IT’S the off-roader with an eco-conscience, it’s a world beater and it’s made in Britain by Land Rover.

The latest Land Rover Freelander is about to become the first 4×4 to offer stop/start technology, slashing CO2 emissions and improving fuel economy.

Part of a five year, £800million programme, the new Freelander paves the way for Land Rover to kick into touch the gas-guzzling image of four-wheel-drive vehicles.

The stop/start technology will be available initially on manual versions of the 2.2-litre diesel Freelander at no extra cost from May next year.

Town-based owners of 4×4s and SUVs get a bad rap, with plenty of negative media publicity, name-calling - ‘Chelsea tractors’ - and campaigns by environmental groups and activists. Many a Freelander owner has returned to their vehicle to find a ‘Poor Vehicle Choice’ ticket on their windscreen, the work of a group called the Alliance Against Urban 4×4s.

Land Rover has, wisely, risen to the challenge - not that it has much choice, with the consumer tide turning against large fuel-thirsty vehicles anyway - and come up with a version of the Freelander 2 that, if not quite as eco-angelic as the ‘e’ in its name-badge implies, is considerably less polluting and more efficient than the models previously offered. And of course, this model is in no way compromised in its off-road ability, should you actually wish or need to leave the tarmac.

We now have available Melvill and Moon seat covers for all Land rovers. Please visit our online shop for more information and to purchase a set today.

melvill-moon-trade-leaflet

Exmoor Trim Announce the new “Le Mans Sport” seat specifically designed for Land Rovers.

Until now sports styled seats in Land Rovers typically blocked access to the battery and storage box under the seat. The latest seat from Exmoor Trim, Le Mans Sport, features a removable seat base so you can now not only benefit from the hold of a deeper bucket sports seat whilst still being able to access your battery and storage easily. Simply unclick the base.

The seat includes all runners and mounting hardware.

Click here for the PDF brochure.

AS a manufacturer which only produces chunky four-wheel-drive vehicles, it’s hardly surprising that Land Rover are feeling a lot of pain at the moment.

With UK sales in October down to just 1283 units, compared with more than 3000 for the same month last year, the Tata-owned marque will be praying for a quick fix to the global financial troubles.

Yet, while sales may be slow for now, the sad thing is that the Land Rover model range is a hard one to beat.

Prototypes for Land Rover’s facelifted Range Rover Sport have been spotted testing at the Nurburgring less than two months after the test cars were last seen in the UK. The performance SUV already received a series of upgrades last year, including the introduction of a 3.6L twin turbo diesel V8, so for its next update the list of changes have been kept to a minimum, although there’s the chance of the addition of a new high output supercharged V8 engine.

One thing you can say about the Discovery is that it suits a wide variety of budgets. The cheapest model in the range, the GS manual, comes in at £29,950, while at the other end of the scale there’s the HSE tested here, which officially costs £45,360 but, with the options that are fitted to it, would set you back by just short of £50,000.

Despite this considerable price gap (you could fit quite a decently-equipped Ford Mondeo into it without touching the sides) every Discovery is more or less the same as every other Discovery. The differences relate to whether you either want or could do without various pieces of equipment - or, to look at it another way, whether you want to use your Discovery as a workhorse or as a rather luxurious SUV.

From December (if you’re a fleet customer) or next May (if you’re a private buyer) you’ll find that diesel-engined Land Rover Freelanders fitted with manual transmission have become surprisingly economical.

These cars will have their names changed slightly from TD4 to TD4_e, and they will be identical in all respects to the current models, with one important exception: they will be fitted as standard with Land Rover’s new Stop/Start technology, which has an important effect on fuel economy and CO2 emissions.

IT’S the same collection of cars from the Auto Express 2007 Used Car Honours, but in a different order! And this year, there was little contest. While the Volvo XC90 is fashionable with lifestyle buyers, the Discovery 3 takes the prize when it comes to off-road prowess.

Land Rover has binned the old Discovery’s breathless five-cylinder diesel in favour of a more refined and frugal V6. Air-suspension makes for an accomplished ride on the road and the steering is pleasant enough.

NO matter what other manufacturers field you cannot deny that the Range Rover is a masterpiece of automotive engineering.

The twin-turbo V8 diesel powered Vogue SE model I drove recently certainly hammered this point home because in the elevated armchair driving position of this great British design you certainly do feel king of the road.

There has been much said of the high cost of vehicles such as this but let’s put it into perspective. The model I drove costs £69,495 - expensive to some. But when you think that a top-end BMW 5 Series Touring model can set you back nearly the same money or a Mercedes-Benz CLS Coupe can cost around £75,000 then the Range Rover suddenly does not seem that over the top.