2014 the Land Rover way

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Land Rover is like a revived movie star. Once loved, only to have had the spotlight shifted off the brand in favour of its competitors. The last few years have seen that spotlight shift from the good but also predictable performances of its competitors, back to Land Rover. This can be attributed to the large cash injection from Tata Motors which bought Land Rover Jaguar in 2008 from the Ford Motor Company.

Land Rover makes cars with character. Their vehicles have shaken off their traditional image like an English Sheep Dog shaking water off its coat after a dip in a stream. They are beautiful, advanced, sporty and full of charisma.

Most recently two of their vehicles have been upgraded – The Range Rover Evoque and the Land Rover Discovery 4. The Evoque has been showered with success, it has won 146 awards and counting since its launch in 2011. Three years since its introduction, Land Rover has partnered with world famous German gearbox maker, ZF, in the quest for an even better drive. It wasn’t long ago when a six speed automatic gearbox sounded advanced. Well now the 2014 Range Rover Evoque features nine cogs. The new gearbox is not just about marketing hype. This gearbox makes the Evoque even better – it offers greater efficiency. It slides through its large selection of gears like Liberace’s fingers on ivory piano keys while playing Chopsticks. This nine speed gearbox is able to glide between gears, and based on the demand of the car, skip a gear up or down. This means that the Evoque is able to shift up or down in this case from fifth to third gear without having to select fourth gear. This increases the Evoques performance figures.

In the quest to attract more customs to the brand, Land Rover has added another model to the line-up. The Range Rover Evoque was previously available in two models – the Prestige (priced from R687 500) and Dynamic (priced from R694 800). The Prestige is based on luxury and classical details, while the Dynamic on modern sportiness. Both are available with either a 2.2l turbo diesel (140 kW) or a 2.0l turbo petrol (177 kW).

After chatting to Evoque customers, it was pointed out that most of their clients bought the Evoque for its looks. The Evoque is a Range Rover after all, so luxury and standard advanced electronics are par for the course. A lot of these mod cons are overlooked and possibly not utilised. With this thinking in mind, Land Rover have launch an entry level model (priced from R597 900) to the Evoque range. That is a R90 000 to R100 000 saving over the Prestige and Dynamic models. Gone is the large panoramic glass roof and Wade Sensing for drives through a shallow river. You will have to rely on your smartphone for navigation, because this nifty path finding device is also absent. Lastly the leather covered dash board has been replaced with a ‘leather looking’ material rather than the genuine hide. These are minor knickknacks for the vast saving.

The second vehicle that has undergone some more obvious cosmetic surgery is the 2014 Discovery 4. Look at this luxury 4x4 fronton and you notice a new grill, bumper, and Range “Roveresque” circular and square LED headlamp detailing. Gone is the Land Rover branding on the bonnet in place of a Discovery name plate. This detailing will now run on all Land Rover product – Defender, Freelander and Discovery.

The rear end features subtle lenses changes that modernise and update the iconic square shape in a very discreet manor, aficionados will notice the change.

Under the skin is a new ZF eight speed gearbox that has been mated to two fabulous engines. The first is the much loved 3.0l turbo diesel unit (188 kW) (priced from R776 100). This engine is perfection. Offering surges of power delivered in an effortless manor. Relatively frugal and dead quiet, it’s like rich cream with a dollop of strawberry preserve on your favourite scone – heavenly.

The second engine – a 3.0l supercharged petrol (250 kW) engine (priced from R819 700) replaces the gas guzzling 5.0l V8. This engine is also available in the new Range Rover Sport and other Jaguar product. Its shaves just over one second in the 0-100km dash over its diesel sister, and sounds better than Joe Cocker singing ‘you can leave your hat on’. The downside as with all petrol vs diesel comparisons is the fuel penalty. Expect 30% higher consumption from the gargling rhapsody emanating from the V6 petrol engine.

The combination of either of these two engines mated to the marvel of the gear hopping eight speed ZF gearbox is sublime.

‘Proof is in the pudding’ or so they say. So testing both a variety of 2014 Evoque and Discovery models cross country through Africa gave a fair assessment of such pudding. Why through Africa? As part of the 2014 upgrades to the range, Land Rover have upgraded their navigation systems. Previously, as with all navigation systems, urban maps have been the focus of the system’s programming. Land Rover has now loaded trails (dust roads in the rural areas) marked out throughout Africa. The system is run off two SD cards, one for the urban city while the other for rural trails. Our journey through Zambia and into Botswana was accurately directed by the navigation system’s colonial British voice. It accurately directed the Land Rover convey of mud covered Evoques and Discoverys through each country.

The Evoque is a pretty SUV, I repeat SUV. But to prove its Land Rover heritage and shrug off its fluffy Victoria Beckham design partnership, we tested the Evoque off road. So did it pass the test? In a word – yes. But seeing the Evoque sludge through mud and rut was like seeing Angelina Jolie dressed for the Oscars and changing a baby out into a fresh diaper. We all know she can do it, and do it well, but dressed in her Sunday best?

Once we crossed the Zambian boarder and comfortably in Botswana we took a short plane ride over the Chobe National Park to find or sparking fleet of new Discoverys. This iconic vehicle stood tall and ready for the undulated course ahead. This is not a SUV, but rather ‘the’ luxurious 4 x 4. The Discovery made child’s play of the rough terrain. Where the Evoque employed is off road systems from time-to-time to get though its journey, the Discovery did not lift an eyebrow. It was designed for just such a chore.

If you are lucky enough and willing enough to brave rural Africa, and you don’t mind getting your beautiful Land Rover muddy in a Jackson Pollock kind of way, rest assured that your Landy is very capable. And not just physically, rest assured the British gentleman on the navigation system will guide you through rural tracks better than any Harry Potter wizardry.

‘Life’s a great adventure’, said Kingsley Holgate. It definitely is a grand one when travelling in either an Evoque or a Discovery.

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