There are some great official sites where you can find just about any information you’d need for most models from the ‘90’s through today.

TOPIx – which is linked at the bottom of the landroverusa.com site and describes itself as:

TOPIx provides fast, online access to everything you need to enable you to deliver vehicle service and repair for Jaguar Land Rover customers.

The TOPIx site is great, it’s where you can find both owners manuals & service/repair info.  The owners manuals are free and don’t require registration.  The service/repair pages do require both registration and a subscription to the site.  Anyone can get a subscription and the prices vary depending on the info you want, how many models (i.e. all Land Rovers, a single model all years or a single model for one year), and how long you want access for(1 hour, day, week, month or year).  To give you an example, if you wanted to get the info for a 2008 Range Rover for 1 day, it’s $14, while all years for the New Range Rover for a day would be $23.  One more example, all models & years for a day is $46.

It can really be worth the money when you need some info you just can’t find anywhere else.  Like all the other sites, there’s not much thought put into the navigation design.  After selecting the model & year, you have to find the link that says Owner on the far right then find the link that says Owners Handbooks on the far left.  Then you’re stuck viewing a small frame on the page with the actual PDF content – lots of scrolling.  If you do select there “Maximise” icon, it just opens the PDF full screen, which is annoying in another way.

I would just assume with Land Rover sending people here directly from the home page for handbooks, it may make more sense to make the handbooks/Owners section front & center

Land Rover Owner Information

This is the site I’ve always used for Owners manuals and I think it is actually fewer clicks to the information you want when compared to TOPIx.  I’m not sure why Land Rover doesn’t link to this site directly off the home page, it’s just an easier site to navigate, but it doesn’t have service/repair info.

Here too you can find all sort of documents – the 2011 Range Rover Owners Handbook does reference this site, suggest for downloading the Land Rover Off-Road Driving handbook.

Owner Information Webshop

Here’s where you can buy actual hard copy printed materials – lost handbooks, wiring diagrams, etc…  As an example the full literature pack for a 2010 Range Rover is about $116.  This site is another one with an odd user experience – after registering, you just stare at a page that says “You’ve registered”, you have to find a small link in the corner to get you back to the content page, a redirect or larger, more obvious link couldn’t hurt.

All three sites are oddly designed with pop-ups and frames; which I assume is for some kind of I.P. protection, but with a little time, everything is downloadable, so they should just give us the option of downloading the entire PDF directly instead of all the clicking and waiting for each individual chapter.  On more then one occasion, I’ve had to close the window and start the process again because it just wouldn’t load a section, it gets old fast.

And even though the user interface/experience was a complete & terrible afterthought, I do thank them for putting all this info online.  Now why not put a small amount of effort into it and give us direct downloads.  Go check out how Mercedes-Benz does it and you’ll see how good & easy it could be.

All of the pages have been converted to JPEG & add to the gallery:

2011 Range Rover – US Version

2011 Range Rover Sport – US Version

2011 Land Rover LR4

From Land Rover Review – here are the links to most of  2011 Land Rover line for the US, all in PDF:

2011 Range Rover

2011 Range Rover Sport

2011 Land Rover LR4

Right-Click & Save-As may be the easiest way to pull them down for Windows users, for Mac people it’s a Ctrl-Click.

There’s some good stuff here, I’ve had the Range Rover UK printed version for a little while now.  They are very similar except for the Diesel & 8-speed trans pages.  There’s actually more in the US version then I would have expected.

Found in the Range Rover Sport & LR4 – the Passive Entry system allows the vehicle to  be unlocked/locked without the physical use of a key, although the key is a functional component of the passive entry/start system.  Once the key is within range of the vehicle (~1m) you can open the locked doors by just pulling the door handles (which now hold a capacitive plate – see #3 below).   Re-locking is accomplished by pressing the button that resides near where you would normally insert a key in the door handle – this is called passive locking.

Interesting fact #1:

If single-point entry is the current security setting and a door other than the driver’s door is opened first, then all doors will be unlocked. If the driver’s door is opened, only the driver’s door will be unlocked. All other doors and the luggage compartment will remain locked.

#2:

Passive locking will only activate if the key is outside the vehicle. If no key is present externally, two audible error warnings will sound when the door handle button is pressed.

#3

A capacitive plate is molded internally within the exterior door handle; the vehicle exterior body acts as a second capacitive plate. The air between the two acts as an insulator. The control electronics within the door handle evaluate the capacitance of the circuit. When a hand interrupts the space between the handle and the door, the electrical field is altered and thus the capacitance of the capacitor.
The signal is calibrated so as not to
detect false activations (rain or snow, dirt build-up).

Passive Start found in the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport & LR4  is designed to start
the vehicle via the fascia-mounted start/stop button without any mechanical interaction with the key used to open the vehicle. The key is automatically detected as present via cabin-mounted antennas using Low Frequency (LF) and Radio Frequency (RF) signals.

Interesting fact #1:

The key authorization process relies on sufficient battery charge in the key. As these vehicles are not equipped with a docking station to hold the key, charging of the key battery is not possible. When the battery charge falls to an insufficient level there is a message prompt to the driver via the message center. Typical life expectancy for a key battery is approximately two years (depending on usage).

#2:

In a situation where the key battery voltage is low, the vehicle can still be started by holding the key against the Immobilizer Antenna Unit (IAU).  No battery power is required, as key authorization takes place via an induction process.  You can see IAU locations below – LM is the internal designation for the Range Rover, LA is the LR4 & LS is the Range Rover Sport.

Great video showing the Range Rover Sport Supercharged – while being a great overall video, he does go into real detail on the iPod functionality – first time I’ve seen that on video – check it out:

Part 1:

Part 2:

So there had been some rumors of supply issues with the new Surround Camera System with people getting notified that their vehicles delivery would be delayed.  Now thanks to the http://www.disco3.co.uk forums, there’s official word from Land Rover – check out this PDF

Here are some shots of the new Autobiography model comign to the Range Rover Sport family.  I do like a lot of the little touches on this one – the Autobiogrpahy Sport text on the door wood trim & headrest, the Pimento leather on the gear shift but it doesn’t look like the leather headliner made to the Sport.  I even like the body kit.

Here’s the official text:

New Autobiography Sport versions join Range Rover Sport line-up for 2010
The stylish Range Rover Sport for 2010 offers enhanced vehicle dynamics and
significantly improved performance thanks to two new powerful, refined and efficient
engines: the formidable Supercharged LR-V8 5.0 litre and the LR-TDV6 3.0-litre
Advanced Sequential Turbo Diesel. Along with striking exterior design changes and
an all new interior, Range Rover Sport maintains its class-leading credentials.

Now, an unprecedented level of personalisation for Range Rover Sport is available
too, with a stunning selection of six Autobiography Sport limited edition themes
featuring stylish duo-tone premium leather interiors as well as unique exterior design
cues including the grille, vents and 20" diamond turned finish alloy wheels, all
presented for the first time at the IAA.

Three of the themes – called Cannes, Portofino and Valencia – have a more luxuryorientated
character, while the other three – named Le Mans, Monaco and Monza –
have an overtly sporting theme and feature a dramatic new body kit which is tailored
to accentuate the sophisticated style of the 2010 Range Rover Sport. The striking
body kit is also available as a separate option.

Check out this head to head of the 4.2L SC Sport & the new 5.0L SC Sport