Try a GM key fob using these steps:
1) Blindly reach into your pocket (without needing to remove the fob from your pocket).
2) Click the remote start button twice. Immediately climate functions start at full force, seats and all.
Two steps, never removing the long distance fob.

With a Land Rover you have to:
1) Pull your phone out of your pocket.
2) Give your phone a dead stare to unlock or enter passcode.
3) Click on the the Remote app.
4) Upon Remote app opening, press the "Remote" title/icon at the bottom of the app
5) Press "accept" when it prompts on the notice screen
6) Bring phone back up to your face to unlock that portion of the app or manually enter your passcode.
7) Press and hold the climate button to start vehicle / HVAC (without seat heating/cooling).
8) Wait for the signal to be sent and a confirmation the vehicle started.
9) 20% of the time or so receive notice the vehicle was unable to be started so start over or give up.

Sorry, I just don't see how anyone can say the Remote app is not a hassle. It is certainly a pain in the butt compared to GM's system.

And while I think of it, with the Yukon (and other GM vehicles) you could do the following (and why JLR doesn't do this programming is beyond me):

-Exiting the you can leave it running and lock it with your fob keeping pets or groceries cool with the vehicle fully secured. One simple press of the lock button on the fob. The vehicle will time out and shut down after 20 minutes.

-Want to keep the Yukon running until it runs out of fuel? At start up, hold the start button until a message pops up saying the shut down timer is disabled. You can then exit the vehicle and lock it leaving it running using using the fob. It will idle until it is out of fuel should you be concerned a delay beyond 20 minutes might not work for your pup or ice cream.

 

Thanks for posting this. My Passport/Trailsport works 100% as expected as well. In the winter just use the fob to start it, press once, press and hold again for a few seconds and dead simple it fires up, the heated seats come on automatically along with the heated windshield portion which is down around the front wiper area, the heated steering wheel which was optionally fitted plug and play on mine for $800 when I took delivery incredibly (to me) actually turns on too automatically in this remote start scenario when the outdoor temperature meets criteria, side view mirrors heated as well, turn on automatically. Unlike my Defender all of these heated components just work together seamlessly, even though I paid extra for the winter package on the Defender, too much of this stuff didn't do what was expected behavior in this scenario. Like you mentioned, the phone is by comparison a hassle, it's kludgy to mess with it, besides that the app itself would log me out every few times I used it so I had to re-type my password to re-login to it, ugh. I was so disappointed in this Land Rover product honestly. It's a cool car and all but I personally wouldn't repurchase a new one at 50% off as my daily driver. Sounds crazy I know here's a 80k vehicle and we'll sell it to you new for 40k, hmm let me think about it and I'll get back to you, lol, but I'm not joking folks, ok you got me there for 50% off, I suppose I'd buy it and flip it.

Anyway I digress... the only scenario in which the phone start would be useful to me would be like if I'm walking around shopping and out of range with the fob but wanted to start the car long distance. Almost never is that the case, I'm almost always starting it while it's sitting in the driveway in the morning, I won't say never once am I out of range, like if I'm at the office upstairs it's nice to have the phone option from my cube but it's so rare I'd much rather have the phone as an option rather than as the only way to start it. I believe Honda has some sort of phone app, that might require a subscription and might possibly have an option to start it by phone but I've never even bother to look into that quite honestly.

 

Chief65, thanks for reminding me... the Yukon also fires off the heated steering wheel upon remote start if temps are low as well as the mirrors And as you noted on your Passport, the phone app is available if you are too far out of range.

Don't get me wrong, love our Rovers way better than the Yukon but it just makes me insane to think this lack of a great feature set is only programming time with what I assume would be no additional hardware required not including a fob button.

In fact, I imagine if JLR wanted they could push a software update to a range of previously built vehicles to start climate seats (hot or cold) and the steering wheel heat dependent on temperature conditions when using the lengthy app process..

