...and walked away highly unimpressed!




I was invited to come over and test drive the car by my good old friend James who used to be at Lookers West London but is now temporarily based at the new swanky Lancaster Slough dealership. As you all know I recently picked up my MY18 3.0d AB however was highly tempted to buy the Hybrid but my head ruled my heart and decided not to be a guinea pig for what is essentially new tech to JLR.

Walked up to the car which was plugged in to a very smart looking Pod Point (been told this costs around £2500 fitted)





For those who have one on order please be aware that the lead shown in the picture is not provided with the car - it is a £250 option that you need to pay for. The car comes with a charging kit with a standard home plug on it!



This was kept in a smart bag in the boot. Here is a pic of the boot space for those who don't know it is slightly raised to accommodate the battery



Jumped in and started the car - strange no engine fires up

The display showed me that the car was fully charged with 26 miles of electric charge available to me.



Headed off towards Heathrow on the M4 which was fully clogged up with traffic - car had 169 miles on it when we left.

You can clearly feel the car changing from Electric only to Petrol mode and also when both are working together - you can tell because there is quite a noticeable jerk when this happens! It happens a lot too! Everytime you step on it and give some beans the car jerks with the changeover. Driving around in the car park in electric only mode was good fun and felt like a big smooth milk float

I have been told that the when you are driving the car it does not generate additional battery power - i.e like the BMW i3 and i8 the battery does not replenish itself but what it does do (when you are coasting only!) is conserve the power you have left. This means when you leave home in the morning with your 26/28 mile range when this is effectively finished you will be driving a big 2.0 Petrol Range Rover Unless of course you charge it again somewhere and you then get the additional power back.

We drove for 22 miles and when we got back the car was showing this:



We effectively used 13 miles of Electric Power in the 22 miles done and the car was showing it had 13 miles of electric power left even after doing 22 miles - so we generated around 9 miles of power as this was saved - I think that sounds right but correct me if wrong!?

Then plugged the car in to the charger again and the display shows



I then got back in to my 3.0 diesel and was bloody happy too! IMHO the 3.0d 306 BHP block is the perfect engine choice for this car if you want a mix of economy and power - it's smooth and has tons of torque and makes the car feel really smooth to drive. The P400 is decent on e power but not at all good to drive when the engine kicks in. I'm being honest in saying I did not like driving it at all and think the next gen car will probably be a safer bet for those who want a Hybrid. It felt really sluggish compared to my car even though the 0-60 time is quicker by 0.5 seconds the torque factor makes the Diesel actually feel quicker and smoother!

Sorry for the upside down pics - could a mod possibly amend them to go straight at all?

If anyone has any questions let me know. If you have one on order and have not driven one I would suggest to try one before putting your hard earned money in to one as just like for me it may not be the car for you

Thanks to the folks in Slough for the test drive

Sounds like a hash job to me......not sure how many will take the leap and be first adopters.....I can see the residuals going the same way as the I8. 2019 Svr and 2019 R35 GTR

20 odd miles on a full charge?

Exactly the reason I can't make the jump, pointless to quite a degree.

I've a heavy foot even in the RRS compared to my RS6 so j doubt I'd see 10 miles realistically. Like you've pointed out too to be the Guinea pig is a big ask. TDV8 RRS HST in Java - Gone
TDV6 RRS Autobiography in Bali blue - Gone
TDV6 RRS Autobiography Dynamic - Current

