Range Rover offers a sneak preview of its Sport model
LAST week we announced Land Rover’s plans to re-introduce a fullsize Range Rover loaded with all sorts of hi-tech new features early next year. This week, we bring you news on the smaller Range Rover Sport, which as you may have guessed, comes with almost all of the exact same new features. But in case you missed it, we’ll recap.
The most significant update will happen inside, where JLR’s latest infotainment system - called InControl Touch Pro - replaces an out-dated and smaller touchscreen interface. The new version measures 10-inches wide (previously 8-inches) and brings with it a much cleaner dashboard fascia, as most of the hard keys used to navigate complex functionality have been incorporated into the digital display.
It’s the same system that’s available in Jaguar’s F-Pace in South Africa right now, which includes pinch, zoom and swipe menu screens, in-car wifi hotspots, smartphone app integration and internet-based features for weather reports, flight tracking and more. It also works hand-in-hand with a new InControl Remote Premium system, which basically allows owners to monitor fuel levels, pre-set climate control settings before a drive, and lock/unlock all from a dedicated phone app.
A fully digital instrument cluster (much like Audi’s virtual cockpit) will also replace the traditional needle-based gauges. Here functionality will include infotainment shortcuts and wide navigation map views.
An Advanced Tow Assist feature will make it easier for Sport owners to reverse their jetski or any other trailer, by allowing a pre-set path to be plotted on the touchscreen and then followed with automatic steering. Blind Spot Assist, which gently steers the vehicle back into its lane if it senses painted lines are being crossed unintentionally, will also be added.
A Low Traction Launch system will make pulloffs on slippery surfaces easier with help from the standard traction control, and an All Terrain Info Centre will display wading depth, wheel articulation and steering angles on the InControl Touch Pro’s 10-inch screen when in offroad mode.
Standard navigation systems will gain a Commute Mode, which learns frequently travelled journeys and automatically suggests traffic avoiding routes on the fly. The dedicated Range Rover app will also allow for destinations to be entered on a smartphone and then uploaded to the car once inside, and a doorto-door routing feature will offer the advantage of on-foot navigation after the vehicle has been parked.
As with the big-body Range Rover, the new Sport will come with 19 new paint colour choices, including pearlescent, satin and high-gloss finishes. A sporty new Dynamic model will get extra gloss-black exterior treatments and a red ‘Sport’ badge to match the painted brake callipers.
New Range Rover Sport pricing will be available closer to launch early next year, but expect the current range of engines (3-litre supercharged and turbodiesel V6s, a 4.4-litre turbodiesel V8, and 5-litre supercharged V8 in two outputs) to remain as is.