Personally I love diesel engined cars, not looking forward to their phasing out and the inevitable financial penalties that will help to rid them of the roads in the not too distant future. 😡 Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

Jules, for myself I intend to carry on running my older, currently ULEZ compliant, cars.

I do not need to buy a new car so am content to drive near-classics. My XK is 2006, an early x150 production but fully spec'ed version, whilst the FL2 is the more modern by one year at 2007!

As long as they keep supplies of petrol flowing, I'll be fine and I shall be maxing out the carbon effectiveness of my older cars - I think!

Tim

jules wrote:

Maybe but with 20 mpg.
CO2 output is going up from people swapping to diesel.

Bobupndown wrote:

A good read, got it last Christmas.

Yep - not every technical spec/detail in the Taylor book is correct, and that is one example of an error, but it is still a good read.

There has been forum talk before on whether the facelift headlight design and the halogen/HID setup was indeed a victim of cost-cutting, and I'm inclined to think that was ultimately the case.

Bi-xenon HIDs were only fitted as standard on the facelift HSE Lux, not even the standard HSE got them, and I don't believe they could be ordered as an option except on the Dynamic (there was a Dynamic Lux spec) - it's certainly not listed in the 2013, 2014 or 2015 brochures.

However, the fact that the headlight design is identical apart from the bulb unit means that retrofitting a HID kit is actually much safer (in terms of beam projection and not causing dazzle) than with a lot of other vehicles, though technically I think it is still an MOT fail. The same goes for fitting aftermarket LEDs as it happens, provided you buy bulbs explicitly designed for projector housings, though the results still aren't quite as good as the HID kits.

I know headlight issues are definitely a problem with the earlier Evoques, but I'm not sure there are so many moans with the Disco Sport - though again, the lower trim models (SE) have halogens.

Mattmjones wrote:

jules wrote:

Maybe but with 20 mpg.
CO2 output is going up from people swapping to diesel.

You mean swapping from diesel (back to petrol) presumably, Jules?

Oh yes of course - I'll correct that  Jules

Lakelander wrote:

Yet the headlight unit design itself is identical for both versions . My conclusion is that cost saving was the reason.

There are still two Si4s owners on the forum, Lightwater in Australia and me in Lithuania. There was at least one other forum member in Europe who bought his new in Poland. My car was bought mid 2015 from LR UK with around 300 kms on it. It is a LHD HSE built originally for Switzerland. As far as I can tell it has the full HSE Lux spec but minus sat nav.

I absolutely love the car, so much so I just cannot think what I would want to replace it with. The performance is adequate and I have read figures of 0-100 kph of 7.0 secs. I think the 8.8 quoted is a bit conservative. I've never measured fuel consumption accurately but on a recent long trip I averaged 10 litres/100kms which is around 30 mpg. I'm happy enough with that. Our annual mileage is low anyway so fuel consumption has not been a major consideration. It's just reached 40,000 kms from new (25,000 miles).

A big plus for me is that in a country where temperatures can drop below -20c (it's been -17c this week) petrol engines are less affected by extreme cold. The FOrd 2.0 ecoboost is very quiet and smooth. A big service at a LR specialist here has just cost 200 Euros.

 driving on the right side

The Si4 was available in the UK in the Evoque rather then the Freelander.

I guess the poor sales of the i6 and the fact the UK was head over heels in love with Diesels in 2013/2014 mean that it probably wasn’t worth getting the type approval or homologation done for the UK market. Shame really.

I don’t dislike diesels but I prefer petrols.

We’ve got a 2012 Range Rover TDV8 that’s been my Dads since new and has only done 23k miles and we’ve got a 2007 4.2 Supercharged Range Rover with 135k on it. The petrol at idle is almost impossible to tell that it’s running whereas the diesel has a very subtle low frequency vibration from it that really bugs me when sitting at junctions or traffic lights when you’re used to the petrols.

That’s the main reason our i6 Freelander has never been changed for a late SD4.

