Land Rover India has introduced its flagship 2018 Range Rover and its smaller sibling, the 2018 Range Rover Sport in India. The two flagship SUVs are now available for purchase in India, and come with a bunch of new design changes on the outside and the interiors, as well as a host of new technologies onboard and a host of engine options. The flagship offerings from the stable of Range Rover have always been hailed as among the best in the field of off-roading vehicles, and both the cars suitably get a full suite of Land Rover’s latest technologies to amplify that claim.
Technologies
To begin with, both the 2018 Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are equipped with Land Rover Group’s latest Touch Pro Duo infotainment system. This dual-screen floating setup along the central console replaces the old button-and-touch setup of the InControl Touch infotainment system, and uses two large displays for showing all features, equipment and operations. The larger display at the top-centre of the dashboard is the primary infotainment display, and shows its proprietary firmware along with integrated navigation, as well as advanced driver assistance features like the 360-degree multi-directional cameras and Land Rover’s own terrain response systems.
The second screen below the primary display includes the ancillary operations for the air conditioner, seat adjustments and other such functions. The key new technological additions to the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport include the electronically-adjustable air suspension, which will allow customers to adjust the stiffness of the suspension, thereby customising the ride based on terrains. To handle this autonomously, Land Rover has equipped its latest generation of flagship SUVs with its new Terrain Response 2 system. This system, alongside providing seven user-selectable drive modes demarcated by terrain, also provides an ‘auto’ mode, which uses its array of onboard sensors and algorithms to gauge wheel pressure, movement, proximity from ground and traction to gauge the ideal driving mode autonomously.
This further suggests driving mode selections to drivers, including enabling low range and altering ride height, altering active torque vectoring and other such functions by itself. The Range Rover and Range Rover Sport can both be lowered by 50mm from standard and raised by 80mm in case of extreme off-roading situations. This system also optimises steering response, gearbox settings and other chassis settings automatically to refine the overall drive. Other ancillary technologies onboard these vehicles, apart from the standard features, also include a 10-LED ambient lighting system in combination with the panoramic glass sunroof.
Also read: 2017 Land Rover Discovery first impressions
Design
Design-wise, the all-new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport include redesigned front grilles, and a more smoothly integrated front headlamps with integrated LED DRLs. The overall front facade has a more monolithic design, but the overall design remains the same otherwise. Inside, the upholstery is composed of semi-aniline leather, and an optional ‘executive class’ rear seating option also includes a power-retractable centre console. The rear seats also include heated armrests, calf rests and footrests, and has one-touch front passenger seat away movement and extra recline. The new Range Rover models all get Meridian Sound-powered speakers, and include gesture-operated panoramic sunblind.
Powertrain
The 2018 Range Rover and Range Rover Sport both include options for petrol and diesel engines, and will be offered with ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic gearboxes in all. The engines include a 3.0-litre, V6 producing 335 bhp and a 5.0-litre, supercharged V8 producing 518 bhp in petrol options, while the diesel power mills include 3.0-litre, 255 bhp and 4.4-litre, 335 bhp options.
Pricing
For the 2018 Range Rover, prices begin at Rs. 1.74 crore for the diesel-powered Vogue variant, and go all the way up to Rs. 2.49 crore for the flagship, petrol-powered Range Rover Autobiography long wheelbase variant.
The 2018 Range Rover Sport begins at Rs. 99.47 lac with its base ‘S’ trim, and includes a total of five variants with both petrol and diesel options which are topped by the diesel-powered Autobiography Dynamic variant, priced at Rs. 1.75 crore.