Land Rover Discovery Sport Reviews

Paul Gover road tests and reviews the Land Rover Discovery Sport SD4 SE with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Richard Blackburn road tests and reviews the Land Rover Discovery Sport with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Land Rover Discovery Sport is the first all-new model in over 10 years and takes a different direction in styling, but certainly not in substance.Many things have changed in the past decade, with sales of SUVs increasing at a huge rate worldwide. However, many buyers of SUVs are looking for a stylish station wagon and have little or no interest in using them as 4WDs. Land Rover is well aware of this and has intelligently come up with a vehicle that will appeal to those who want a good looking wagon but - and this is the really smart part - still want a genuine 4WD.By genuine 4WD we mean new Discovery Sport, is an all-terrain vehicle from the old school. This is no on-road hatchback with a different body and light-duty all-wheel-drive components. This is the real deal.Discovery Sport can traverse tough off-road places where even olde-fashioned rather-crude Land Rover Series 1 would struggle. Yet it will meet all the requirements of on-road comfort and handling the modern SUV buyer demands.This seeming impossible melding of on-road and off-road tasks shows the depth of expertise in the Land Rover team. Expertise built up designing subsequent Land Rover Defenders and Discoverys, as well as the King of hill Range Rover.A Range Rover can set you back as much as $248,000 – new Discovery Sport has a price list that begins at just $53,300, plus on-road costs.All-new Land Rover Discovery Sport is based on the ultra-stylish Evoque and shares some visible and many out of sight components with it - one reason for the low price.Discovery Sport is very versatileThe Sport is taller than the Evoque, particularly at the rear and has a squarer rump. There's not a sign of sleekness or excitement in the shape of the Sport, the best way of describing its lines is 'timeless'. As Land Rover Australia points out, those who want style can opt for the Evoque.Normally a five-seater, Discovery Sport can also be ordered with seven seats. The rear pair of seats is best suited to children, but adults are likely to find it more comfortable than anticipated.Naturally, there's not a lot of boot space when all seven seats are in use, but there's big volume when only five are being carried. Discovery Sport is very versatile, as the second row seat can slide back and forward by up to 160 mm to give you plenty of passenger / luggage options.Given the tough image of Disco the guys at Land Rover Australia expects the great majority of buyers to opt for turbo-diesel power, so offers 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesels with 110 or 140 kilowatts of power. Both can be specified with a six-speed manual or nine-speed automatic transmission.All Australian imports have four-wheel driveThere's also a 177kW four-cylinder petrol unit displacing 2.0 litres.All Australian imports have four-wheel drive as Land Rover Australia is well aware that's what serious buyers demand in the market downunder. Some countries do get a two-wheel drive version of Discovery. The Evoque can be ordered in 2WD or 4WD.

The versatile Discovery Sport typifies the brand's resurgence and, off-road, leaves the German rivals behindThe latest Land Rover is a discovery process for the brand and for buyers.The Discovery Sport is aimed at everything from top-end Subarus to BMWs, with a package that fits more in to the compact SUV than its rivals can match.That breadth of capability extends from its off-road ability to its seven-seat option and highlights the rapid improvements to the Land Rover line-up since it reinvented itself with the launch of the Range Rover Evoque.The Disco Sport is based on the Evoque platform but trades the Range Rover's fashion-led features for versatility.That will have Audi Q5, BMW X3 and top-end Asian SUV makers double-checking their features and honing prices in advance of the Disco sport's showroom touchdown in May.To enjoy a sporty drive, add $3470 to the list price of the Disco Sport.The active driveline that uses on-demand AWD and includes the very competent torque vectoring is a $1620 option; adaptive dynamics, which uses metal particles in the damper fluid to help keep the car flat through the corners and includes a "dynamic" drive mode is $1850.These are reserved for the high-output diesel and petrol engines.The vast majority of buyers will part with another $2500 for the nine-speed automatic. The auto is standard only on the $59,000 petrol model and that is sold only in Australia in base SE guise.It is the performance pick of the range, easily eclipsing its diesel stablemates in terms of sprint times.Not many will go for it — the take-up on the petrol is expected to be only slightly higher than those who want to shift gears for themselves.As Jaguar Land Rover spokesman Tim Krieger notes, "this is a diesel segment".Other options include a pair of third row seats at $1990 (air vents for those seats add another $1150), blind spot and reverse traffic monitor at $1150, metallic paint at $1300 — or if you must, "premium metallic" paint at $2600.The range starts at $53,300 for a manual TD4 turbo diesel. Stepping up to HSE trim level costs $57,900. Opt for the higher-output SD4 diesel and the price is $56,500 in base guise, HSE is $61,100 and ,top-spec HSE Luxury starts at $66,500.SE versions are fitted with a reversing camera, rear parking sensors, autonomous emergency braking, cruise control, leather upholstery, lane-departure warning, powered front seats, an eight-inch touchscreen with SD card satnav and the four-mode "Terrain Response" software that adapts steering, gearshifts, throttle response, the centre diff and braking.The HSE adds xenon headlamps, front parking sensors, 19-inch wheels, air-quality sensing climate control and ups the number and quality of the speakers.The SD4 HSE Luxury has higher-quality leather, Meridian 16-speaker audio with CD/DVD tray and digital audio and nine-spoke 19-inchers.First impressions: the Discovery Sport has more initial body roll than an X3 and whether in petrol or diesel is no match for the BMW rivals in a straight line.Then we hit the gravel and that tarmac tilt is forgiven and forgotten as the Land Rover serenely powers over corrugations that would have the BMW's occupants airborne.It is an extraordinarily capable backblocks blasterIt is an extraordinarily capable backblocks blaster and can confidently be driven at highway speeds on horrendous surfaces. The torque-vectoring can be felt helping the compact SUV to tighten its line around corners and the stability control unobtrusively kicks in when required. The electric power steering is direct and well-weighted and conveys reassuring feedback.Most buyers won't do more than travel down a well-graded gravel road but they won't miss out on a refined ride. Noise suppression is good and the nine-speed auto is slick heading up or down the cogs — using the paddle-shifters for manual changes isn't as convincing, with a moment of lag on shifts.And the nine cogs are effectively eight on road.Interior space is good in any seatFirst gear is reserved for low-speed off-road manoeuvring and, in combination with the hill descent control, will restrain the vehicle's pace down steep inclines. It works without fuss and can be overridden by using the accelerator if needed.Interior space is good in any seat, with the sliding rear pews ensuring plenty of legroom for 180cm travellers. Opt for the third row and there's room — just — to accommodate adults, providing the second row is fully forward. They're best left to smaller kids on longer journeys.Some of the interior plastics, such as the panels along the top of the doors and down the side of the centre tunnel, don't feel premium but there are soft-touch surfaces on the dash top and door armrests.One quirk of the model range is the fact the range-topping HSE Luxury makes do with the last generation infotainment set-up because the new version isn't yet compatible with the Meridian audio. It'll be fixed for the next model year but for now it's a case of second best for the best vehicle.

