After a complete decade, the Range Rover has arrived on the global pedestal in its whole new avatar as the fifth-generation version. And like its predecessors, this new flagship SUV from Land Rover is a game-changer setting new benchmarks among the top-of-the-line luxury SUVs with the much-needed and much-deserved ‘all-new’ appeal.
Step into the back seat of the Range Rover, and there is no denying how it rewrites the definition of a luxurious interior for rear seat occupants. The new Range Rover claims to have one of the most opulent and high-tech cabins you might experience in the current times. Here, we are taking a closer look at the rear seats of the SUV’s best avatar – the four-seater 2023 Range Rover SV LWB.
The Rear Seat Center Console Packs In A Lot More Than You Can Imagine
The four-seater Range Rover SV LWB costs around $20,000 more than its five-seater counterpart, with the extra money getting you a big partition between the rear two seats finished in exquisite leather. The star highlight of this partition is a full-TFT touchscreen at its rear-most part. Using this screen, you can control settings for seats, climate, ambient lighting, sunroof blind, rear screens, and a refrigerator.
With this screen, you can close and open the housing for two cup holders placed just ahead of it by pressing the ‘cup’ icon on the screen's bottom-left. On pressing the ‘table’ icon on the bottom-right of the screen, a folded table pops up from the panel ahead of the cup holders. Once it pops out, you can slide the table and flip open the pieces hinged to it.
The touchscreen also has a ‘fridge’ icon in its second row of icons, using which you can access the closed refrigerator between the backrest of your rear seats. On pressing the ‘fridge’ icon and tapping the ‘open’ button, the shutter for the fridge opens up, allowing access to it without a traditional handle in place. On pressing the ‘blinds’ icon, the screen shows the current position of the sunroof blind in the form of a slider icon. You can use that slider to open or close the sunroof blind or even fix it to the desired position in its to-and-fro motion.
The Touchscreen Panel In The Rear Seats Partition Controls Your Rear Seats Wholly
The rear-seat passengers are provided with ‘conventional’ buttons on the inner door panels for electronic adjustments for both the rear seats. However, the 2023 Range Rover SV LWB has upped the game by offering the same functions (and a lot more!) controllable through the touchscreen panel in the rear seat partition.
On pressing the 'seats' icon on the touchscreen, the screen shows the pictorial representation of the rear seats – both left and right. Select one of the two individual seats, and then you can operate multiple functions like seat heating and cooling, massaging, and positioning adjustments.
The graphics for the seats have dots over all the parts of the seats, including headrest, lumbar support, back support, incline support, and footrests. Press any of these dots and change the settings for the functions individually for that specific part. After selecting the footrest graphic, if you tap on ‘deploy’, you will see that the front seat ahead slides forth and deploy the footrest folded in its back.
And it doesn’t end here. After the front seat completes its adjustment, the entertainment screen attached to its back also sets its angle according to the front seat position, thus allowing a comfortable screen viewing experience. You can also turn on or off both the screens individually or together through multiple functions for the screens you get after tapping on the 'rear screens' icon. This whole function offers you a lounge-like seating experience like never before in a passenger vehicle.
A Whole New Experience Of 'Enlightening' And 'Refreshing' The Cabin
The touchscreen in the center tunnel between the rear seats also comes with a 'lighting' tab. On pressing it, you get infinite color options for ambient lighting. It also provides the options for changing the intensity and animations of lighting, which can alter depending on the driving behavior. The ‘lighting’ tab also has a ‘task lighting’ tab as its sub-control, using which you can change the color (warm or cool) and intensity (high or low) of both left and right side cabin lights.
Lastly, the ‘climate’ tab on this center screen allows you to control various functions of the four-zone automatic climate control. On pressing the ‘climate’ tab, you get a host of functions like fan speed, temperature, vent positioning, and even an air quality improver.
More Craziness Beyond The Screens
The rear-seat occupants gain additional features related to windows on the door panels. Both the rear door panels have a set of switches, which allows them to control the sun shades and windows of their side and the other side window. The switch panel here also has haptic buttons for task lighting, which is controllable through the screen in the center partition.
The 2023 Range Rover SV LWB continues to retain the split tailgate functionality of the SUV, though in a modern way. The main tailgate opens up at the press of a button, and when it opens, you can see a lower split tailgate. You can fold it down to create a flat bench on which you can sit, party or hangout out at the back of your Range Rover.
Not only this, Land Rover has adorned this boot compartment with a unique ‘tailgate seat’, which can be formed by pulling up a loop inside the cargo area. Doing this will pop up a seat back, which acts as a backrest for the tailgate bench. You can make it more comfortable using the cushions beneath the tailgate bench.