It is purely a tax dodger to meet the needs of Those who will gain most from BIK reductions, and nobody in the Revenue checks if you ever drive it in EV mode. Regarding the plugs - the chargepoints I have access to all have multiple plugs built into them so no matter if you have a Nissan Leaf, a Renault Zoe or a Tesla or a car that can plug into a 13amp socket there is a means for you to connect up regardless (and charging is free here in Scotland on ChargePlace Scotland public chargers if you have the £20pa swipe card). The cost of a home charger is also claimable back from the government for about 50-75% of the cost when installed by an approved installer, they also should have the right charging cable wired into them.........
it is sad that JLR (the same company that makes the mound breaking I-Pace) feels it has also to charge you for a connection cable - my Countryman comes with one as standard equipment and if you damage it the cost of a replacement is nowhere near £250 - LR profiteering again, what use is a plug in hybrid if you cannot plug it in!
I’m also really surprised that it cannot be recharged on the move, it has the same make of electric system as the Mini, the 2 Series, i3 range extender and the i8 - in the mini and the 2 series the electric engine actally drives the rear wheels from start if there is enough battery charge, in the i3 RE and i8 the petrol is purely a generator and doesn’t drive any wheels. The trip computer can be set up to drive in petrol only, electric only, generator mode and also use the regenerative brakes and it can be left in auto mode when the car will decide from the Satnav trip you enter which route and when the car should run in electric or petrol mode, you can also use MaxE mode when it will eek out every last EV mile before turning on the petrol engine as the generator. Of course if you charge it up then it will default to electric only mode unless you set it in petrol mode. It seems LR has missed a lot of tricks and maybe with their history with whiz bang electrics they have decided to avoid too much complicated hi tech stuff that might go wrong. Even Muddy’s Outlander is more hi tech then the RRS PHEV as it can do the same charging tricks as the Countryman and 2 Series PHEVs. I have heard now also of two P300 PHEVs that have had to be returned to the factory on a flat bed by dealerships because they cannot make the electric engine side work or they can only make the car run in electric mode and it won’t change over to petrol - so it sounds like, in best LR tradition, they have rushed out new tech for the buyers and dealers to finish bench testing when the car should never have been let out of developement garages at Gaydon..........
Also surprised that the switch over between the two power trains was so clunky, when I had the demo Countryman for 4 days in November I could not detect when it was changing from petrol to electric or back, there is no rev counter and the triple cylinder 1.5ltr petrol engine is really well sound and vibration insulated from the cabin. The only way I could see when I was running in ICE mode was when the mpg meter was watched, it even that went down at snails pace as the worst I saw in petrol mode was 43mpg. And also the mini can be run with both engines driving the car for additional performance - the Mini PHEV will out accelerate even the John Cooper Works version with its highly tuned 2.0lt petrol engine and 155kgs less weight with no extra batteries to cart around!
Basis your write up above RRSman I’m now glad that I took the advice of the sales team at the local LR dealers that I visited who both told me it wasn’t suitable for the use I would be looking to have out of it and that after owning the SDv6 HSE D I would feel very short changed by the RRS PHEV. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

According to Land Rover it has regenerative braking:

“Powered by a conventional engine with an electric motor and battery pack to improve efficiency, a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) charges its battery via regenerative braking.”

So it recharges the battery when driving does it not?

As I said above it does not “charge” the battery but it adds to the range left so prolongs its life but if you see my figures above it’s pretty shocking reading

Yes I read your review but Land Rover state it recharges the battery using regenerative braking.
I’m not exactly sure the difference between recharging and extending the range?

I had an itch maybe a RRS PHEV might tempt me back but there's no way reading this thread

I can't tell with the Mitsy if it's on electric or petrol unless I floor it and there's no indication when it's changing over as it's seamless

My dedicated home charger was free so I'd laugh if someone expected me to pay £2.5k then extra for a lead

I'm getting around 25 miles at moment on a charge but I do a lot of short trips - it increases range on longer trips

I rarely charge while driving but did last weekend as we had city driving after motorway and still got 38 mpg on a 200 mile run

LR need to up there gain especially if they want me to triple the money I spent on the Mitsy  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

Regenerative braking puts small charge back in battery when coasting downhill or braking but it soon goes when you pull away again

Charging while cruising on motorway adds miles by comparison Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

RRSman wrote:

I have been told that the when you are driving the car it does not generate additional battery power - i.e like the BMW i3 and i8 the battery does not replenish itself but what it does do (when you are coasting only!) is conserve the power you have left. This means when you leave home in the morning with your 26/28 mile range when this is effectively finished you will be driving a big 2.0 Petrol Range Rover Unless of course you charge it again somewhere and you then get the additional power back.

No regen braking? Really? So what has taken so long to bring the thing to market? LR really are the pits...  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

muddywheels wrote:

Regenerative braking puts small charge back in battery when coasting downhill or braking but it soon goes when you pull away again

RRSTDV8 wrote:

RRSman wrote:

I have been told that the when you are driving the car it does not generate additional battery power - i.e like the BMW i3 and i8 the battery does not replenish itself but what it does do (when you are coasting only!) is conserve the power you have left. This means when you leave home in the morning with your 26/28 mile range when this is effectively finished you will be driving a big 2.0 Petrol Range Rover Unless of course you charge it again somewhere and you then get the additional power back.

No regen braking? Really? So what has taken so long to bring the thing to market? LR really are the pits...

Wow - 26 miles range on electrics - hardly worth the effort.

Why bother with this as clearly is is using old technology if that is all the range it can muster. 07MY RRS TDV6
Arctic Frost
Aspen Interior

As above all that effort and cost for 26 miles, there is an article in LRM in this months edition and they said 33 miles. Guy in work got a Prius on PCP some years ago, we were all over it and we waited whilst he drove away got only a few meters and the engine kicked in

Steve. 2006 2.7 TDV6 HSE in Cairns Blue.

Yes RRSTDV8 - I use the paddle shift to change how much regeneration I want - most of time I have it on top B5 which means going downhill with cruise set I don't need to worry about speeding fines like I did on the LRs  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!