Thanks for the info. I was so surprised when I looked and the key and asked if this model did not include remote start. He said, LR doesn't do that. I was shocked that my 30K car from 2014 had this feature. I think I would probably use the app for sure. Any heating or cooling option would be welcomed for me. I was hoping that the wheel and seats would come on in pre-conditing but that's fine.

 

Is there any word from Land Rover about adding the heated seat/steering wheel into the programming? Still blows my mind that's not an option considering the price of these vehicles.

Also, locking remote start behind a paywall app and taking it off the key fob is such a FU to customers. They are pre-testing the heated seat monthly subscription

 

I doubt they'll do it. Maybe if enough people complain they will, but JLR isn't known for always listening to its customers. Really unfortunate, especially when nearly every other automaker has it.

The JLR Remote app is free for the first four years and then it is $70 a year for the subscription, which includes remote start/cabin preconditioning, remote lock/unlock, remote beep & flash, recorded journeys, and if you have a Discovery with the Remote Intelligent Seat package, you can raise and lower the second and third row seats. Nearly every automaker has abandoned the idea of subscriptions for features after backlash from consumers. Most people don't mind paying for things like streaming services or borderline obsolete features, but for things like heated seats and driver assist tech, people get outraged. BMW tried it out and it was so bad, them and nearly everyone else gave up on the idea.

 

I was invited on to a JLR product advisory board after I purchased a Range Rover LWB last year, so I agreed. Certainly this offer is made to most owners I'd assume and there are boards for Defender and Discovery as well. It is really not much more than you get occasional emails asking you to complete a short survey on your feelings on vanity mirrors (I'm not kidding), should there be spare tires, what accessories do you use or long for, etc.

One of the topics very recently within the Range Rover group was remote start and JLR selected a small number of people from participants for interviews on Zoom as to their experience with the JLR system and competing brands. Unfortunately, I was not selected but I previously provided written comments to them stating they could so easily write the software code that would closely mirror that of General Motors vehicles like Escalade, Yukon Denali, and others. It would be a very simple "IF" statement within their coding: "IF" upon remote start the outside temperature is above "X" and the vehicle's cabin temp is above "Y", then Pivi activates the ventilated seats.

If outside temp is below "P" and internal cabin temp is below "Q" then Pivi activates heated seats and steering wheel. Within Pivi settings you could enable or disable the application of seat conditioning. I don't see any reason how this would require more than a limited number of hours of coding and it could be included in an OTA software update to a wide range of vehicles as an added benefit. Additionally, GM's system also can be set to turn on seat heating / cooling automatically with normal starting of the vehicle.

I'm fairly certain JLR is aware of the ability to do this programming but they need more feedback asking for it in order to prioritize the work, and certainly that feedback should encourage them to push the update out to existing vehicles already in service. In my written comments I also suggested streamlining the remote start process in the app as too may clicks must be made to make it happen, sadly again the GM app for this is superior. My other comments included the high failure rate of the vehicle starting when using the phone or watch apps.

 

Interesting @PNW Rover . I am fine with pressing the buttons on my Defender really, but if I had a $150K full fat Range Rover which is supposed to have a zero compromise approach to luxury because that is why I would have bought it, I would expect my seat to be toasty and the wheel to be heated when I got in the car .. no if's and's or but's about it.

<<rant on>> It's really excuses exchmooses from JLR. A Subaru Outback automatically turns on the heated seats to prepare for departure when the vehicle is remote started via the Subaru app. And sometimes I wonder if the JLR executives drive their products or if they are all wafting about in Bentleys and Rolls Royces... both of which are British luxury brands and both of which do turn on the heated seats when remote started. <<rant off>>

 

Remote Start and Heating: My biggest pet peeve is I cannot turn on the heated WINDSCREEN remotely so it can defrost. While setting the internal temp high enough helps with that it would certainly be more convenient if I could use the function I paid for remotely. Adding check boxes for what I'd like: windscreen - heated seats - heated steering would all be welcome additions.

As for cooling on remote start: I have used that a few times and it is a welcome addition in Colorado summers but typically forget to use it for some weird reason. I definitely remember to use it in places like Kansas City (Missouri or Kansas) where I love the remote cooling even more than remote heating in CO winters.

 

Agreed. I'd rather have my heated windshield activated than my heated seats.

 

I just got off the phone with JLR customer support to suggest this update/recommended product change.
The representative was exceptionally kind.

That being said, their answer is NO, it is a safety issue to have the seat heaters and heated steering wheel operate with the vehicle unoccupied.
It is for the "owners safety" according to Land Rover and is a designed feature that will not be changed.

Disappointing, seems strange given that everyone else in the industry seems to be able to heat seat during a remote start.
So much for an OTA update on this one, sounds like a sad excuse to me.

 

Exactly right @nashvegas, one expects this feature on a Range Rover in today's world and to your point about Subaru offering such makes it ridiculous for JLR to omit this very easy to deliver feature. After my response earlier today, I was inspired by @CincyRovers signature so I added my past vehicle fleet to mine. My history shows I'm used to basic Land Rover feature offerings going back decades, with LR always being a little behind some competitors. Never would I expect a 1997 Defender 90 to have automated heated seats, maybe not even our 2016 Range Rover. It was the purchase of a 2022 Yukon Denali (not listed) that really turned my head showing a domestic SUV could deliver a welcome feature with a basic bit of software coding. I believe the L663 and L420 are running the same software with slight variations to model and trim, so it would be easy to provide it to the full line-up.

As far as the heated windshield turning on with remote start... the GM remote start climatizing under the correct perameters also triggered on the electric rear window defogger as well as ramp up fan speed to the windshield defroster blower. Once again for those at JLR: all the sensors, relays, and bits are there I'd imagine, so easy JLR could have a summer intern write the code and then have staff validate it before pushing it out to everyone in an OTA update - a full feature set with heated windshields, rear defrosters, seats, and steering wheels with the ability to disable parts of it through Pivi.

 

Interesting info @MacDuff . On that, with the GM set up the heated seats trigger on at the medium setting. I wonder if that is to prevent any sort of overheating to someone or something sitting on a seat. Regardless, if it was such a huge safety concern I doubt GM would be cranking out those vehicles equipped with it by the hundreds of thousands.

I vote we all clobber JLR with product requests and feedback on this.