Is Land Rover gonna kill the mighty V8 engines of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport? Well…
You and I have been ardent admirers of the mighty Ford -sourced diesel V8 mills of the Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport. But the latest rumours suggest that these 8 potters might soon be axed! The carmaker had introduced new four-pot mild-hybrid powerhouses on the Evoque and Discovery Sport last year. It is rumoured that the same mild-hybrid technology will soon be introduced in the diesels as well.
A new 3.0L six-cylinder mild-hybrid MHEV diesel unit will be offered on the HSE, HSE Dynamic and Autobiography Dynamic variants of the Sport. It is heard that the higher trims like the HST would have the same engine but in a heavily reworked state of tune. It would be capable of spitting out a whopping 345bhp! This would apparently mark the end of the road for the Ford sourced 4.4L V8. The current V8s for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are manufactured in Mexico and are based on a decade-old design.
It seems too early to comment on the new engine being developed. Land Rover has not yet confirmed the replacement either. But Autocar had recently reported these in a detailed writeup online.
The hybrid powertrain, as the report mentions, lets out around 516lb ft of torque, capable enough to make the mammoth sprint to 62mph in 6.5 seconds. The Range Rover Sport would then be able to sprint to up to 140 mph of speed. The emission and economy figure on the hybrids see a drastic improvement over those of the V8.
The new diesel, in the full-size Range Rover, would make the 0-62 mph sprint possible in 7.1 seconds. It is expected that these new mills would soon show their presence on the Jaguar models as well. Well, a Jaguar XF or an F Pace with the hybrid 3.0 L would definitely not be bad…
