A world of Discovery
It looks like a Range Rover but the new Discovery Sport proudly wears the Land Rover badge. For good reason says NZ4WD Editor Ross MacKay.
Think of that poster boy for all things adventure, Edward Michael ‘ Bear’ Grylls, and you’ve pretty well got Land Rover’s new Discovery Sport in one. With his easy smile, and affable and rather understated demeanour, media darling Grylls is that rare type who – you’d imagine anyway – would be as much at home in a boardroom in London as he would be deep in an African jungle. The Brits, by and large, do this so well. The character of James Bond exhibits the same sort of chameleon qualities. As does adventurer extraordinaire Sir Ranulph Fiennes. So it is with the Discovery Sport, a roomy, versatile and undeniably chic SUV which effortlessly bridges the gap between its rugged Land Rover-based predecessors like the Defender and Discovery and contemporary Range Rover-badged models like the Sport and – more recently – the Evoque. Yes, yes, another ‘SUV’ taking up space in the mag. I know. But it IS a Land Rover. Even if it is a world away from the Disco that Ashley drives. Gone is the separate ‘ ladder’ chassis, and hi/ lo-range transfer case, in their place a unitary monocoque body, nine-speed automatic transmission ( with the option of manual ‘paddle’ shifting) and the latest version of the Jaguar Land Rover Group’s all-wheel- drive system with electronically-lockable centre diff. Here we will see three different models, in two different ( SE and HSE) spec levels. Starting off at SE we have the TD ( the D is for diesel) 4 with an RRP of $ 78,500, and the SD4 and Si4 ( petrol) which will both sell for $ 82,000. Key spec items standard across the NZ trio includes an eight-inch touch screen with navigation system, heated seats, a power tailgate, 18-inch wheels, and the Jaguar Land Rover group’s revered push button electronic Terrain Response system, Moving on to the HSE level the TD4 costs $ 86,000 and the SD4 and Si4 $ 89,500, thanks to 19 inch wheels, climate ( that’s heated AND cooled!) and multi-position memory seats, Xenon lights with High Beam Assist, a sub-equipped sound system and up-spec ( 250kW cfm 190kW) engine tune. At launch NZ-bound Discovery Sport models get carry-over engines, with 110kW/ 400Nm ( TD4) and 140kW/ 420Nm ( SD4) versions of the company’s existing 2.2 litre turbo-diesel and a 177kW/ 340Nm version of the petrol-fuelled, turboboosted 2.0 litre. At the first upgrade New Zealand ‘Sports will get the new Ingenuim 2.0 litre turbo diesels being rolled out this year in the home market. Bar being a tad soft-ish off idle ( the diesel) and peaky ( petrol) the current engines are fine examples, particularly when hooked up to Land Rover’s new ZF designed-and-built nine-speed automatic transmission. Also new is the power steering system, now electronic and with a variable ratio.
While – speaking strictly personally here – I don’t really like the raised round dial you now use to swap between gears ( call me old-fashioned but I still prefer a fore-aft lever) the transmission gets two thumbs up from me, particularly the absolutely unobtrusive and fuss-free way it does its job when you are off-road and need as few distractions as possible. The steering system I’m not so sure. Again, off-road it was everything you could want, accurate, well-weighted with good communication from wheel to, er, wheel. On the road , however, the feedback had the artificial feel of an arcade game. Kids getting into cars for the first time probably think this is fine. Me? I’d like a lit tle more progressive weighting from the G-force sensors please... active or simulated I don’t really mind.
From some angles, particularly when fitted