2014 Range Rover & Range Rover Sport updates – includes 4.4 V8 Diesel for Range Rover Sport

The 2014 Range Rover gets a Black Design Pack (pictured)

The new Range Rover has only been with us for five minutes (well, a year), but that’s not going to stop Land Rover from throwing in a few tweaks for 2014. Perhaps top of the list is the new model Range Rover – the Range Rover Hybrid - which is currently busy driving down the Silk Trail to India and promises the same sort of performance as the TDV8 but with economy that betters the 3.0 litre TDV6.

The hybrid version of the Range Rover will also be joined by a hybrid version of the new Range Rover Sport, with 44.1mpg and emissions of 169g/km making the Range Rover and Sport a more appealing BIK option.

The new Range Rover Sport will also get the 4.4 litre TDV8, which offers a healthy wodge of torque – 516lb/ft – with 334bhp for a much stronger pull than the TDV6 offers.

But the performance is still somewhat disappointing, with 62mph coming up in a leisurely 6.9 seconds, which is a long way short of the V8 diesels from other sporty SUV makers.

The new Porsche Cayenne S Diesel manages to scoot to 62mph in a much more impressive 5.7 seconds and the new BMW X5 M50d does the same in 5.3 seconds. Both the Porsche and BMW are somewhat cheaper too. Shame.

Land Rover has also added a Black Design Pack option for the Range Rover that offers gloss black finish on the bonnet and boot lettering, front grill, door mirrors, door handles, bumper vanes, side vents, wheel nuts and tailgate finisher plus a new set of 21″ and 22″ alloys.

Technology updates include an upgraded rear entertainment with bigger 10.2″ screens, Parking Exit, Perpendicular Park and 360 degree Park Distance Control (which all do what they say on the tin).

The new Land Rovcer inControl connected syatem also gets new options for 2014, including inControl – which lets you do stuff like check security, lock status and levels from your Smart Phone – InControl Secure – which is basically a tracker – and inControl WiFi which creates a WiFi hotspot.

Nice updates for both the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport for 2014.

We just wish the 4.4 litre TDV8 Range Rover Sport had a bit more get up and go.

By Cars UK