Hi guys, first time poster here, I posted this Q in the North America section, but I think this is a more suitable area....please bear with me as I am a Range Rover newbie but serious prospective buyer!
I live in California and recently test drove a Range Rover Sport to replace my ancient '95 4runner...fell in love with it immediately. However, it is priced a lil higher than I wished for. As a result, I went into research mode and looked for any ways to purchase a Sport at lower costs.
That's when I stumbled upon the land-rover-deals.com and I noticed that they were selling a "2007 Range Rover Sport 2.7 TDV6 S" that was not offered in the US. Am I able to import this car to the US?
I tried posting in other Land Rover forums, and someone replied saying that this was not possible.
I would definitely look into purchasing such a vehicle considering the costs, gas savings, and customize-ability.
Please help me out a I am REALLY hoping to purchase this car!




BTW, what does "chipped" mean?

Especially here in California, I very much doubt you would be able to successfully register such an engine with your friendly, local DMV. Even manufacturers producing the cleanest diesel engines, such as MB and its brand new Bluetec, still cannot sell them in California, "thanks" to our strict emission requlations (and poor quality diesel fuels sold around here...) Besides, what would you do if you ever have a mechanical breakdown? No LR dealer here has even seen a diesel engine in recent memory, let alone carrying parts for it. Don't bother, look for a low mileage 4.4 liter HSE on the used market instead. The first end-of-lease Sports should start becoming available now, it has been nearly 2 years since the Sport's introduction.

"Chipped" means the engine management software has been "modified" by aftermarket companies to substantially increase horsepower and torque with little or no penalty at the pump, something that works real well with turbodiesel engines such as the Sport's V6 and V8 currently available everywhere but North America. Lucky them! There is talk of a diesel powered Land Rover making its way here in a couple of years or so, but I doubt it's going to happen until/unless it is good enough to comply with California emissions. 

didnt they make the 4.4 in 'S' spec?

I know they did it in at least 'SE' so you could probably get one of those.

In the US they only sell HSEs, although some test mules and dealer demos 4.4 liter S/SE were indeed imported when the Sport was first launched in 2005. But they must be pretty beat up by now.