Hello all,

First post here but long time lurker, this forum has been a massive help in all things Range Rover!

So as the title says, I currently have a MY2018 Vogue SE with the 5L V8 that has been in the family since new and only has a little over 50K kms on it so far, I’ve been toying with the idea of perhaps swapping it out for a later model to get the updates LR put out with the ACC, specifically the steering assist and if I could find one with the full fledged Meridian sound system and a locking rear diff that would be perfect. Does anyone have any feedback on how useful the steering assist feature is and how much of an upgrade the full meridian system is over the 825W one?

Our RR has basically every box ticked except the rear massage seats, locking rear diff, Pixel LED’s and the full meridian sound system, but has a colour combo I have yet to see here, its Byron Blue with the Vintage Tan interior and to me is one of the best combos I’ve come across except for a pre facelift Green over Tan. I am in two minds about doing the swap just because every RR I’ve seen with the options I want has a lot more KM’s on it and with ours we are right on top of service having service intervals of ~7 Kto 10K kms and is still under warranty from the dealer, with that being said I must say this RR has been pretty much flawless since we got it and other than needing a good detail which it will get before summer starts, so am I taking a gamble by considering trading a good thing for a total unknown? But the addition of steering assist in the MY2019 onwards has tempted me because I use the ACC function every day and maybe I am under an incorrect impression of how it functions, especially since where I live has a ton of roadworks and the car finds it difficult to trace lanes as they can be non existent a lot of the time!


Would appreciate any feedback you have, some pics of my FFRR below

Thanks!

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I've got no experience of the steering assist on an L405. I think the feature that you're referring to is Land Keep Assist "LKA".

My folks have an IPace with the lane keep assist on it and it's been turned on once to try it and turned straight back off again. It's never been used again in the 3 years they've owned it. It can be quite pronounced in trying to keep you in your lane and not in a good way.

My Dad likened it to having a flat tyre.

It's certainly not a feature I'd be changing an already great car for  2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Thanks for getting back to me! I agree with you on the lane keep assist, it can get a little overzealous at times but it does do the job 90% of the time for me, not that it has a very hard job to do as this thing drives arrow straight and tracks really well. I usually keep LKA on when I drive but I do have the “ blind spot assist “ turned to warning mode only, I’ve found that particular feature to be over cautious and the few times I’ve tried using it I’ve always found it to be extremely aggressive with its steering inputs.

The feature I was talking about is the “ steering assist “, I’ve taken the above blurb from the LR MY2021 order guide. It seems like it was only available with the full driver assist pack or as a standalone option with the ACC option preselected. I haven’t found too many videos on YouTube demonstrating it other than a few quick reviews who just talked about it.

I’ve recently upgraded from a 2017 VSE to a 2021 SVAB Dynamic, this seems to have all the options you’ve listed as standard plus a lot more - I’ve only had it a few days so still learning the features.

So far in my limited experience I would say the steering assist feature within the ACC is a bit of a gimmick, I’m old school so don’t trust it! It works ok on roads with good lane markings either side (motorways, A roads) keeping the car central in the lane. Roads without good lane markings - forget it!
If you’re doing motorway miles it’s worth having, otherwise it’s not really beneficial.

If you want to upgrade from your lovely looking RR, do look at the SVAB Dynamic, just about everything is standard with them, fabulous car! 2021 SVAutobiography Dynamic Black

Previous Land Rovers
2017 L405 TDV8 SE
2011 L494 Sport SDV6 HSE
2013 L316 Defender 90HT
2005 L332 Range Rover 4.4 SE
2002 P38 Range Rover 4.0 Westminster
1988 Range Rover Classic 3.5 V8
1985 Range Rover Classic 3.5 V8

Don’t bother changing for the Steering Assist - it’s horrible and has been turned off on mine.

The pixel headlights and locking rear diff is very much worthwhile changes, plus you get the massage seats.

