From the Spring, Land Rover will be shipping their manual model vehicles with the eco-friendly stop-start technology that has recently been seen on a host of new car brands. Whereas this technology is ideally suited to inner city driving where frequent stops at traffic lights are encountered, Land Rover’s are found as much in cities as in the cross-country terrain, so such a development is still highly relevant.
The tecnology has been installed with care, to ensure the smooth driving experience is maintained. Changing gears to neutral and removing your foot from the clutch shuts off the engine, doing the opposite starts the engine again, with minimal noise and with optimal speed. Automatic Land Rovers have yet to get the same treatment, due to the gear change currently being used as the catalyst for the stop-start. land Rover has assured customers, however, that stop-start will be available for automatic vehicles some time in the future, they just need some additional development time.
Built-in extras include a dashboard addition with helpful alerts and instructions (which can be turned off if they become irritating) and a safety cutout that means the system won’t cut in if the engine is too cold or there’s limited battery power. The vehicles also continue to handle excellently off-road, with the stop-start technology not interfering in any way with their smooth road handling.
Overall, Land Rover have taken excellent steps in incorporating eco-friendly technology into their vehicles, indicating they will be making the effort to adapt their Land Rovers as best they can to new environmentally friendly goals.