Car Moon

In an article on a BMW-faced Honda Accord we found for sale on Craigslist back in 2008, we wrote that in a perfect world, our ultimate car would be “designed by Italians, engineered by Germans, built by Japanese and marketed by Americans”.

So, what’s the worst car one could imagine? Well, if we played around with the above statements, we’d say one designed by Japanese, engineered by Americans, built by Italians and marketed by Germans.

But UK insurance firm Warranty Direct had something a little bit different in mind. Instead of playing the origin card, the company decided to check out its database of 50,000 live policies on cars aged five years on average to part the UK’s most unreliable vehicle that would break down every other month and cost an average of £2,050 (equal to US$3,270 - €2,330) to fix each year.

Gone are the times when you knew where cars were made just by looking at the brand, and when luxury carmakers made the manufacturing of their vehicles in their home country one of their top selling points. Nowadays, you have BMWs built in China, India, South Africa and the USA, Mercedes-Benz cars made in Russia, Thailand and Egypt and so on.

The latest premium automaker to go global is the Jaguar-Land Rover group, which inaugurated its first Indian factory on Friday. A Land Rover Freelander 2 SUV was the first vehicle to roll out of the assembly plant, which is located just outside Pune in the Maharashtra region of India. We’ll remind you that Ford Motor Co. sold Jaguar and Land Rover to India’s Tata Motors in 2008 after losing some US$15 billion in two years.

A new limited version of the Freelander 2 was unveiled today at the Bologna Motor Show in Italy. Set to arrive in early 2011, the Freelander 2 SD4 Sport LE will be built in a limited run with the UK to receive 500 units priced from £33,945.

“The Freelander 2 SD4 Sport Limited Edition offers customers the practicality, performance and efficiency of our best-selling compact SUV with more dramatic, sporty styling and the overall package represents good value for money,” said Colin Green, managing director, Land Rover UK.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced a new recall for certain 2010-2011MY Land Rover LR2 Freelanders built from November 12, 2009, through August 23, 2010. According to the safety agency, in the affected vehicles the driver's frontal airbag may not deploy as intended or at all because of a potential problem with the shorting bar in the clock spring, which may become disconnected when the air bag module connector is installed.

Today, Land Rover whisked the covers off its Freelander 2 that benefits from a rather inconspicuous cosmetic redesign, a revised 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine available in two flavors and for the first time in the model's history, a two-wheel drive version.

The exterior styling of the 2011 Freelander 2 has been updated with a redesigned front bumper assembly, a new and less pronounced front grille aligned with the hood, revised headlamps and tail lights, a full width tailgate appliqué and new 18- or 19-inch alloy wheel designs.

Inside, changes are limited to the revised instrument dials and four new seat styles with the option of a Premium Pack that also includes Windsor Leather upholstery, an 8/6 way electric seat, plus unique carpet mats and covered center stowage.

We weren't supposed to see the refreshed for the 2011 model year Land Rover Freelander SUV before its world premiere either at the Moscow auto show in August 2010, or in Paris at the end of September, but Car Magazine provides our first look at the facelifted model through a group of pictures, allegedly taken from a leaked Italian brochure.

The new Freelander is the latest Land Rover model to capture the tuning attention of Project Kahn. Inspired from the Project Kahn Range Rover Sport RS600, the Freelander RS200 receives an extensive [but definitely in good taste] cosmetic makeover.

On the outside, modifications include a matt black signature bonnet stripe, silver door handles, door mirror caps and front bumper vents, as well as body colored style vents, side sills and front grille surround, and smoked side repeaters.

The Freelander RS200's stance is made much more aggressive thanks to the huge 20-inch alloy wheels that are wrapped in beefier rubber.

It seems like Land Rover's marketing division has nothing better to do these days than to reveal special edition versions of the Freelander 2. Following the introduction of the "Sport" edition, the Brits announced the release of two new entry-level additions to the Freelander 2 range for 2010. Named "White" and "Black" for obvious reasons, the two new models will be on sale in the UK in January 2010, priced from £19,495 on-the-road.

Beginning in January, Land Rover will expand its British lineup with the introduction of the Freelander 2 Sport. But don't get carried away as there's nothing really 'sporty' about this Freelander 2 other than the extra equipment and special colors. The Freelander 2 Sport will be available with two derivatives, one with leather upholstery and the other with a cloth / leather interior, and two exterior shades, Santorini Black and Lago Grey.

Even Land Rover was spellbound by the fellowship of ‘the green automakers’ at this year’s Paris Motor Show as the Brits introduced their most fuel efficient vehicle ever, the Freelander 2 TD4_e Stop/Start. As you may have guessed, this Freelander which uses the standard 160HP 2.2-liter diesel engine comes equipped with start and stop system, a first for Land Rover. The system basically shuts down the engine in appropriate conditions therefore saving fuel that would otherwise be used when idling. But that’s not all as the more eco-conscious Freelander also includes a series of additional enhancements that help improve fuel economy. -Continued

Along with the start/stop system, the Freelander benefits from a new gearshift indicator light in the instrument pack that advises the driver when to change gear, low-rolling-resistance tyres and new software developments to the driveline systems.

Together, these measures help improve consumption from 37.7 mpg UK to 41.3 mpg UK (7.7lt to 6.8lt/100km) while on the standard EU4 cycle, the CO₂ emissions of the Freelander 2 TD4_e are reduced by 8 per cent, compared with the outgoing manual diesel Freelander 2.

Phil Popham, Land Rover's managing director, said: "The Stop/Start Freelander 2 is the first production vehicle to benefit from the massive £700 million investment in sustainable technologies by Jaguar and Land Rover. From mid-2009, the Stop/Start feature will be included as standard on all Freelander 2 TD4 manual models, with no associated increase in list prices."