The Tan color choice for the Autobiography Range Rovers was one I was actually thinking of getting, shown here on the Build and Price page  – it looks good – a tan that’s more brown then orange.

Here are some other official shots – starting to look more orange:

And finally some real life shots posted over at RangeRovers.net:

And I realize the lighting or camera may not have been perfect, but please make sure if you’re considering this color combo, you see it in person before ordering.  And if you were hoping for an orange interior choice – then go for it!

I know I already posted about this back in April:

Permanent Link to “We wish our friends the best of luck with their new vehicle”

But now that the car is officially out there, I just had to reference it again – Ford couldn’t be bothered to even use their own icons for their Terrain Management System:

The only difference I see is the lack of “Grass” on the Grass/Gravel/Snow setting for the Explorer, but Ford does still call the mode Grass/Gravel/Snow.  And I’m sure their Rock Crawl icon would have been the same if they could do it.

It’s all but official now, the NAS market(USA) will not be seeing the Rotary Transmission Selector nor will we be seeing the Touch screen Rear Screen Entertainment(RSE) controller for 2011.

They are saying that the Rotary Selector was designed for use with the 8-speed transmission found in the new TDV8 models.  And I’m assuming we won’t see the Paddle-Shift either.  The thing I don’t get with this decision is that the US spec Range Rovers use the ZF 6HP28 transmission.  That’s the same transmission used in the Jaguar XF – the first vehicle to use the Rotary Selector system in the Jaguar/Land Rover family.  So there’s obvious compatibility at the system level and on top of that, they went to the trouble to engineer & implement the rotary selector but then not utilize it across the range.  This feels to me like they still have a surplus of BMW-era shift levers and want to run down the supply.

There was no specific reason given for the RSE Touch screen to not be sold here – my guess is that it’s just too cool, therefore the US doesn’t get it.

So instead of this:

We’re still stuck with this (btw – there are more buttons on the back):

Prior to Land Rover un-officially confirming this – there were signs that we weren’t going to see it.  A great ibis1 post from the RangeRovers.net web board of the official 2011 Range Rover Product & Pricing Summary, did not mention the shift paddles, rotary selector or touch screen controller for the RSE.  The official Land Rover US Media site had no specific text or pictures of the 2011 Range Rover beyond one single exterior shot and the basic press release.

I know we’re getting to the end of the line for the L322 MKIII Range Rover – and in the past these last year or so models have gotten some big changes, more bells & whistles as standard (see the ‘95 Classic, 2001 HSE 4.6), so I had though we were going to see this here.

I know this is a few weeks old, but here are the charts – again, nice to see Land Rover at the top of a JDP survery and taking 1st & 3rd spots in the Large Premium Crossover/SUV section!

This official PR photo of the interior of the 2011 Range Rover never looked quite right to me – specifically the new transmission control area – the shadows didn’t seem correct, the coloring looked almost like is was drawn rather then being a photograph of a real item.  The right side looks like it’s not continuously even with the wood trim – wider towards the front of the vehicle, nearer towards the back.  And we can clearly seem it’s the same height and butts up with the vertical section at the back.  The top of the rotary selector looks like it was painted in.

In this frame from the PR video – there is a much different look.  Much more shallow and then it kicks up at the end –  and the top of the rotary selector is metallic now.

So it appears those first official 2011 interior photos were either using pre-production designs or were just copied & pasted to create the new look.  While in the picture below, there’s a more refined design.  I wonder what the lead time is on taking these photos – why couldn’t they wait until the interior was locked and get actual photos?

So a Molotov cocktail has set your engine on fire – no need to worry – flip up the safety cover on the Fire Suppressant System button and Press!