Diesel in Detroit: Range Rover, Range Rover Sport Adding Diesel V-6 in U.S. for 2016

January 11, 2015 at 6:00 pm by Andrew Wendler | Photography by Michael Simari and the Manufacture.

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Land Rover is adding a diesel engine option to its line of super-luxe SUVs. Announced as part of the 2015 Detroit auto show festivities, the first U.S.-market Land Rover models to get the compression-ignition Td6 V-6 will be the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, both in HSE trim. The pair are scheduled to go on sale in the fall of 2015 as 2016 models.
Rated at a reasonable 254 horsepower, the real story is torque: A solid 440 lb-ft of twist is available from just 1750 rpm. (For comparison, LR’s current supercharged 3.0-liter gasoline V-6 makes 332 lb-ft at 3500 rpm.) Given that, the powerplant certainly has the grunt to get things rolling whether you’re crawling through the boonies or simply loaded down with trophies from your latest Costco safari. Mated to a ZF-supplied eight-speed automatic, the Range Rover Sport Td6 and Range Rover Td6 manage the benchmark zero-to-60-mph run in 7.1 and 7.4 seconds, compared to the 6.9- and 7.1-second times of their six-cylinder gasoline counterparts.Fuel economy gets a significant boost, as well, with each of the new Rovers pegged at 22/28/25 mpg on the EPA city/highway/combined metrics; the combined figure represents a 32-percent improvement over the gas V-6, and total range for each rig has increased to a bladder-stretching 658 miles.
A relatively new design, the Td6 engine is already available in other markets; nevertheless, Land Rover says it made some changes to the Td6 for stateside duty. All Td6 diesels start with a block constructed of compacted graphite iron, which is stronger than grey cast iron and offers better overall strength than aluminum. The alterations made prior to U.S. introduction include a new water-cooled turbocharger that sports new bearings, vanes, and nozzles.