Land Rover goes bush with the V6 Freelander

Land Rover boasts that 76 per cent of the four-wheel-drives it has made since 1948 are still at work.

It celebrated the special nature and history of the vehicles the other day by opening the Land Rover Experience, an off-road course on hundreds of hectares of land at Paradise Valley, near Rotorua.

It is one of eight such courses in the world and it is where Land Rover took the wraps of its latest models, the new V6 petrol and Td4 diesel Freelander.

Land Rover New Zealand managing director Peter Lockie said the company had been planning an off-road course for a long time.

"We have a great deal of experience in training and running off-road events in New Zealand and the variety of terrain at Paradise Valley is perfect.

"There are over 40km of tracks that cover all levels of expertise, from the extreme to the accessible."

Course director Dave Patterson said that although the site was fully operational, development and improvement would be on-going.

"There are hundreds of hectares which have been left untouched since old logging routes were abandoned 50 years ago," he said.

"We will gradually open up these areas for vehicle access and clients will be among the first to use these tracks for over half a century."

Three levels of training will available to the public, each one identical to that offered at the other international sites in Britain, France, South Africa, Spain, North America, Sweden and Portugal. The first training session is on March 3.

The new-look Freelander - 70 per cent is new or modified in the V6 - is the first Land Rover to be wheeled out under new owners, the Ford-owned Premier Automotive Group.

The vehicle first appeared in 1997, when BMW owned Land Rover. Its innovative hill descent control system - which slowed the vehicle's progress downhill - received much acclaim. The luxury German carmaker later sold the specialist four-wheel-drive company to Ford.

The Freelander has needed a more powerful petrol engine from day one. Its 1.8-litre four-cylinder powerplant was a reworked version of that which powered the MGF sportscar and was ill-equipped for anything other than town and around tours.

The 2.0-litre optional L-series Rover diesel was more efficient but lacked refinement.

The new V6 petrol engine and BMW-sourced 2.0-litre Td4 diesel have revitalised the model.

"Several Freelander owners said they wanted to trade up to a more powerful vehicle, but wanted to retain the compact format rather than move to a larger Discovery," said Land Rover sales executive Matthew Taylor. "The new V6 and Td4 engines provide the extra power, and the five-speed automatic gearbox continues Land Rover's tradition of innovation."

The 2.5-litre quad-cam V6 produces 130kW at 6250 rpm and 240Nm of pulling power at 4000 rpm. The common-rail 2.0-litre diesel produces 82kW at 4000 rpm and 260Nm at 1750 rpm.

This is a marked improvement over the still-available 1.8-litre model, which develops 86kW at 5500 rpm and 160Nm at 2750 rpm.

Ford says fuel consumption in the V6 works out to be about 17 litres/100km in the city and 9.7/100km on the open road. The diesel sips 9.1 litres in the city and 6.7 out of town. The 1.8-litre consumes in turn 13.6 litres and 8.5.

The 2001 model range comes in three body types - the three-door soft-top and hard-top and five-door station wagon. But the only three-door model likely to be available in New Zealand is the V6.

All three have revised body designs and the suspension in the V6 has been updated to cope with the engine's extra weight. The ABS brakes have also been improved. So, too, has the body strength.

The range of accessories has increased from 170 items to 240 and includes a new sport body styling and park-assist device, an electronic gizmo that warns drivers if they are about to back into a wall.

Land Rover is still working on the price of the three-door V6 but the five-door range will start at $49,900 for the 1.8-litre through to $52,900 for the manual diesel, $57,900 for the automatic diesel and $59,900 for the V6 petrol automatic.