 

It's funny how certain manufacturers will neglect a feature that a large percentage of other automakers have already implemented. My last few Porsche and Audi did not have this kind of remote start capability either. They have it on the phone app but not the fob. Also, Audi does not have a screen that will show you digital tire pressures. It only has a warning light if a tire gets low. This never made any sense to me.

Having to keep turning on seat cooling in Defender is definitely annoying. I think all of my other cars defaulted to previous seat heating/cooling settings at startup. Also I have to agree with a previous poster, coming from Porsche and Audi I really miss the thigh extenders on the bottom seat cushion. However I did not expect the seats in the Defender to be as adjustable or as good overall as Porsche/Audi sport seats. JLR is not a racing brand. Otherwise I find the Defender Windsor leather seats to be incredibly comfortable.

 

Funny you should mention Audi, I had a 2018 Q5 lease that was projecting to go over on mileage which was what I traded in for the 2022 Defender 90. The fact that my Q5 didn't have remote start was one of the main reasons why I was looking to make a break from Audi to Land Rover never giving a thought to the possibility that remote start could be poorly implemented.

The Q5 was a good daily driver and I'm actually an Audi fan (came up from a Q3 to the Q5) but they don't (or at that time didn't) offer remote start on anything. In this climate (Western NY) I absolutely hated that about Audi. Someone at the dealership once told me remote start was illegal in Germany and that's why Audi didn't even have it as an option. Whether that's true or not I don't know but I found it strange that if true then why does VW have remote start on the Tiguan etc? Plus if it's illegal there but not in North America then why don't the North American earmarked Audis still not offer it as an option?

Anyway... it's Audi strangeness. The ironic thing is where I'm moving soon they have an underground garage so remote start and all of these heated bits won't mean so much to me anymore this winter. I'm contemplating trading for a base model something that has nothing more than heated seats for a cheap payment but man this heated steering wheel is so hard to part with around here. The Passport/Trailsport delights me and I owe 4 years on it, I should probably just keep it and be house poor for awhile but we'll see, my mortgage on the new place will be big so, decisions...

 

We just hit the 1 year mark and 23,000 miles on our 130, and just finished a cross country trip pulling our Airstream. It’s been reliable and it’s a great luxury car, but we’re considering selling it for many of the reasons already mentioned.

We enjoy going off road. I don’t trust the Defender off road, and it seems clear JLR didn’t expect many customers to use it for that purpose - 100% marketing. We’ve done some very light off roading, but my butt puckers whenever we encounter an obstacle. Our Defender has 20” wheels, which is virtually unheard of for an off road vehicle. They can’t be swapped without an aftermarket mod to replace the rear brake calipers, and the “all terrain” tires from the factory are basic street tires. The front recovery point isn’t accessible without purchasing a $1,200 aluminum skid plate accessory. We already spent $92K and have the locking rear differential, so I’m hesitant to drop more coin on this rig.

The rear cargo area. WTF. The third row doesn’t fold flat, so all the gear wants to move around while on the road and fall out the back. There’s a shelf between the folded seats and the floor as well. It’s a totally half assed design. Our Jeep Wrangler had more usable cargo space than the 130.

The remote start through the app obviously won’t work without cell service, even around town it’s clunky, and the heated steering wheel, seats, and windshield don’t turn on automatically. My Jeep Wrangler had all these features.

We sold our 2006 100-Series Landcruiser to buy the Defender 130. The Landcruiser had FAR more utility. The Defender has modern tech and rides better because its unibody on air suspension, but it doesn’t drive $70,000 better than the 17 year old Landcruiser on hydraulic suspension. The Landcruiser would also raise and lower the suspension with the flick of a switch, and had 18” wheels on 34” KO2 tires.

Looking at the Lexus GX550 Overtrail Plus now. I feel that the Lexus product is specially targeted towards people who intend to go off road, making sure to hit all the notes the new Defender missed. The GX has 18” wheels on 33” tires, the recovery points are accessible, standard rear locker, a flat cargo floor, and it has a built-in trailer brake controller. It has actual utility the Defender lacks, and most likely won’t trash $2,000 worth of wheels when it sees anything more than a gravel road.