Your interior is a lovely colour and personally as yours is relatively low mileage I would keep it unless one is available with low miles and an interior you like (or there are other issues with your existing vehicle) 2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

FWIW I seriously looked at a 2021 RR and even though it has lots of things I would like (mines a 2013) I said no. They are both L405s and therefore to the uninitiated the same and certainly not worth the wedge it would have cost me to swap. I have spent some of the cash sorting out a few jobs on mine and had it detailed so it looks great. I also don't have Waze and I would like it so a trip down to RRW and Grantham will be sorting that out soon. I'm still quids in and nobody really knows because my car has the timeless plate it came with. Your existing car looks great and to those of us in the know it has the later rear lights - I don't know what ACC is so I guess mine doesn't have it. Massage rear seats no use to me as I don't let anyone else drive it.


 Geoff

Peter d wrote:

I’ve recently upgraded from a 2017 VSE to a 2021 SVAB Dynamic, this seems to have all the options you’ve listed as standard plus a lot more - I’ve only had it a few days so still learning the features.

So far in my limited experience I would say the steering assist feature within the ACC is a bit of a gimmick, I’m old school so don’t trust it! It works ok on roads with good lane markings either side (motorways, A roads) keeping the car central in the lane. Roads without good lane markings - forget it!
If you’re doing motorway miles it’s worth having, otherwise it’s not really beneficial.

If you want to upgrade from your lovely looking RR, do look at the SVAB Dynamic, just about everything is standard with them, fabulous car!

Thanks for the info! I adore the SV A, especially the quilted seats it comes with and the little touches of knurling all over.

But I have the same issue with the SV A that I have with the Autobiography which is the seats don't fold as flat as they do in the Vogue without the executive/massage seats, the pitch they rest at once folded is noticeably higher compared to the ' normal ' rear seats (if you can call seats which are heated & cooled normal ). The RR is primarily our dog hauler and I need all the space I can get for our 2 and soon to be 3 shepherds. In all honesty the rear seats in this RR have spent more time folded then they've been upright and no human has ever been in the back of this thing yet otherwise I would gladly jump on the SV A, would never say no to more power but the dogs come first.

I feel the same way you do about some of the new tech in cars, my fiancé's S class virtually does most of the driving itself and whenever I drive it I can't help but feel that the tech in it is a bit of a double edged sword, one one hand it can make commuting ' easier ' and less stressful, but on the other hand I feel that it can create an environment of over reliance and complacency which can in a way dumbs down drivers. I think I'll be abandoning the idea of swapping it out and just keep this RR around, its been a great vehicle and has never let us down so maybe its best not to give away a mechanically good thing for some tech. ‘18 Vogue SE Supercharged 🇦🇪
‘16 Sport SVR (gone) 🇦🇪
‘11 Sport Supercharged 🇨🇦
‘04 Discovery 2 SE7 🇨🇦

Vogue wrote:

Don’t bother changing for the Steering Assist - it’s horrible and has been turned off on mine.

The pixel headlights and locking rear diff is very much worthwhile changes, plus you get the massage seats.

Your interior is a lovely colour and personally as yours is relatively low mileage I would keep it unless one is available with low miles and an interior you like (or there are other issues with your existing vehicle)

Thanks! There seems to be a general consensus on how good (or not) steering assist is, its convinced me that upgrading for that one particular feature isn't really worth it.

Our RR goes in for service next week and I plan on speaking to the service advisor about the viability of getting the Pixel lights installed from them while keeping my warranty intact, I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige as long as they can hand me a bill at the end of the day . I highly doubt I can do anything about the locking rear diff for the time being but its not like this thing is being taken off-roading in any serious manner, the most off-road action it sees are trips to the beach and what passes for ' natural lakes ' here, both of which I've done in sedans we've owned in the past. Just thought it was more of a nice to have feature more than anything

