FIRSTDRIVE:LAND ROVER wants to win its customers back. It was the brand to be seen in during the Celtic Tiger years when few property developers wanted to drive anything less than a Range Rover Sport.
Those who bought its models in droves in 2007, with the spare change from Anglo loans, are unlikely to be flush with cash these days, however.
But what about everybody else? In the past, the average driver avoided Land Rover because the vehicles were too expensive to buy and to run.
That is not the case anymore as the company has come back to the market with a whole new offering: a front-wheel drive Land Rover that costs less than €30,000.
The compact SUV segment is more relevant than ever. Nissan’s Qashqai, Ford’s Kuga and Hyundai’s ix35 have become popular because they offer SUV flavour without the guilt or the calories.
They are diet SUVs. They are neither as useful nor as abhorrent as the old 4x4 brigade. Some would be welcome in a Green Party conference car park, thanks to their Band B emissions.
Qashqai is king of this segment. It is still a huge seller, even years into its life cycle.
So what of the Land Rover Freelander? In Celtic Tiger Ireland, there really wasn’t a whole lot of point in this baby SUV. The Range Rover Sport, which cost twice as much, outsold it.
And that Freelander was a €40,000 four-wheel drive with a not altogether clean engine.
You could just top up your bank loan and have a Discovery or Range Rover instead. In the summer of 2008, Land Rover’s business in Ireland took a tumble as a result of the new laws on emissions and the start of the recession. Sales fell from 1,400 that year to just 89 in 2009.
Suddenly it cost €2,100 to tax some models and the segment they belong to simply died.
Land Rover reacted by developing a front-wheel drive vehicle. It is the entry-point of a new range of 2.2-litre diesel Freelander models.
By not having four-wheel drive, it saves 75kg of weight, thereby consuming a lot less fuel and producing lower emissions.
The cleanest Freelander coughs up just 158g/km of carbon dioxide, an 11 per cent improvement in such emissions over the outgoing TD4_e. Yet its performance figures remain unchanged.
The surprise is that you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference when driving.
Yes, there are some owners of Land Rovers who need four-wheel drive to help them tow horseboxes, yachts or even caravans.
There are probably many more, however, who don’t even know what that Terrain Response switch does. And these buyers won’t notice a thing when it comes to motoring.
We didn’t notice anything unusual when we were on the motorways and the back roads around Barcelona. Even more bizarrely, we didn’t notice anything strange around an off-road course that would have had a BMW X5 whimpering and begging for mercy.
It made us wonder why they had bothered with four-wheel drive before really.
So now you can have a 2.2-litre diesel engine with 150bhp and two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. You can also have the 150bhp four-wheel drive with automatic transmission. Or you can have a 190bhp version with four-wheel drive and automatic if you prefer. Although with the same torque as the 150bhp version and a less than 2 second improvement in 0-100km/h time, we fail to see the point.
The 150bhp version with two- or four-wheel drive are both in Band D in terms of emissions, but if you want automatic transmission (which is available on four-wheel drive versions only) this jumps into Band E.
Most buyers will be drawn in by the price. The 2.2 litre two-wheel drive eD4 E model costs less than €30,000. This gets you an acceptable level of standard equipment which includes 16 alloys and manual air conditioning – though not a lot else.
The XE version is better value. For €32,995 you get 17 wheels and automatic air conditioning. This is quite a lot of car, with a prestige badge, for a decent price.
Interestingly, you can have a four-wheel drive TD4 S model, which has better equipment than the E model, for €1,310 less than the entry E model four-wheel drive. That makes the €34,995 four-wheel drive S model the best buy in terms of value, and it still is in Band D for emissions, with €447 annual road tax.
The range gets a little pointless after that. For example, you can spend €52,000 on a 2.2 SD4 190bhp auto HSE. You would need to be rolling in cash to go with this one.
Land Rover says that it will sell 300 of this new Freelander, which incidentally has some very minor exterior changes such as a new front bumper and grille, new wheels and new colour options. This could be a little conservative given the brand’s badge prestige.
A Freelander that costs less than €30,000 and doesn’t cost a fortune to run might be a credible leap for those who are Qashqai-weary.
FACTFILE
Model: Freelander 2.2-litre, two-wheel drive eD4 E
Engine: 2,197cc four-cylinder diesel putting out 150bhp and 420Nm of torque
0-100km/h: 10.9 seconds
Max Speed:181km/h
Fuel Economy: 6.0l/100km CO2 Emissions: 158g/km
Motor Tax Band: D
Annual Road Tax: €447
Price: €29,995
Available: January 2011
