Range Rover catches up in the sprint towards connectivity

It’s safe to say that anyone who buys the new Range Rover Sport SDV8 is someone who wants it all – a high-wide-and-handsome off-roader that can sprint away from the traffic lights faster than most sporting hot-hatchbacks.

A lusty 4.4-litre twin turbo diesel V8 pumps out 339hp and 740Nm of torque to fire this 2.5 tonne beast through the 60mph barrier in just 6.5 seconds on the way to a top speed of 140mph. Yet it has just about every dirt-track driving mode you could image to take on serious backwoods work and even boasts an optional wade monitor to let the driver know just how deep he or she can go when crossing a raging flood.

And it’s precisely this type of go anywhere lifestyle focused craft that attracts the attention of the want-it-all brigade. Increasingly with cars, part of that ambition also includes as little down-time from their social media ‘responsibilities’ as they can get away with.

So, beyond the Range Rover Sport’s obvious engineering excellence and luxurious passenger appointments, it also boasts Land Rover’s latest InControl Touch connectivity suite as the carmaker proves that being first to market may not always be the best option to engage users with new technology. Only its new baby sibling, the Range Rover Evoque Convertible with the InControl Touch Pro package boasts a more comprehensive range of lifestyle solutions on the move.

That said, the Sport’s system allows Wi-Fi Hotspot using a powerful antenna to connect to the internet in a bid to provide the strongest possible mobile data signal which can hook up to eight mobile devices to browse the web and stream content.

There’s also the optional InControl Remote Premium suite that provides updated information on the vehicle’s status and enables remote interaction via smartphones. Available on most Android and Apple iOS platforms, this upgraded service allows the user to lock and unlock doors, remotely preheat or precool the car using the climate control function where the engine can be fired if necessary and a beep-and-flash feature to help identify the vehicle’s location when parked among a row of cars.

Land Rover InControl Apps technology allows smartphone apps to be controlled through the vehicle’s touchscreen, including contacts, calendar and music player plus third-party apps offering a vast range of services. InControl Apps connects to the smartphone via the USB port and can be downloaded and used via the vehicle’s touchscreen.

And it all works easily and intuitively without the need to pore over lengthy user manuals or having to wade through the help pages on manufacturer’s website.

Lace on top of all this advanced driver assist technology including some cool optional extras such as surround camera system with towing assist, wade sensing with blind spot monitoring for closing vehicles, park assist featuring parallel park, parking Exit, perpendicular parking and 360-degree park distance control.

So, while this traffic-light sprinter may have been a bit slow out of the blocks in terms of connectivity until now, the slickness of the existing package is a near perfect complement to a vehicle that makes just about any journey a whole lot less challenging than it would be in a lesser car.