The mileage aspect is something that's at the forefront of my decision as well, personally I don't have any problems with higher mileage vehicles as long as the service history is accounted for, I still have a 2013 Cayenne GTS which we bought new but currently has over 350K kms on the clock and I have no intention of ever selling it because its the last of the NA V8's and the engine in that thing is an absolute gem, dealer serviced all its life every ~7k to 10k kms and it shows no signs of giving up but generally in my experience with vehicles in this part of the world, most are treated as white goods with questionable intervals and history which makes buying higher mileage vehicles here a massive hit or miss. Nearly every RR I've seen for sale here has followed a 13k dealer suggested service interval which I think is too long to begin with and that's without even venturing into those who imported these vehicles and have only used external workshops for their maintenance an followed their own servicing intervals and schedules ‘18 Vogue SE Supercharged 🇦🇪
‘16 Sport SVR (gone) 🇦🇪
‘11 Sport Supercharged 🇨🇦
‘04 Discovery 2 SE7 🇨🇦

supershuttle wrote:

FWIW I seriously looked at a 2021 RR and even though it has lots of things I would like (mines a 2013) I said no. They are both L405s and therefore to the uninitiated the same and certainly not worth the wedge it would have cost me to swap. I have spent some of the cash sorting out a few jobs on mine and had it detailed so it looks great. I also don't have Waze and I would like it so a trip down to RRW and Grantham will be sorting that out soon. I'm still quids in and nobody really knows because my car has the timeless plate it came with. Your existing car looks great and to those of us in the know it has the later rear lights - I don't know what ACC is so I guess mine doesn't have it. Massage rear seats no use to me as I don't let anyone else drive it.

I love love love those wheels, they'd be my #1 choice if I could get behind the idea of having 22 inch rims, but the massive curbs we have here actually have me wanting to down to a 20 inch rim once the time comes for new tires so that there's a little bit more tire/sidewall and my fiancé can worry less when she uses the RR

Yours looks great, the body coloured strakes with the silver ' hockey sticks ' works so well and the lack of swirls on the black plastic bits looks so much better, can't wait to send ours in for a proper detail.

ACC is adaptive/active cruise control, you'll know if you have it because you'll have two additional buttons on the right and left beside the set button on your cruise control panel, one will be a smaller line to decrease the follow distance and the other will be 2 larger lines which is used to increase the follow distance

If you can get CarPlay integrated into yours you should be able to run Waze no problem, its a massive help especially here where there are speed radars every few 100 meters and the live traffic on it is pretty accurate most of the time. Agree with you on the rear seats, our family is made up of just 2 adults and the rest are dogs and until they grow opposable thumbs they can't use any of the rear seat features  ‘18 Vogue SE Supercharged 🇦🇪
‘16 Sport SVR (gone) 🇦🇪
‘11 Sport Supercharged 🇨🇦
‘04 Discovery 2 SE7 🇨🇦

Just another thought re the Active Lane Assist / Steering Assist or whatever the official name for it is.

Today I had a conversation with a learned friend regarding a Volvo XC90 with a similar system - now I have absolutely no idea how the RR system works - but apparently with the Volvo system it applies the appropriate / corresponding rear brake to
Cause the car to re-direct itself.

Said system is causing excessive and uneven rear brake pad wear. I trust you can see where I am coming from with this… 2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

That's a good point.

From my understanding if you use the adaptive cruise control in the RR it will burn through the rear brakes faster, especially if you're using it in traffic as it prioritizes rear brake bias. I can attest to a noticeable difference in the way the RR pitches laterally when brakes are applied by the car via the ACC vs when I use my foot to brake.

In my ownership of this car I've had the rear brake pads changed twice and discs once vs only a pad change just one time in the front. Will have the service team measure the remaining pads when it goes in next and I'll keep an eye on how they wear.

That being said I must give it to LR for the optimization because it must have taken a ton of work and testing to get this system to work safely and reliably with just a tiny single piston sliding rear caliper. ‘18 Vogue SE Supercharged 🇦🇪
‘16 Sport SVR (gone) 🇦🇪
‘11 Sport Supercharged 🇨🇦
‘04 Discovery 2 SE7 🇨🇦