Monday 12th February 2018

The 999 Steps: Time for Coffee?

JLR gives us its rather different take on climbing the stairway to heaven...

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Jaguar Land Rover has worked hard over the past few years to establish itself as the foremost manufacturer of over the top publicity stunts. From daring highwire drives above the Thames, to loopy 80th birthday antics, it seems like they've done it all.

New cars call for new campaigns, however, so having already established that the Range Rover Sport is good at going down things, JLR has headed to China to publicize the launch of a new plug-in hybrid variant, and take on one of its Chelsea tractor's most feared adversaries, steps.

The new SUV, unveiled at the end of last year, has a 300hp four-cylinder petrol engine paired with a 116hp electric motor, which Land Rover hopes will improve emissions and running costs without detracting from performance. An electric only range of up to 30 miles with official combined fuel economy of 101mpg ought to do the trick, while 0-62 takes 6.3 seconds - half a second less than a diesel HSE but two seconds more than an SVR.

As you'll see in the video below, having first negotiated the famous 99 turns of the Tianmen mountain's Dragon Road, the RRS PHEV proceeded to ascend the 45-degree, 999-step staircase that leads to the famous rock arch known as Heaven's Gate. Obligatory PR stunt scepticism aside, the speed that the big 'Rover takes those stairs at is genuinely rather impressive!

 

[Demonix]

Chinese rangey driver got lost on the way to the Tiananmen Waitrose?

[Triumph Man]

Wouldn't surprise me, they can't drive for st in China

[R8Steve]

I'd be interested in seeing him reversing it back down.

[22daz]

The in car angle looks very steep indeed and it's accurate too looking at the vertical posts passing by the drivers window.
I can't help being disappointed seeing the safety cables at the end though. But impressive nonetheless.

[akirk]

R8Steve said:

I'd be interested in seeing him reversing it back down.

to be fair, he did reverse up a bit of it

impressive - though it is interesting to compare it against the XC90 which is I think 5.5 0-60, surprised that JLR haven't gone for faster with the hybrid - though maybe they didn't want to undercut the SVR

[Pintofbest]

22daz said:

The in car angle looks very steep indeed and it's accurate too looking at the vertical posts passing by the drivers window.
I can't help being disappointed seeing the safety cables at the end though. But impressive nonetheless.

They were there in case the car rolled and destroyed the steps/injured the driver - it wan't pulled up!

[anonymous-user]

Not sure why, but it feels a bit crass (this stunt) to me? Bit like doing donuts outside westminster abbey no??

[NJJ]

Impressive stuff and would love to visit! I think JLR may have dubbed some far more exotic engine notes over the film though, it has a 4-cylinder not a V8.

[simon-tigjs]

Are the cables so when it breaks down they can shift it. Should be a factory option

[MrBarry123]

simon-tigjs said:

Are the cables so when it breaks down they can shift it. Should be a factory option

[paul-o5f9h]

Ho Ping had a tough challenge but it worked and its british... Mind you how many yummy mummies will try this on the school run short cutting through a pedestrian area !!

[hornmeister]

So wish he'd forgotten to put the handbrake on at the end.

Impressive never the less.

[simon-tigjs]

If my partners navigation is anything to go buy, you never know where you might end up.

[RumbleOfThunder]

That's properly cagey, big balls indeed for doing that.

[SpeckledJim]

Great video.

Nicely put together with a good sense of humour. Well done LR.

[oldtimer2]

RumbleOfThunder said:

That's properly cagey, big balls indeed for doing that.

....and scary too. At that angle all he would have seen going up the steps was the sky or the mist above.

[Dr G]

Not bad for a practice run.

Now do the same on a smooth surface covered in compacted snow

[RacerMike]

Find it particularly odd that they seem to have dubbed the sound of a V8 over what’s is a 4cyl car....

[JuniorD]

By the time the car arrived in the country and got to the top of the stairs, the Chinese had probably knocked out a copy of their own.

[whp1983]

101mpg?!.... behave. Based on the i8s preposterous to real ratio I guess at 25-30 at best on the road, still keeps everyone happy.