By: IOL Motoring Staff
Land Rover's Range Rover Sport will be tackling the 2017 model year with a less sporty but more frugal diesel engine option as well as new technologies, including driver-assistance gadgets and an updated infotainment system.
Visual changes have been kept to a minimum, but include 19 new premium colour options via the Special Vehicle Operations division, and there's a new 'Bright Pack' for Dynamic models, featuring Atlas Silver grille and bonnet mesh.
Advanced new diesel
The additional engine option is none other than Jaguar Land Rover's brand new 2-litre four-cylinder 'Ingenium' turbodiesel. Gaining an extra turbo, it's the most powerful version of that motor to date, with 177kW and 500Nm on tap and it replaces the previous 3-litre TDV6 (183kW/600Nm) at the bottom of the oil burning range. It's also the most economical Sport to date, with Land Rover claiming 6.2 litres per 100km on the combined cycle, albeit under unrealistic laboratory conditions.
Help-me-out gizmos
Those who battle to manoeuvre trailers will appreciate the first-in-class Advanced Tow Assist feature, which can automatically steer the vehicle in the correct way once the driver has indicated the desired direction through the car's rotary controller and central screen. It'll even warn of an impending jack-knife situation.
Another new little helper is the Intelligent Speed Limiter that uses the traffic sign recognition system to automatically keep you on the right side of the law.
Not forgetting about those that might take this expensive machine off the beaten track, the 2017 Sport gains a feature called Low Traction Launch, which aids pull-off on slippery surfaces.
And there's more, in the form of a new All-Terrain Information Centre, which uses the screen to display handy info that you might need when negotiating tricky terrain, such as the direction of the front wheels.
New touch-screen, better connected
Inside there's a new and enlarged 25cm touch-screen, featuring tablet-style 'pinch and zoom' orientation.
It also goes big on apps, not only by mirroring some smart-phone features, such as calendars and music, on the touch-screen but also by allowing owners to check vehicle data, adjust climate settings or lock/unlock the vehicle remotely from their phone. Certain new apps can also be downloaded directly to the vehicle's infotainment system through the car's WiFi.