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Vehicle Tests > Driven - Freelander Stop/Start
Driven - Freelander Stop/Start
Issue: July 2009
Words by Trent Nikolic Photos by Nick Dimbleby
Some new automotive technology doesn't quite make sense. The new Freelander Stop/Start does. In a strange kind of way...
Our UK correspondent Richard Yarrow, had already driven the Freelander Stop/Start late last year, but I couldn't resist the urge to test drive one myself on my recent trip to the home of Land Rover.
Like I mentioned in my editorial a few month's back, the first time 'it' happens, I'm sitting at a set of traffic lights on the outskirts of Coventry, a picturesque little village in the British Midlands and arguably the perfect place to test drive the most 'gentlemanly' of off road brands. Anyway, back to the test. The Freelander's ECU has decided the engine is not required and as I pull to a stop, I knock the gear lever into neutral, and the engine dies.
In traffic, it's a strange sensation and like I thought at the time as I sat there surrounded by silence, in my early days of driving, if my 73 Beetle died in such a way it was generally a catastrophic engine failure. One that wouldn't have seen the engine running again any time soon. Engage the clutch and select first gear though in the Freelander Stop/Start, and the engine fires back into life, and you're away as you would be with any other conventional vehicle.
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I exchanged a few perplexed glances with my South African co driver and we both commented on the strange sensation of being surrounded by silence while the rest of the peak hour traffic buzzes around you to the soundtrack of conventional engines doing conventional things. By the time we'd reached the next set of lights however, we were already accustomed to the Freelander's system. So it is with the Freelander Stop/Start. It's not an intrusive system by any means, and it's certainly not one that you'll find yourself taking months to become accustomed to.
It's enjoyable to still have the conventional sound of an internal combustion engine doing it's work beneath the bonnet as opposed to the almost imperceptible whirring of an electric engine as well, so while there's a nod to environmental impact, there's also the feeling that you haven't gone completely 'green' either. And I like that.
From the outside, there's nothing to indicate you're driving anything other than a stock standard Freelander aside form a diminutive tailgate badge. All the cutting edge technology takes place beneath the bonnet and the fuel consumption results are even more impressive than I initially thought they could have been.
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Words by Trent Nikolic Photos by Nick Dimbleby
Some new automotive technology doesn't quite make sense. The new Freelander Stop/Start does. In a strange kind of way...
Our UK correspondent Richard Yarrow, had already driven the Freelander Stop/Start late last year, but I couldn't resist the urge to test drive one myself on my recent trip to the home of Land Rover.
Like I mentioned in my editorial a few month's back, the first time 'it' happens, I'm sitting at a set of traffic lights on the outskirts of Coventry, a picturesque little village in the British Midlands and arguably the perfect place to test drive the most 'gentlemanly' of off road brands. Anyway, back to the test. The Freelander's ECU has decided the engine is not required and as I pull to a stop, I knock the gear lever into neutral, and the engine dies.
In traffic, it's a strange sensation and like I thought at the time as I sat there surrounded by silence, in my early days of driving, if my 73 Beetle died in such a way it was generally a catastrophic engine failure. One that wouldn't have seen the engine running again any time soon. Engage the clutch and select first gear though in the Freelander Stop/Start, and the engine fires back into life, and you're away as you would be with any other conventional vehicle.
read on below advertisement
I exchanged a few perplexed glances with my South African co driver and we both commented on the strange sensation of being surrounded by silence while the rest of the peak hour traffic buzzes around you to the soundtrack of conventional engines doing conventional things. By the time we'd reached the next set of lights however, we were already accustomed to the Freelander's system. So it is with the Freelander Stop/Start. It's not an intrusive system by any means, and it's certainly not one that you'll find yourself taking months to become accustomed to.
It's enjoyable to still have the conventional sound of an internal combustion engine doing it's work beneath the bonnet as opposed to the almost imperceptible whirring of an electric engine as well, so while there's a nod to environmental impact, there's also the feeling that you haven't gone completely 'green' either. And I like that.
From the outside, there's nothing to indicate you're driving anything other than a stock standard Freelander aside form a diminutive tailgate badge. All the cutting edge technology takes place beneath the bonnet and the fuel consumption results are even more impressive than I initially thought they could have been.
next page »
