Today I attended the Irish launch of the new Land Rover Discovery Sport in Carton House, Co. Kildare. The new model is the first in a line of changes coming in the Discovery range, and an afternoon with the Discovery Sport has impressed. It’s hard to rate a car too strongly after only spending an hour behind the wheel, but both on and off road with this vehicle impressed me today.
Land Rover calls themselves a non-competitive brand in our markets. There is competition though, certainly on-paper, with the likes of the Audi Q5 and the Volvo XC60. Somehow though, Land Rover has always seemed somewhat less attainable. This morning we brought the fleet of test cars around Maynooth, Leixlip and other surrounding areas. There were many things about it that impress.
Firstly, this car looks good on the outside. It holds the line in terms of Land Rover styling. Yes it’s more dynamic looking than the luxurious Range Rover, but it still holds a strong stance. This car measures in at 4590mm long, the wheelbase is a very generous 2741mm. This length means that legroom is more than adequate. The long wheel base has also allowed designers to pull the alloy wheels out closer to the corners of the vehicle, which adds to its visual strength. Bulkiness also comes from the wraparound corners and the clamshell bonnet adorned by the two-bar grille with hexagonal mesh.
One thing which is unique to the Discovery Sport within its segment is the fact that it offers the option of 5+2 seating with the extra seats in the boot space. From looking at this car people will be surprised. It looks very compact. What Land Rover did to make room for the extra seats, and indeed to improve the control of the car, was to introduce a new multi-link rear axle. These lightweight aluminium suspension components minimise the intrusion into the load space. On account of this change they were able to implement the 5+2 seating configuration.
Inside the Discovery Sport is spacious and unsurprisingly there are no issues with head-height and leg room. The second row seats are on rails and when pushed right back the legroom is pretty much unrivalled. The middle row is on rails in a 60:40 split and the third-row seats are perfect for kids.
On-road driving in the Discovery Sport is as would be expected. It handles well and delivers good steering response. Where the Discovery Sport is most impressive (based on my short drive) is off-road. I found it to be intuitive and secure. Traction control on offer from the vehicle is brilliant and choosing somewhere like Carton House Hotel, which has its own off-road course, as a location to launch the vehicle is a clear sign of Land Rover putting their money where their mouth is in terms of the 4x4 capabilities of this vehicle. Settings in this vehicle feature driving modes for grass, gravel, snow, mud, ruts and sand. It was a nice experience bringing this car off-road and it has left me with a taste for more. The dynamic behaviour of this machine is monitored by Torque Vectoring by Braking and it operates on all four wheels. If the car detects understeer a braking force is applied to the front wheels, this tightens the car’s line which makes it safer and more agile.
At the moment two engines are available from launch to the Irish market. On offer is a TD4 150PS or an SD4 190PS 2.2litre turbodiesel. Land Rover tells us that both engines produce 420Nm of torque and they reckon that this car will offer sub 5.7l/100km. Later this year Land Rover will introduce a more efficient ED4 turbodiesel engine which should offer enhanced fuel economy and CO2 emissions as low as 119g/km.
The Land Rover Discovery Sport is available with manual and automatic transmissions and comes in four trims, S, SE, HSE and HSE Luxury. Price range between €37,100 for the entry-level 2.2 TD4 S model and for the high-end 2.2 SD4 HSE Luxury with an automatic gearbox the price stretches up to €66,300. Prices will also vary depending on whether or not customers opt for any extras.