David. 1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Oxford Blue with Ash Grey Leather
1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Rioja Red with Lightstone Leather
2006 Range Rover Supercharged in Zermatt Silver with Jet Leather
2007 Freelander i6 HSE in Izmir Blue with Ebony Leather
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

a lot of the problems with both the SI4 and the flawed headlight design was as much to do with design restrictions as it is with cost cutting

Petrol was demonized in the UK by previous governments and diesel was heralded as the way forward, other countries around the world were not so flawed and were happy to sell both petrol and diesel versions of most cars. I think all manufacturers of UK spec cars dropped petrol SUV in favour of diesel SUV to meet the governments agenda and diesel engines suit the larger vehicles due to torque etc.
JLR did reinstate the Ecoboost 2L Si4 into the Evoque but they are very rare due to the above reasons. Personally i would love the Si4 in my FL2, the Evoque 0-60mph is apparently low 7secs (yes yes yes, i know we dont buy a 2 ton 4X4 for acceleration )

The headlights were a design issue i believe, as without modifying the headlight housings dramatically they couldnt alter the size and shape of the headlights to fit dipped, main, DRL, signature strip, indicator and sidelight into the existing space so they just kept the same basic shell and fitted what they could, where they could inside that. Dont forget that by this time the FL2 was less than 2 years away from being discontinued so not worth the costs of a major redesign like that.

And yes, the HB3 headlights in the Evoque are also shocking, blow bulbs and give poor output. The Disco sport is i believe a difference set up but i stand to be corrected on that.

're the headlights

Yes I agree it was not worth redesigning the headlight unit so late in live, but they could have fitted HID to all models ( or at least offered it as an option ) as they produced it for the the HSE Lux and then Metropolis. They should have done this to compensate for the loss of the second main beam bulb displaced by the DRLs. The alternative Halogen HB3 solution is really sub standard and plagued by blown bulbs due to overheating caused by the main/ dip shutter system. JLR had then to cobble together a resistor wire and fit under warranty to protect the HB3 . I don't really understand auto electrics but think this could only reduce the already poor light output?I

Ps who the hell came up with " Metropolis" for an outdoor lifestyle all terrain SUV 4 x 4.

Didn't that name belong to a boat shaped blob sold by Austin to tempt Americans?

Or was that a multi coloured block of Wall's ice cream?

Good job I'm not in marketing!! FL2 SD4 XS 2013 Orkney Grey

Metropolis has been used several times in the past by LR for variants of other models.

Tim

Mattmjones wrote:

I've often wondered this too - ironically, nowadays the si4 engine would make a lot more sense for the FL2 as presumably it would be both Euro 6 and ULEZ emissions zone compliant?

True, but the i6 is compliant for both already. From my point of view though Si4 engine is more common and parts readily available - unlike the Ford/Volvo unit in the i6

Click image to enlarge

 Previous

2008 Freelander 2 i6
1997 Range Rover p38 4.6 V8
2003 Range Rover L322 4.4V8
1989 Range Rover Classic 3.9 V8
2003 Land Rover 90 Td5
2000 Range Rover p38 2.5dHSE
1975 Land Rover 90 SIII 2.25 petrol
1996 Range Rover p38 4.0 V8
1990 Discovery 3.5i V8 (3 door)
1973 Range Rover Classic 3.5 V8 (2 door, ex-Police)

anglaslt wrote:

There are still two Si4s owners on the forum, Lightwater in Australia and me in Lithuania. There was at least one other forum member in Europe who bought his new in Poland. My car was bought mid 2015 from LR UK with around 300 kms on it. It is a LHD HSE built originally for Switzerland. As far as I can tell it has the full HSE Lux spec but minus sat nav.

I absolutely love the car, so much so I just cannot think what I would want to replace it with. The performance is adequate and I have read figures of 0-100 kph of 7.0 secs. I think the 8.8 quoted is a bit conservative. I've never measured fuel consumption accurately but on a recent long trip I averaged 10 litres/100kms which is around 30 mpg. I'm happy enough with that. Our annual mileage is low anyway so fuel consumption has not been a major consideration. It's just reached 40,000 kms from new (25,000 miles).

A big plus for me is that in a country where temperatures can drop below -20c (it's been -17c this week) petrol engines are less affected by extreme cold. The FOrd 2.0 ecoboost is very quiet and smooth. A big service at a LR specialist here has just cost 200 Euros.

trw999 wrote:

Metropolis has been used several times in the past by LR for variants of other models.

Tim