A Fuel Efficient Land Rover?

This new Freelander 2 TD4 gets over 41 mpg in the city by doing something ye olde Land Rovers often did without fancy technology.

It’s called the Start/Stop system and it’s designed to automatically shut off the little diesel engine in the Freelander 2 TD4 each time the vehicle stops at a traffic light.

Having the engine shut itself down at a traffic light is not necessarily a new experience for drivers of vintage Land Rovers, but this time it’s done in the name of fuel economy. 

And it works.   

This is Land Rover’s most fuel efficient vehicle to date.  By shutting down the engine and then automatically restarting it when the driver simply depresses the clutch, CO2 emissions are reduced by eight percent and fuel savings are improved by as much as 20 percent – especially in city driving. 

Naturally, all this stopping and restarting has required some modifications in the starter motor and battery, but so far all seems to be working well.  The system activates automatically at initial start-up, but there is a de-activation switch on the dash if you prefer. 

Now…when do you suppose we’ll see this technology here in the U.S.?