Minor updates for 2015 Range Rover and Range Rover Sport

Land Rover has updated the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport with features that aim to improve performance, efficiency and off-road ability of its luxury 4x4s. Some testers might argue that the mud-plugging talents of the Range Rover didn’t need to be upgraded, but that hasn’t stopped Land Rover from trying. The introduction of All-Terrain Progress Control now means that when the driver is traversing difficult terrain, they can set a desired speed which the car will then maintain – a very clever sort of off-road cruise control. The system can either be started from rest or when on the move, without any need to touch the pedals. The system works between 1mph and 19mph, and constantly monitors traction and incline angles to keep steady progress on whatever rough ground the driver finds themselves on. The system only costs £175, and is available on any Range Rover or Sport variant except for the hybrid.

As well as the fancy off-road tech, the diesel engines have received several upgrades too. In the lower-powered TDV6, the same six-cylinder motor remains, but the old twin-turbo arrangement has been replaced with a single turbo. Combined with revised exhaust and fuel injection systems, fuel efficiency has improved by 8.5 per cent, yet power and torque outputs remain unchanged. In the SDV6 software changes increase power by 14hp to an amusing 302hp, and torque increases a generous 74lb/ft to 516lb/ft. That means that the SDV6 will hit 60mph from a standstill in 6.8 seconds – not bad for a car weighing 2,115kg! Similar fuel injector and exhaust revisions to those found in the TDV6 improve fuel economy to a claimed 40.7mpg, and CO2 emissions to 185g/km – a seven per cent improvement, enough to make a notable difference when taxing and fuelling your Rangey.

Both the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport now feature a head-up display (HUD), offered as a £1,000 option. A small image is projected onto the base of the windscreen, which can display speed, gear position, cruise-control settings, sat-nav instructions and traffic-sign information. The HUD can be can be customised by the driver to display any combination of that data. The last in a long list of small tweaks is a new paint colour. Don’t get too excited – it’s white, or Yulong White to be precise. Prices remains the same as before, so expect to pay £61,250 for the Sport and £73,950 for the standard model.