I never liked the Land Rover Freelander. It was too cramped, too costly against Japanese rivals, and not classy enough against new-age European SUVs.Then there was the time a Freelander 2 engine detonated on a beach in Morocco and I had to abandon ship as the car caught fire.Its replacement, the Land Rover Discovery Sport, is altogether different and altogether better.The car looks good, it's quiet and refinedIt will take a proper local drive to know exactly how much better, because the global press preview was held in the extreme landscape of Iceland in winter, which could not be more different from an Australian summer.But the car looks good, it's quiet and refined, there is much more space in the cabin — including fold-down occasional seats for a seven-place layout — and it's right on the money at $53,300 for the manual TD4 SE. It will be more like $60,000 once you get an auto and anything but white paint, and the top model is $69,000, but the sales team won't have to work very hard to top the 1200-a-year performance of the Freelander, even though it started at only $44,900."We don't particularly want to compare this model to Freelander. But if you look at the standard features, it's a very different vehicle," says Matt Weisner, sales and operations director of Jaguar Land Rover Australia."We feel this vehicle is incredibly competitive against the BMW X3 and Audi Q5. For that price, you get navigation, electric seats, 18-inch alloys, and rear-view camera, and grain-fed leather seats. It's a pretty compelling package."It can carry more passengers and luggage than anything in its classMore importantly, it's a total rethink and rework of the starter car in the Land Rover family. That's why the Freelander name is dead and gone.The Disco Sport — which gets some rub-off from the popularity of the full-sized Discovery — gets back to the idea of a compact SUV for families, not a four-wheel handbag like the Evoque, with smart detailing that even runs to air vents for the third-row jump seats."We think it's the most practical and versatile compact SUV. It can carry more passengers and luggage than anything in its class," says Murray Dietsch, the head of the Discovery Sport program who has been with Land Rover for nine years after a transfer from Ford Australia."We see it as a cracking opportunity. It's a car, from a quality point of view, that allows us to be positioned against the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60. It can draw from below as well, from the Japanese brands."But if you're thinking it's a workhorse, think again. It's not as fashion forward as the Evoque, which provides the basic mechanical package from the bumper through to the rear seats, but it's elegant and refined.You can see it in the dashboard layout with a new multimedia system, and feel it in a nine-speed automatic and vastly improved suspension and four-wheel drive. There's also the larger boot with a lower loading lip, sliding second-row seats and much more.Nothing remotely challenges the Discovery SportThe Iceland preview drive, with Dietsch running point, ran to about 300 kilometres in the 2.2-litre turbo petrol model with 177kW/340Nm and the high-output turbodiesel with 140kW/420Nm which is expected to be most popular powerplant in Australia. The conditions changed from dry coarse bitumen to rugged snowy tracks and even a fast-flowing icy river.Nothing remotely challenges the Discovery Sport, which is clearly worthy of a Land Rover plate. It is easy to handle, utterly competent, and often better than the drivers in the tough stuff.The nine-speeder makes sublime shifts, the engines are punchy from the get-go, and the suspension is compliant in all conditions. I'm not sure about Australia, but it wins in Iceland.It's just as easy to appreciate the quality in the cabin, a safety package that includes seven airbags and auto emergency braking — Land Rover says it's just won five stars in Euro NCAP testing — and the extra space in the cabin. There is 86 millimetres of extra legroom in the back and, although not advisable for long trips, I slid into the ($1990) third-row jump seats to confirm they are even fine for 178-centimetre adults.For me, it's also important that the legroom in the front is a lot better than the Freelander, that it's much quieter, and that the look and feel is more as you would find in an Audi.The Discovery Sport goes on sale in May and is crucial to the future of Land Rover in Australia. It's the first step up the ladder to the Range Rover and I can — finally — see and feel the family connection.It's also more family focused than its German opponents, and more off-roadable as well, which are both good things. And towing capacity is up to 2200 kilograms