2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Five-Door Official Photos and Info - Auto Shows

After showing the three-door Range Rover Evoque at the Paris auto show in September, Land Rover, as expected, used the occasion of the Los Angeles show to unveil the five-door version.

With 20-inch wheels and styling that eschews typical SUV tough-guy cues such as faux skidplates, the three-door and five-door are aimed at upscale urban drivers who aspire to but can’t quite reach the $60,495 Range Rover Sport. Dimensionally, the Evoque twins are the same except that the five-door is about one inch taller and rear-seat passengers get about two more inches of shoulder room in the more-spacious back seat.

As in the three-door, the five’s powertrain will be a 2.0-liter turbocharged direct-injection four-cylinder making about 240 hp paired with full-time all-wheel drive. The engine is from Ford’s new family of EcoBoost four-cylinders. The powertrain will make the Evoque twins the two most expensive four-cylinder vehicles on the U.S. market.

The Evoque uses the largely steel, front-drive-based car platform under the Land Rover LR2, although only about 30 percent of the parts are carry-over. The Evoque’s sportier stance and proportions required major changes to the body stampings and suspension, says Land Rover managing director Phil Popham. The three-door Evoque should come in around 220 pounds lighter than the 4250-pound LR2, the five-door about 154 pounds lighter, says Popham.

One crucial difference between the three- and five-door: under U.S. law, sport-utility vehicles with two passenger doors are subjected to a withering 25-percent import duty. The so-called “chicken tax” owes its name to a 1963 trade dispute with France and Germany when the U.S. placed the duty on some agricultural goods and trucks in response to European duties on American-sourced chickens.

Trucks were different then, but the duty remains on the books and the urban-chic three-door (two passenger doors plus one tailgate) Evoque will have to pay it, while the five-door Evoque will be exempt. So beyond rear-seat comfort, the biggest difference between the two body styles will be their profit margins for Land Rover.

 Read More: http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/10q4/2012_land_rover_range_rover_evoque_five-door_official_photos_and_info-auto_shows

Land Rover Illinois

2011 Jaguar XJ Supersport – Short Take Road Test

With the new XJ, Jaguar has clarified the menu. Where once buyers had to choose between XJ8, XJ8 L, Vanden Plas, XJR, Super V-8, and Super V-8 Portfolio, now the car is offered as either a standard length XJ or the supersize-me long-wheelbase XJL. In the spirit of Jaguar’s Indian ownership, we envision the engine lineup as three levels of spiciness: the mild 385-hp base car, the medium 470-hp Supercharged, and the extra-spicy 510-hp Supersport. We already sampled the XJ Supercharged, and now we have a chance to taste the extra heat of the Supersport.

The XJ Supersport starts at a base price of $111,075, or $22,500 more than an XJ Supercharged. Nearly everything Jaguar offers is standard on both; the only major options are different wheels, rear-seat entertainment, a heated windshield, and adaptive cruise control, a $2300 upgrade on the Supercharged that is included on the Supersport. The flagship also adds little bits of garnish throughout the interior and, as if the XJ’s leather-and-wood trappings weren’t enough, the Supersport goes whole-cow and adds a leather headliner. Otherwise, it appears to be exactly like the lesser car. In other words, you don’t get a lot more for your money.

You do, however, get 40 more horsepower and an extra 37 lb-ft of torque. We weren’t exactly complaining about the performance of the XJ Supercharged, but if you’re one of those more-is-better types, then the Supersport will please you mightily. The 0-to-60-mph sprint takes 4.1 seconds, a 0.3-second improvement, while the quarter-mile time drops 0.4 second, to 12.4 at 115 mph. The brakes are excellent as well, stopping the XJ from 70 mph in 156 feet and showing no performance degradation after repeated panic stops. Skidpad grip, at 0.87 g, is perhaps the only performance figure that suggests the XJ Supersport is a 4316-pound luxury sedan and not an all-out sports car.

Have We Met?

Driving the Supersport is, well, nearly exactly like driving the XJ Supercharged—this is, after all, the same dish with a little more seasoning. In our previous XJ review, we said the car feels like the “most rigid, untwistable, and confidence-inspiring platform in Jaguar’s history.” This is still true. The Supersport simply makes the scenery blur a little more quickly on the way to its governed 161-mph top speed.

Read More: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/10q4/2011_jaguar_xj_supersport-short_take_road_test

Jaguar Dealers

Range Rover Decides Hybrids Make Most Sense For Gas Guzzlers

The 2012 Range Rover Evoque--the stylish new baby "soft-roader" that's Land Rover's smallest-ever luxury vehicle--will not be offered with a hybrid-electric version to improve its gas mileage.

That's the word from John Edwards, Land Rover's global brand director, who noted that in Europe, the Evoque will come with a 2.2-liter diesel engine that delivers 42 miles per gallon on the European test cycle.

And that was the goal set for the original Land Rover LRX concept when it debuted at Kensington Palace in June, complete with an appearance by Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham.

Weight penalty

Instead, Edwards said, the company's first hybrid-electric vehicles will be versions of the larger Land-Rover LR4 (sold in the U.K. as the Discovery) and the larger Range Rovers, most likely including the Range Rover Sport that shares the LR4's platform.

Indeed, there's considerable logic to applying hybrid drive to your largest and least efficient vehicles. Edwards noted that the weight penalty of a hybrid system was greater in a smaller vehicle like the Evoque than in larger sport utilities.

Read More: http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1052509_range-rover-decides-hybrids-make-most-sense-for-gas-guzzlers

Land Rover Dealers

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Five-Door Official Photos and Info - Auto Shows

An Evoque with more doors breaks cover in Los Angeles.

After showing the three-door Range Rover Evoque at the Paris auto show in September, Land Rover, as expected, used the occasion of the Los Angeles show to unveil the five-door version.

With 20-inch wheels and styling that eschews typical SUV tough-guy cues such as faux skidplates, the three-door and five-door are aimed at upscale urban drivers who aspire to but can’t quite reach the $60,495 Range Rover Sport. Dimensionally, the Evoque twins are the same except that the five-door is about one inch taller and rear-seat passengers get about two more inches of shoulder room in the more-spacious back seat.

As in the three-door, the five’s powertrain will be a 2.0-liter turbocharged direct-injection four-cylinder making about 240 hp paired with full-time all-wheel drive. The engine is from Ford’s new family of EcoBoost four-cylinders. The powertrain will make the Evoque twins the two most expensive four-cylinder vehicles on the U.S. market.

The Evoque uses the largely steel, front-drive-based car platform under the Land Rover LR2, although only about 30 percent of the parts are carry-over. The Evoque’s sportier stance and proportions required major changes to the body stampings and suspension, says Land Rover managing director Phil Popham. The three-door Evoque should come in around 220 pounds lighter than the 4250-pound LR2, the five-door about 154 pounds lighter, says Popham.

Read More: http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/10q4/2012_land_rover_range_rover_evoque_five-door_official_photos_and_info-auto_shows

Land Rover Dealers