Just had an idle wiki browse... found out that BMW made a V8 diesel for years, and thought that this could have been perfect for the original L322s?

clicky:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M67∑

Anyone know why it didn't happen and/or if anyone has tried to retrofit one of these to a FFRR?

That would be an interesting project. Make a huge diffence if you had a gearbox to match

BMW pretty much sold LR when the L322 was about to be launched.

They did not even give the better tune of the Td6 to Ford whereas they had planned 2 tunes/version fo the Td6 for the RR while in their ownership.

Sure they would not have made a L322 better than their X5. l=Oo\________/oO=l l:OolΞΞΞΞΞΞΞloO:l

Current
RANGE ROVER Vogue 4.4L SDV8 - 2013 - Indus Silver, on Almond.
RANGE ROVER Vogue 4.4L V8 - 2002 - ex-2003 G4 Challenge Event Vehicle, Stage 3: Australia
RANGE ROVER HSE 4.4L V8 - 2004 - one-of-one Overfinch
RANGE ROVER P38a 4.0L V8 - 1999 - ex-2000 TReK Event Vehicle: South Africa

Previous:
RANGE ROVER Vogue 4.4L TDV8 - 2012 - RANGE ROVER 3.6L TDV8 x3 - RANGE ROVER Td6 x1 - RANGE ROVER Classic 3.5L V8 x1

ah right, so they were skimping

Would have completed the car tho imo! X5 not really in danger as v different type of product/RR weighed a lot more.

Should have had the v8 diesel from day one.

I bet the accountants got hold of this instead of the engineers. I read somewhere (rangerovers.net ??) that the L322 development was one of the most expensive at the time so the beancounters probably thought, no more money on that one  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

There will be a good reason. The X5 didn't get it either - perhaps availability of a suitable gearbox/transmission at the time of development.

I have asked the same question. One reply I got, that seems reasonable, was the market for diesel luxury SUV's was much smaller when the L322 was designed and the difference in fuel consumption between petrol and diesel V8's wasn't significant enough to justify it.

Suitable gearbox was the other reason.

I personally think it was the discontinuity between BMW development and Ford ownership. BMW would've probably included a V8 diesel later but there was no way Ford were going to pay for the development given they were developing their own range of big diesels.

I think the X5 argument is a non-starter. They really are very different cars for different customers.

I can't imagine why you would try a transplant now, given that the cost would far outweigh just buying a TDV8 instead of a TD6.

What is quite funny is BMW dropped the V8 and their current 3 litre inline 6 can make more power than any car diesel apart from the twice as big V12 in the Audi Q7!

KurtVerbose wrote:

I think the X5 argument is a non-starter. They really are very different cars for different customers.

FFRR V12 TDI... now that would be something

anyway what were we on about again

I think the 'BMW didn't care about us' argument is a loada.

As long as the Rover Group belonged to BMW, it was in BMW's best interest to make sure that every vehicle was as profitable as possible. The relationship between the X5 and the L322 would have been on the same level as the relationship between the X5 and the regular 5-series X-drive Touring. Almost the same tech, similar vehicle but aimed at a different market segment.

Once BMW sold LR it was obviously a different story. At that point they were trying to maximize the potential of the X5 - and encroach on the L322's market segment in every possible fashion. So what was sold to Ford was the lowest possible denominator - 1 Diesel and 1 Petrol engine.

I had read somewhere that one of the reasons for developing the M67 was the L322. Sort of a shame it never came to be. I thought for a long time that it was quite sad that LR didn't stay with BMW. But now I believe that Tata was one of the better things that happened to LR and Jaguar. We'll see how it continues... 
RRC 2Dr, RRC 4Dr,
P38, and 2 L322s
(wife thinks I'm nuts - prob right, too)

I agree that TATA has been the best thing for Land Rover in a long time

hmm... not so sure
Tata brought investment, and financial success...
But, in my eyes at least, a carefully developed brand is being prostituted at the moment.
But there again you wonder how much of that problem stemmed from JLR HQ, rather than Tata.
I love what they have done with Jaguar: the XJ is a fine car
But the chintz is spreading at LR...

Ford did bring out the original TDV8, and the supercharged
BMW did most of the graft for L322 though, in spite of the problems with gearbox/diff etc

Would have been interesting to see another BM developed generation of R-R just look what they did with the Rolls-Royce Phantom! They could easily have spread some of the fairy dust to the next gen...

Who can tell though....

Hmmm, interesting....

I always thought that BMW bought Rover and LR just to 'rape' the best that these Brands had to offer.

Hence, BMW now 'own' the Mini!!

Talk was that BMW got LR to get the best out of LR's 4x4 know-how, but in return had to 'offer' something...hence the BMW engine and gearbox.

When LR showed they could make the combination of TD6 engine and gearbox 'potentially' work, BMW promptly put them into the X5!!

The rest is 'history'?

Agreed, JLR seem to be doing very nicely under Tata. However, the Tata leadership seems to be, 'Go off and make good cars. If you make good money, we won't interfere.'

I wonder how things would have gone under Ford and BMW, if JLR had been allowed to 'just get on with it.'