LAND ROVER has launched a replacement for its Freelander family SUV, which will go on sale in January, just in time for the worst of the winter weather.
It comes with a new name — Discovery Sport — and new features such as seven seats. However, a car company that prides itself on independent thinking and innovative engineering would appear to have run out of inspiration in the design studio. The Chelsea tractor looks the spitting image of one of America’s most popular SUVs among soccer moms — the Ford Explorer.
Viewed in profile, the pair of suburban school-run cars could have been separated at birth — or, rather, on the designer’s drawing boards, right down to the light clusters.
Land Rover, which was owned by Ford until 2008 when it was sold to the current owner Tata, will offer four-wheel-drive and two-wheel-drive versions, with the latter priced from less than £30,000. It will be launched with just one 2.2-litre diesel engine; a low-emissions variant will follow.
Unruffled Arab Emirates steamrollers Germany
Where are the best roads in the world? It may sound like the subject of a pub quiz, but new research by the august World Economic Forum claims to have found the answer: the United Arab Emirates.
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The tiny Gulf state topped the league in a survey, published last week, of 14,000 businessmen and academics. Respondents were asked to rate the standard of roads in 144 economies around the world on a scale on which 7 represented “extensive and efficient” and 1 “extremely underdeveloped”. The UAE recorded a score of 6.6.
There were some surprising results: Portugal, a country once synonymous with dodgy hire cars and rutted coastal tracks, came second — presumably a result of EU infrastructure grants used to improve its road network — followed by Austria, France and Holland. Germany, often thought of by British drivers as having the best roads in Europe, was 13th.
Britain’s roads fared less well: a score of 5.2 put it in 30th place, behind Taiwan, Croatia and Cyprus and level with Puerto Rico and Namibia.
Motorists contemplating a driving holiday would be advised to avoid East Timor. The country’s potholed and flooded roads scored 1.9 in the survey and placed the Indian Ocean nation joint bottom in the world alongside Guinea.
Weekend Wheels
Ferrari Racing Days
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The world’s most exclusive car club arrives in Britain at Silverstone next weekend, featuring rare Ferraris, including F1 cars from previous seasons as well as the track-only FXX and 599XX models. These cars are usually stored at Ferrari’s Maranello factory and flown to a handful of events each year to be reunited with their owners, who take part in timed sessions. There’s racing too, with 458s in the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo, and spectators can get close to hundreds of Ferraris whose owners are invited to the event. Drivers of lesser cars have to pay £15 (£20 for the weekend) in advance from silverstone.co.uk, which includes grandstand seating and paddock access. Children under 15 go free.