TECHNO WIZARDRY
PROVING THAT OLD-SCHOOL ISN’T THE ONLY SCHOOL WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING SERIOUS.
IF LAND Rover had stayed with its numbering system this Discovery would be a Discovery 5, the fifth model in a line that dates back to 1989. Ironically, the first Discovery and the subsequent Discovery II would be at home in this group, as both are built on a separate chassis, a feature common to all of the seven vehicles here bar the current Discovery. Those first two Discovery models also had live axles back and front, a suspension arrangement that is also the most common among the vehicles here.
To say that the Discovery stands out in this group would be a huge understatement. Significantly, it’s the only 4x4 here not to have a separate chassis. Its monocoque body isn’t even fabricated from steel but largely from aluminium alloy. On top of that the Discovery is the only one of our seven vehicles with fully independent suspension. Setting it further apart are air-springs, which provide adjustable ride height and serious ground clearance if need be.
Serving the Discovery well is the fact it’s built on Land Rover’s premium platform used with the current Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models and introduced off the back of a huge investment in 2014. Land Rover has then strengthened that platform by swapping from aluminium alloy to steel for the suspension sub-frames and adding more ride-height adjustment to the air suspension.
The Discovery also stands out in this company for having
high-speed road tyres that are the least suited to off-road use, so a stop at the tyre shop before you head anywhere is mandatory. The good news is that this generation Discovery carries a taller tyre for any given wheel size than the previous generation (Discovery 4), which gives you more to play with when selecting off-road-friendly rubber.
With tyres sorted you can start to appreciate what the Discovery has to offer off-road, which is considerable. For a vehicle with fully independent suspension it has plenty of wheel travel, better even than the Mercedes G-wagen, which has live axles at both ends. Crank the air suspension right up and the Discovery also has as good, if not better, ground clearance than any vehicle here, which is reflected in the fact that its wading depth claim (900mm) is the best of these, too.
The Disco may not be comfortable to drive on rough ground for any length of time on the highest suspension setting, but at least it’s there to get you over a gnarly bit that could otherwise stop other vehicles here.
The Discovery has the ‘smartest’ 4x4 system that requires the least intervention from the driver thanks largely to its self-locking centre differential that can also proportion the drive front-to-rear as needs be. All of the other vehicles here with centre diffs require them to be locked by the driver, or they don’t have a centre diff as they are part-time 4x4 so you have to engage 4WD. Either way, there’s no front-to-rear
drive proportioning as with the Discovery. The Discovery’s rear locker (an inexpensive $1110 factory option) also locks automatically, where the rear lockers on other vehicles (where fitted) require driver intervention.
The other trick up the Discovery’s sleeve is that it’s the lightest of the seven vehicles bar the Jimny, which helps on any soft surface and when climbing a slippery slope. In fact, the Discovery is more than 600kg lighter than the Land Cruiser 200, the nearest comparable vehicle here. This is the benefit of its aluminium-alloy monocoque body. Of all the vehicles here the Discovery has the best power to weight, which is handy in soft sand and the like.