Given all the recent press coverage about the likelihood that diesel cars will be banned from central London, Paris and other major cities due to pollution issues I wonder if we are about to see the rebirth of larger more fuel efficient petrol engines in general and what are the implication for LandRover?

Just a quick fix at reducing congestion/pollution in the cities, pick on the diesels, that they convinced us to buy because they are more 'economical'.

Once the Ingenium engines are up and running we should see petrol engines starting to creep into LRs range. So I think LR are on top of it, if a bit late. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

The death warrant on diesels has been hanging over them for the past few years. The problem is, they were gauged on the wrong type of emmisions which were lower than petrol.

But as these regulations are changing and engines will be gauges on different standards, you will see the return of the petrol engine en-mass.

But don't worry about JLR, their new ingenium 2.0 Turbo petrol is up there with the best of them. Many manufacturers are well advanced with petrol technology but they simply haven't had the need to release them.

It's like Diesel engines with under 100k/km. There are quite a few now with 98 and 99g/km and many ask can they go lower.

JLR, BMW and Vauxhall are just three I know that have 2.0 diesels capable of under 90g/km with in excess of 150bhp, but with current rules, there are no tax benefits of offering below 98/99. But this will become irrelevant when the rules change.

I have always said that by 2020, the major shift will be back towards petrol.

I just find that we have lost out on the Si4 Freelaner with its 237bhp 2.0 Turbo, as I have driven one and it is fantastic! Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

With this, almost certainty, swing back towards petrol, do you think manufactureres will adopt petrol or petrol/electric hybrids?
I am thinking from a torque point of view, small efficient petrol units, with little torque are all well and good in Aunt Doris' city mini but what effect would they have on SUV's or is it an excuse for governments to call the death knell on these too?

A decent hybrid would solve that but the battery issue rears its ugly head, I wonder how far down the road (Scuse pun) the manufactuereres are with battery/electricity harnessing technology. I imagine, rather comically, that the power from the current batteries would be better used to heat water and produce steam

The FIRST and MOST IMPORTANT issue should be town buses running on low quality fuel and belching black smoke every 200-300 metres when pulling away, I reported 2 to our local council, who do roadside checks and issue penalty notices for offending vehicles, they answered we are not allowed to test buses. The local council officials who stopped me in my FL2 did not even know how to operate the equipment properly, I watched them test older cars in front of me!!! Had I tested a car that way with a VOSA Inspector watching I would have had my MOT Testers licence (clean for 25 years) revoked or be sent for retraining.
In another decade or so what regulations and COSTS will be brought upon us for the recycling/disposal of batteries when hybrid and electrical cars are the norm? All FL2's (3) Gone
2011 Mercedes C180 CGI Gone
FL2 GS Auto SD with heated leather, factory tints, alloy spare and a few other bits.

I'll tell my boss tomorrow to start running our buses on v-power

Ours are running on bio fuel with LEZ exhausts, and our euro 5/6 ones have adblue. It's the drivers responsibility to check the fumes on his/her first use check.

Joking aside some large vehicles do belch out a lot of black smoke. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

Mav do you know when Land Rover plan to start putting the ingenium 2.0 Turbo petrols in the new Discovery Sport? As someone who mostly drives on country lanes, modern diesels are not really suitable. I am now a self diagnosed land rover addict. The Evoque is a little too flash for my taste so the early FL2 without DPF is the only option for me at the moment. I live in hope the world will see sense and drop the current diesel addiction! A modern turbo petrol engine may not have the torque band of the TD4/SD4 engines but is far superior in every other respect.

I would say diesels of the last ten years are fine in towns as long as they are properly maintained,
it's people ignoring faults that causes poor running and black smoke even a euro 5/6 engine will choke you if the adblue system or egr system is faulty, and the diesel smoke check for MOT is so far out of date that it's no longer a requirement on hgv's and buses for it's annual vosa check up,
I would say Petrol hybrids where the petrol engine runs a generator with hub mounted motors is where we'll end up before we get to grips with hydrogen fuel cells in everyday cars

Last edited by bashracing on 8th Dec 2014 10:10 pm. Edited 1 time in total

I've never been convinced that a diesel is better for the environment even more so when you get stuck behind a bus or lorry or a car that the owner has not serviced for yonks & you can't see what the car is due to all the black smoke.

I personally hate diesels & if there was a petrol Freelander I would have it assuming the fuel consumtion was no worse than it is presently lol.

Re the comment above about Electric cars etc, makes me laugh when 40 years ago a Man was put on the Moon & now they are talking about missions to Mars yet can't even build an electric car with a range of more than 70ish miles. (Past) Freelander 2 HSE 2010 MY In Rimini Red.
(Past) RR Evoque Dynamic Lux Si4 In Firenze Red.
(Past) RR Evouque Pure Tech in Barollo Black with bespoke Firenze Red colour coding.
(Present) Freelander Metropolis 2015 MY In Santorini Black with Ivory Premium Leather.

We more than likely can build a car with a long range, there is too much going on in the background with countries reliant on fossil fuels holding back progress, or certainly helping to delay things.
We have submarines and supertankers using small nuclear reactors, companies such as Toshiba are creating microreactors, ok still too big for a car but technology is there, if we can fuel a submarine for 25 years I am damn sure someone has a car somewhere that will go plenty more than 70 miles.

My Si4 seems to have enough torque, and with petrol I am only breathing poisonous gases, not carcinogens as is the case with diesel.

The DPF are not removing the ultra fine particles which are doing the real damage to people. More so to children as they breath closer to the ground than adults.

Probably in a few decades we will go through the whole process again like we did with lead in fuel and how it is affecting children the most.

In the mean time get kids in the car before you fire it up.

Didn't our government encourage us to buy diesels to cut down on greenhouse gasses ?

Yes & because they were more economical & diesel WAS 50% cheaper than petrol (once). (Past) Freelander 2 HSE 2010 MY In Rimini Red.
(Past) RR Evoque Dynamic Lux Si4 In Firenze Red.
(Past) RR Evouque Pure Tech in Barollo Black with bespoke Firenze Red colour coding.
(Present) Freelander Metropolis 2015 MY In Santorini Black with Ivory Premium Leather.

Hydrogen fuel cell is the way forward, I just don't fancy Toyotas £63k price tag for a saloon car. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

CO2 emissions were the big thing at first, and then finding ways to try to take out the particulates. However the main concern now seems to be NOx. The only way of restricting this seems to be the EGR valve (which some blank off anyway!) and it's not very efficient. The NOx is invisible and difficult to test for (it's not in the current MoT for that reason) and it kills people. Number of deaths from motor pollution today are reported to be about the same as deaths from smoking.
That said, there's no excuse for the clouds of soot I saw pouring out of the back of a number 9 bus this morning here in Ely.
And if you walk round central London you will hardly see a petrol vehicle apart from Prius minicabs - traffic in the centre is almost entirely taxis, buses, trucks and vans. Personally I'm waiting for LR to come up with a plug-in hybrid. I could charge it for free with my solar panels, and for longer journeys a small petrol engine running at max efficiency to top up the battery makes sense to me. Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
300TDi Disco (bought new - terrible car) sent back after 18 months
Freelander 1 Estate - leased, given back at end of lease
200TDi Disco (bought from a mate with 100,000 on the clock) - Gone
Disco 2 TD5 - sold and exported to France
FR2 TD4 GS - Gone
FR2 SD4 HSE - Now changed for a DS
New model ex-demo Evoque S 180 in white
Unable to order a new DS, so gave up. Now have a Volvo S90 Recharge.