liter version of the new XJ8’s 4.2-liter. A Ford Explorer-derived 4.0-liter V6 will provide entry-level power. With 300 hp, the four-valve-per-cylinder V8 promises much slicker acceleration and refinement than the 185-hp, 16-valve pushrod V8 in today’s Disco, an engine that traces its ancestry
to the 3.5-liter GM unit sold to the Brits in 1965.
Matched with a luxury interior, the new Discovery is expected to be more of a junior Range Rover than a utility carryall
Corvette= "The ability to pass with class"
By JULIAN RENDELL
(Photos @copy 2003 John Johnson)
SPORTINESS IS TAKING on new stature at Land Rover.
Not only is a 400-hp, supercharged Range Rover Sport model due in 2006, but the
new Discovery due late next year will arrive all sporty, too. The mere fact that the new Discovery has been spotted testing at the Nürburgring is telling for a vehicle that in its previous two generations wouldn’t have been worth pointing trackward.
Although the Discovery keeps its boxy dimensions, it is based on an all-new ladder frame that pushes the wheels to the corners of the truck. And it features a Range Rover-derived suspension with air springs and rack-and-pinion steering, a big improvement over today’s technology.
Performance is promising, thanks to the first appearance of a Jaguar V8 engine in a Land Rover—a 4.4-liter version of the new XJ8’s 4.2-liter. A Ford Explorer-derived 4.0-liter V6 will provide entry-level power. With 300 hp, the four-valve-per-cylinder V8 promises much slicker acceleration and refinement than the 185-hp, 16-valve pushrod V8 in today’s Disco, an engine that traces its ancestry
to the 3.5-liter GM unit sold to the Brits in 1965.
Matched with a luxury interior, the new Discovery is expected to be more of a junior Range Rover than a utility carryall
Corvette= "The ability to pass with class"